How To Build Tamiya 1 32 P 51d Mustang

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Having built Tamiya’s 1/32 P-51D back in 2012 or so I was pleased to find it every bit as nice as I remembered. This is a fantastic kit, but check the box schemes before building.

Manufacturer: Tamiya

Scale: 1/32

Subject: P-51D Mustang

Tamiya P-51D Mustang Build Report 2: Natural Metal Finish Posted by Doogs on July 26, 2011 July 26, 2011 I got an alert this morning that my big 1/32 P-51 is currently en route to Mesquite, TX, and should be reaching Austin and my doorstep sometime tomorrow! Tamiya 1/32 P-51D Mustang By Tom Crayne. You all know how incredible this kit is, so I won't go into the details. One of the best kits I've built. The kit was build straight from the box with Aeromaster decals. Painting was done mostly with Tamiya colors but some Model Master colors were used and weathered with home made wash from pastels. Strengths: The Tamiya F-51D is based directly on their earlier P-51D and P-51D/K releases, and it is no less stunning. This kit was a signature achievement of plastic model kit design and manufacturing with the first issue of the 1:32 scale Tamiya Mustang in 2011, and it remains so in 2020. This is the P-51D in this scale, by far and away. How to Build Tamiya's 1/32 P-51D Mustang Paperback 4.7 out of 5 stars 8 ratings. See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions. Price New from Used from.

Extras: HGW seat belts, Anyz stencils, Lifelike Decals, Topnotch masks (insignia), resin wheels

Paints: MRP, Alclad

I didn’t think I would be building another P-51 so soon after the Revell one which I didn’t really enjoy, but since many of my compatriots in the Scale Modellers’ Critique Group were doing them as part of our #ponygames project, I caved. This build is the original ETO release of Tamiya’s P-51D kit.

I couldn’t decide on a scheme to do, but eventually stumbled across this rather colourful example in reference photos and found a decal sheet for it. Of course, had I looked, it’s actually the box-top scheme for Tamiya’s PTO release of this kit. I could have saved myself all the bother. Oh well.

This being a late-war Pacific example (based on Ie Shima in 1945) brings a few interesting details. The recognition stripes here were not a short-term black and white affair like the D-Day ones, but rather a broader black-only stripe, at least on NMF aircraft. They covered the top and bottom of the wings and many references show them heavily worn and even coming off in sheets, probably because they were applied to a dirty surface. An interesting detail that ends up slightly irrelevant is that this aircraft is late enough in production to have a different model propeller (Aeroproducts I think) but photos show that on this aircraft it had been replaced by the older Hamilton Standard cuffed prop which is in the ETO box.

How To Build Tamiya 1 32 P 51d Mustang 1 5m Bnf Basic With Smart

Sure enough, this kit is really nice. It’s not just the crisp detail, great fit, and absence of flash that makes this a joy to build, it’s how all of these combine with well-written instructions and nicely-designed sprues.

I tried to develop a higher-contrast approach to the cockpit interior than I have in the past. I’ve seen this referenced somewhere (I think it was one of Will Pattison’s Spitfire videos), that because the cockpit becomes very dark once closed up, it helps to exaggerate the contrast so something remains visible later. So while I kept thinking it looked a bit stark while working on it, I had to remember that was the point.

That’s my modelling goal at the moment: to gain enough understanding of what I’m doing to visualise how elements will come together in the finished piece. Part of this seems to be having the confidence to let it look a bit strange so it works later.

In the cockpit I added a couple of stencils from Anyz.io and a set of HGW fabric seat belts. The fabric belts sit more realistically than photoetch ones and even if like me you’re really ham-fisted putting them together, they give a great extra realism. By far the most useful tool for cockpits is my 20/0 detail brush. It makes picking out individual dials really easy, especially with the MRP Aqua brushable paints. The cockpit floor was given a bit of attention: the P-51 had a wooden (plywood) floor that was painted black, so I chipped through the black to a layer of light wood colour underneath. Also the seat was painted to represent the older Dark Dull Green while the rest of the cockpit is in the brighter tinted Zinc Chromate: this was apparently common in P-51s presumably because the seat maker had plenty of old paint left.

The other place that I tried to do something interesting on this kit is the wing rivets. It is fairly common knowledge that the P-51 used a laminar flow wing (which incidentally was a wing designed to provide laminar flow at higher airspeeds and altitudes – previous wings had already used carefully selected aerofoils to provide laminar flow, but these experienced airflow separation in the flight regimes that were becoming normal) which had the rivets puttied over and the whole wing painted with a lacquer paint. However, areas which saw a lot of foot traffic would logically scuff up and rivets would start to become more visible.

