1/72 P-51B

After my disastrous attempt at the 1/72 Italeri CR.42, I decided to give this P-51 a try 

This will be my first time using pre-cut masks. I’m excited to give them a try since I hate cutting my own, I can’t ever quite get them quite right 

I don’t have the right interior green so I used two different RAL6011 Reseda green’s instead. One was used on the raised highlights while the other for everything else 

This wide array of colors was used on the cockpit details 

Cockpit done 

Main components assembled together. 

I scribed the panel lines a bit deeper using the CMK triangle saw 

I added the canopy masks on the exterior only and then placed it on the aircraft. The fit was so snug that I didn’t use glue, only Vallejo green acrylic putty was applied on the very front where there was a huge gap. I love this putty because it can be easily sculpted with a wet qtip. I hope I don’t discover horrible overspray inside the canopy from the black Vallejo rattle-can primer

The propeller was horrible and did not “slot in” at all. I had to manipulate the spacing, angle, and feathering if each prop blade. It’s far from perfect but it looks passable to me 

The cowling was the most difficult and time consuming part of the build so far. There is a kit seamline there anyways which simply needs to be scribed a bit deeper. As I was doing so, toward the end my saw slipped, which started a horrible cycle of filling with super glue, sanding, scribing with the saw, screwing up and starting over again. I probably repeated this cycle at least five times. When I thought I was done and applied the primer I noticed that panel line was way too deep! I tried lightly filling with super glue but it filled to whole thing. After another round of rescribinf and screwing up, I lightly filled it in with the Vallejo filler instead. I think I’m done for now. I hope… 

Black based using AK 3rd Gen US Dark Green (AK11157) 

Better lighting. Perhaps my black basing is far too exaggerated but I’m worried about being too subtle. Besides this is supposed to be a P-51B in China in 1945, so perhaps it deserves to be beaten up some 

I didn’t have any neutral grey at hand, so I attempted to mix my own with 5:2:1 Grey Blue (AK11426), Grey Green AK11424), and German Grey AK11025) 

This 3rd Gen Dark Green is extremely fragile. Despite being over a primer and having 24 hours to cure, a bit of Tamiya masking tape is enough to cause it to lift