Subject: Re: Hi, Mr. Bamford. Hope you'll fit this one in some time after silly week. Many thanks and keep up the good work with your tremendous website.
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Richard ELMAN" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 13:50:30 -0800

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Richard ELMAN 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2007 4:32 PM
  Subject: Hi, Mr. Bamford. Hope you'll fit this one in some time after silly week. Many thanks and keep up the good work with your tremendous website.

  Gallery Template #05

  1/48 Tamiya P-51-B Mustang 

  by Richard Elman
  --------------------

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  Here's a kit which I am sure most of you have seen many times before.  It was, however, my first ever Tamiya kit.  It was really a great build - the fit was just about perfect, with many of the parts virtually clicking together without the need for glue.  My only serious gripe was the quality of the decals, which were rather crumbly (see the red lines on the flaps and the edge of the blue circle of the main decal).  Actually this looks worse with such close-up pictures; in real life you can hardly see the problem.  Nevertheless, it was really very time-consuming coaxing the carrier film off the backing paper.

  The cockpit was supplemented with the Eduard Zoom PE set.  In some ways I wish I had just added the harness.  The detail of the kit's own cockpit is really fine and I am sure I could have it painted up really well to get a nice "office".  The problem with PE is that it is so flat (duh - obviously).  Well you live and learn. Click on images below to see larger images

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  Paints used were my usual eclectic mixture: Xtracrylic Faded Olive Drab and Neutral Grey, Tamiya X-4 for Yellow Chromate wheel wells, Gunze for the interior green, Humbrol enamels for the spinner and undercarriage.  It was then Klear/Future coated and panel washed with thinned oils.  Next an Xtracrylic Flat coated, followed by a little brushing with chalk pastels for exhaust and gun stains.  The coloured lights were Humbrol, touched up with Klear coloured with food dye (again this looks better in real life, as the photos are a little over-exposed). 

  The antenna wire was "invisible thread" used by dress-makers, painted with black enamel; I will use a marker pen next time, as the line looks uneven.  The tension also seems to change depending on the temperature - the kit was completed and left out in my chilly garage - and the line loosened.  After a few hours in the house, it tightened up again (but not in this picture). 

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  P-51B-5 43-6913 "Shangri-La" was the mount of Captain Don Gentile of the 336th FS/4th FG based at Debden in Essex in 1944.  He had previously flown Spits (for the RCAF) and Thunderbolts, though he scored most of his 21 kills in Shangri-La, which he pranged on a low-level pass when he returned from his final mission, in front of the attendant press corps. 

  After the war, he became a test pilot and trainer and died in a flying accident in 1951. 

  Click on images below to see larger images

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  Photos and text © by "Richard Elman"