Subject: Re: Tamiya P-d & Staff Car By Alan Williamson
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "hurricane" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2008 20:43:55 -0700

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: hurricane 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 10:03 PM
  Subject: Tamiya P-d & Staff Car By Alan Williamson

  "Tamiya P-51D Mustang & U.S. Army Staff Car" 

  by "Alan Williamson"
  --------------------

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here  

  Kit:Tamiya P-51D Mustang & U.S. Army Staff Car 89732

  Construction:

  I saw this kit on Tamiya's web site and thought that it would make a great addition to my W.W.II aircraft collection. I sent Calum an E-mail to ask if he could order it for me, and shore enough I received it in the post with a few other kits. This was the first time I had seen the Tamiya P-51D up close I had constructed the P-51B some years ago and new that the P-51D would be just as good with all of Tamiya's class that is in every kit. I decided that I was going to build this kit OOB,Tamyia included three figures with the kit and I decided to use one of the pilot to place in the kit when it was finished. I stared re-scribing the entire kit before assembly I find that this can help down the track with paint and decals. The only fault I have with Tamiya and I have said it in other articles that there is no detail on the cockpit control panel the only choses are use the decals or buy an after market control panel. As I was building the kit straight from the box I used the decals on the control panel. Once I had painted and assembled the cockpit I hit the cockpit with a dry brush of sliver and then went over it with Tamiya's weathering master set B to dirty up the cockpit. With the cockpit assembled it was time to glue the fuselage halves together I use Tamiya's extra thin cement witch used right is a great to assemble kits with. The more patient you have with applying the cement the less work later on with getting rid of the seem lines. I can not say I had any problem with the construction of this P-51D It went together with little fuss and miner wet rubbing.

  Construction of the Staff Car:

  The Staff car is very straight forward to built, Tamiya has given the car a die-cast chassis so some super glue will be required with the assembly. I painted the interior using Model Masters Tan and dark Earth as well as flat Black. I went over the interior with the Tamiya weathering Master set B to give it a little depth.The body of the car was painted in Model Masters Olive Drab ANA 613, followed up with a gloss clear ready for the decals. Once the decals were in place I added an other cote of gloss clear followed up with a cote of Matt clear to finish of the body. I then assembled the windows and wheels and screwed the body to the chassis. Staff car completed.  

        Picture 03 and 04 shows the decals on the control panel, I used Polly Scale softening solution 505401 to place the decal on the control panel and make it sit right.  Click on image below to see larger image
             
              Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 03jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 04.jpg 

  Paint and Decals:

  I have always liked the P-51D Big Beautiful Doll however those decals were not included with this kit, I had another Tamiya P-51D kit 61089 That I brought from Craig at Aeroworks around the same time as when I received this kit. Kit 61089 had the decals for  Big Beautiful Doll which I decided to use here. The other P-51D that I got off Craig is having the full Aires detail set put in and it would have been a wast of time trying to put the decals Big Beautiful Doll on it. I painted the overall kit in Model Master Aluminium Plate and on top of the cowling I used Model Master Olive Drab 34087 with Model Master gloss Black for the tail etc. I then Painted the entire kit with Gloss clear ready for the decals. I found the decals a little tricky to get right especially the checked decals. A lot of patiens was required with these decals. Kit 61089 included two variance of Big Beautiful Doll on the decal sheet years 1944 and 1945. I decided to go with Col. John D. Landers, Commanding Officer of the 78th Fighter Group 1945. John had racked up some more kills on his P-51 during the summer of 1945. With the decals in place I went over the kit again with gloss clear to seal the decals on and ready it for the pastel wash. Once the panel lines were highlighted with the paste wash I went over the kit again with Gloss clear to seal in the Pastel, I know it seems like a lot of paint is placed on my kits especially clear, reason for this I have found that in the past I would only use two cotes of clear on a kit a layer before decals and a layer after the decals were placed on the kit. I would then place a cote of matt clear on over the kit, however I found that sometimes I would get slivering around the decals so now I use a third layer of clear over the pastel wash to try and eradicate the slivering problem, before I applied a matt cote of clear. Once I have placed a layer of matt clear over the kit I get out the Tamiya weathering master set normally set B and add exhaust stains, soot around the guns and I dirty up the wheel bay, followed up with some matt clear only over the weathering master chalk to seal that in.

        Click on images below to see larger images
       
        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 05.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 06.jpg   Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 07.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 08.jpg  

  Finish:

  It was now time to add the landing gear and doors, pilot, drop tanks, propeller and cockpit window. I used seat belts from the Aires set from my other P-51D which is still being assembled and placed them over the pilot, and another kit is finished.

        Click on images below to see larger images
       
        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 09.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 010.jpg   Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 011.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 012.jpg  Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 013.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 014.jpg  

        Click on images below to see larger images
       
        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 015.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 0?.jpg  Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 0?.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 0?.jpg  Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 0?.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 0?.jpg  Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 0?.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 0?.jpg  

  Thanks:

  To Steve Bamford whom dedication to this site dose not go unnoticed.

  To Calum for getting a hold of this kit for me, check out Calum's web site at www.gibstuff.net for a look at kits for sale, kits Calum is building or some great Photos of aircraft, ships etc.

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 02.jpg here  

  Photos and text © by "Alan Williamson"