My theory is that selectively varying the presentation of rivets (removed, left, or highlighted) will help support the impression of varying foot traffic and work across the wing surface. This came from painting my previous Mustang, where I gave a very smooth paint finish on the wing outboards and a more marbled one inboard, which did create that impression of a smooth lacquered surface which had been scuffed.

How

The plan is to erase the rivets and panel lines on the least worn areas, producing a smooth finish, with smooth paint over the top. Allow the rivets to remain with a marbled finish on other areas, but without highlighting rivets, to suggest that wear from walking on the surface has started to expose them. Finally picking out the rivets on the highest-traffic areas to suggest greater scuffing and dirt being worn into the surface.

On the whole I am quite happy with the evolution of the NMF painting over these last three models, though there are still some things I want to try.

On this one I used the Uschi Trinity stencils to build up marbling of the metallics. That gave a really nice effect but I’m curious to try including some other tones in there too. I previously found that varying the colours under metallics doesn’t do much, but I do wonder whether marbling a dark grey, then perhaps a darker metallic of two under the final colour might give an interesting look. That’ll be for another model, but I need a bit of a break from NMF for now.

I chose this example because it was very colourful and attractive, which I have always gone for on these aircraft because I wasn’t able to make the NMF interesting. However, having been able to paint NMF better I ended up finding the bright scheme detracted from the overall look.

I don’t know that there is much to say about Tamiya’s 1/48 scale P-51D in terms of a build report. It just goes together. Everything fits. No tips on assembly, no things to watch out for…. just use glue. That’s pretty much it.

The cockpit is reasonably detailed. Good enough for an open canopy build. Adding some seat belts, or a good resin seat with belts, will help finish things off. Once that is done, you just close it up and dress the seams and the fuselage is done.

The wing is not much different. Glue the parts together. Sand the seams smooth. That’s it. Add it to the fuselage. Glue the join. Done.

All in all, assembly on this kit is almost boring. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. If you like having to sand and fill and adjust, it’s a bad thing. Otherwise, it’s all good.

Despite how easy it is to assemble, I don’t build a lot of these kits. One reason: metal finish. I am horrible at metal finishes. I don’t really know why. I do pretty well with an airbrush overall, I think. I’ve tried all sorts of metal finishes. Alclad II eludes me for some reason. No matter what I’ve tried, the finish looks bad. Different primers, different sanding methods, different air pressures. Even different air brushes. Everyone who has the Alclad II thing figured out has given me advice, and I can’t make any of it work. And I know it’s me. It’s not Alclad II.

So I avoid P-51Ds.

Then I decided to try Valljo Metal Color.

I think I found a metal finish I can work with.

I don’t know what the difference is. I used the same techniques for surface prep as I did Alclad II. Same method for applying it. But this time it worked.

I did find in testing that it MUST go over a primer coat. Despite marketing claims, and even reports from others, my experience was that putting it down on bare plastic is a no-go. It had ZERO adhesion with tape, and scratched easily. (And yes, I do wash my parts thoroughly to make sure there are no surface contaminants.)

Over a primer coat, though, it stuck well- 99% I’d say. A few places did pull up when masked- very tiny spots here and there- but given the fact that I could make the metal finish work, I’ll go with it.

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The decals were from Aeromaster. To be honest I don’t recall the set. Overall they worked OK, except for the diamonds on the nose. I don’t care how carefully a manufacturer makes their decals, trying to conform to compound curves is almost impossible. Even cutting the pieces didn’t help too much, as the shapes were still not quite right. Ultimately, I cut and adjusted and prodded and cajoled and even had to resort to the spare blue diamonds on the decal sheet to get it looking OK.

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I decided to weather this one a bit. Every metal finish P-51 I see looks like it’s been plated in chrome and buffed to a high shine. I just don’t see the real airplanes looking like that. Oil, grease, dirt and exhaust all combine to give it a used look. (The next time you fly a commercial airliner- notice the wing. Clean metal it ain’t.)

I gave the painted areas a flat coat and called it done.

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The kit is awesome. If you haven’t built a Tamiya 1/48 P-51D- go out and get one. It’s a great cure for those times when you are hung up on the latest Special Hobby monstrosity.

How To Build Tamiya's 1/32 P-51d Mustang Book

The decals…. meh….. they worked. I don’t blame Aeroscale. I rarely find any manufacturer’s stuff that fits a compound curve well.

The Vallejo Metal Color- I love it. Now, if you’re happy with how Alclad II works for you, this won’t be a replacement. Simply put- nothing beats a well applied Alclad II finish. But if you’re like me, and find Alclad II to be difficult to apply, give Vallejo Metal Color a try. It’s opened up a whole new set of marking and kit possibilities for me.

Tamiya 1 32 Mini 4wd

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