In the cool of the morning, before another long, hot day in Guangxi Province in southern China. Two pilots of the Flying Tigers 23rd Fighter Group wait by one of their tired Mustangs to see what action the day will bring...
So this one is a bit of a blast from the past (at least in my modelling timescale, since I've only been actively modelling since 2019). Back in late 2022 I had the bold idea to build 12 models over the Christmas period - all straight forward builds, brush painted (as was my style at the time) and ready to display at the Bolton show 2023.
Of course, modelling is a harsh mistress and more complex builds than expected and distractions meant that although some seven of these have so far made it to display status, five have languished, including this one.
Its a P-51B with original canopy, from the very nice Sweet models kit. Rather basic in terms of cockpit, but falls together very smoothly and has nice surface detail. Building wasn't the problem, my abandonment of this kit seems to have been more due to the paint which, for some reason I could never get smooth, and the canopy which didn't sit flush.
I did dig this out of the shelf o' doom back at the beginning of 2024 and fix the canopy by removing it and sanding down to fit properly, but couldn't get the paint smooth, it had several patches of inconsistency. My original plan for the build was to represent a factory fresh model in the USA and obviously inconsistent paint wouldn't do.
So I found this decal pack in my stash and after seeing some very well worn aircraft from the CBI theatre, it seemed a perfect chance to hide the errant paint under weathering (the classic armour modelling technique!).
The decals were not the easiest to apply, mostly because I completely forgot that these early sheets from HM were single-layer decals and had to be individually cut out - I only realised when the first had already soaked! Fortunately since this picture, some softener gave a much better finish to the markings.
I spent a while on the weathering. I used a positive chipping technique where I carefully dotted metallics along a lot of the panel lines to give a well worn look.
I also added extensive wing root damage and used weathering pencils to add a layer of engine grime.
The scenic base was quite simple, a couple of pilot figures from 3djson and a printed jeep from Ray Rimes Minatures, along with some debris from the spares box. You might notice the white star on the jeep which I later painted out as it isn't a common sight on Asian theatre vehicles.
About three years late, I'm glad to get this one finished and onto display. It will be appearing at Scale Model World Telford next week on the SIG144 table. Thanks for reading, comments welcome.
