Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals

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Crashpilot
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Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals

Post by Crashpilot »

This one´s on my workbench right now:
Image

I still like to build old kits, this one´s from the 70ies, but Heller still boxes it


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but the scheme is a bit boring, so I´m gonna use some other decals:



Image


Image
....some of those early D-Mustangs have some very nice finishes, that make them special compared to all those silver
ones out there! Like "Lou IV", or "Happy Jack´s Go buggy".
And "Passion Wagon" in its early incarnation was still camouflaged, like you see "up there" :arrowU: .
The kit has the option of a fin fillet, that I didn´t want to use, so my choice for decals was not so big anymore :???:

It´s a typical 1970ies Heller with raised lines, its big downfall are the canopies, of which there are 2:
standard, and Dallas, the standard is so ugly, that it´s unusable, on the first pic you see the Dallas one,
which is ugly, too, but a little better, so I still used it.... :-| ( regret, regret :roll: )
To avoid the problems I had with the Sabre in the MB group build, I cut in the liquid mask around the
cockpit frames, as you can see in the first pic.
I hope to free the framing of its masking, without uncovering the clear parts, so I can airbrush the top
camouflage together with the canopy frames at once!
I already "rattlecanned" the underside with Neutral grey....

Image

So, let´s see how long it will take me to finish this WIP? It´s far progressed already, but I feel somehow some catastrophe :-o ...happening soon?

still might happen...
Waiting for the day, when wars for territory will be something to be read about in history books only.

Playing Tetris taught me: If I clean up too much, my kits disappear.....8-(

Markus, alias Crashpilot, or Crash, or CP, as you wish
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Re: Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals, WIP

Post by Migrant »

Crashpilot wrote:It´s far progressed already, but I feel somehow some catastrophe :-o ...happening soon?

still might happen...
That's the spirit ;-) Looking forward to your progress on this.
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Re: Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals, WIP

Post by iggie »

Looking good so far!
Best wishes

Jim
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"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
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Re: Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals, WIP

Post by Crashpilot »

Thanks for the encouragement!
Today no advance to speak of, yet, but I feel like saying something about the cheeky RP Heller asks for this oldie!
The new tool Airfix one is almost always cheaper to get, and it´s in evry aspect better than Heller´s!
And you get Cartograf decals, compared to really cheap looking ones from Heller, for a plane without any individual markings.
Ok, I got this as a bagged kit, really cheap, and for that, it´s nice for a "reckless" :-D build, where you don´t have to worry about any mishaps happening to the kit.....while trying out something new.
But I feel sorry for people that had to pay the usual retail price for it!
Waiting for the day, when wars for territory will be something to be read about in history books only.

Playing Tetris taught me: If I clean up too much, my kits disappear.....8-(

Markus, alias Crashpilot, or Crash, or CP, as you wish
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Re: Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals, WIP

Post by Crashpilot »

So, prepared canopy´s frames for the green by scratching off masking, where appropiate.
the cuttings helped to take off straight stripes, but I still needed to "repair" the covering a bit, because I tore into
the cover of the glazing, too:

Image

tomorrow (?) I prepare her for the RAF green ( I read that, at 357th FG, they used RAF green and RAF grey for camouflage)

next pic shows my work on the prop, which was far too beefy, OOB! Better a too beefy prop, that you can cut and carve,
then a spindly one, to throw away! I cut off at least 1/3 off the plastic.


Image
Waiting for the day, when wars for territory will be something to be read about in history books only.

Playing Tetris taught me: If I clean up too much, my kits disappear.....8-(

Markus, alias Crashpilot, or Crash, or CP, as you wish
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Re: Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals, WIP

Post by Crashpilot »

I must say, this is not the last Heller I´m building, for its 1974 vintage, it´s still quite nice! (...as long as you do something about
the "problematic" parts of it).
When you compare it to other 72-Mustangs of that time, it´s even one of the better ones, IMO.
My critique from a few days ago aimed at its RP.
Update to the build later in the evening.
Waiting for the day, when wars for territory will be something to be read about in history books only.

Playing Tetris taught me: If I clean up too much, my kits disappear.....8-(

Markus, alias Crashpilot, or Crash, or CP, as you wish
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Re: Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals, WIP

Post by ShaunW »

Coming along very nicely and it's interesting to see the corrections that you have done. I have never built the Heller kit but I would not be happy to pay more for it than the excellent new tool kit from Airfix.
Doing - Tamiya 1/35th Universal Carrier.

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Re: Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals, WIP

Post by Crashpilot »

Some progress in the last 3 days:
put the green on the top, masking tape went off w/o problems, had some overspray, and since it´s a Humbrol colour, but I used Revell thinner to get it off, I mostly shoved it from left to right, but the Revell colour underneath (that I sprayed 6 weeks ago), started to come off.
Image
:frown:
That´s the disadvantage of acrylics, that you can´t just happily mix different brands without risking flaking, or that you can´t rely on just one thinner for thinning, or using to do away with overspray (of any brand) by a Q-tip.
By now I painted it over, now starting to put her on her legs.
By the way: the wheel well you see up there was robbed from a spare Special Hobby Mustang wing :razz: .
OOB Heller´s well is a gaping hole, so typical of that kit era.
Was not such a big fuss to make the part conform to Heller´s wings, only that the plastic became so thin from sanding down, that it melted in some parts, when it was hit by the glue - I tend to over-use glue a bit :oops: .
Waiting for the day, when wars for territory will be something to be read about in history books only.

Playing Tetris taught me: If I clean up too much, my kits disappear.....8-(

Markus, alias Crashpilot, or Crash, or CP, as you wish
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Re: Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals, WIP

Post by Crashpilot »

update:
standing on her own feet now, not so much left do before decalling

Image
Waiting for the day, when wars for territory will be something to be read about in history books only.

Playing Tetris taught me: If I clean up too much, my kits disappear.....8-(

Markus, alias Crashpilot, or Crash, or CP, as you wish
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Re: Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals, WIP

Post by Crashpilot »

a shot of Mustang´s belly, dunno if my version of chromate green is any good?

Image
Waiting for the day, when wars for territory will be something to be read about in history books only.

Playing Tetris taught me: If I clean up too much, my kits disappear.....8-(

Markus, alias Crashpilot, or Crash, or CP, as you wish
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Re: Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals, WIP

Post by Crashpilot »

...I don´t want to waste all my Microscale decals on this oldie, but will use some from my spare box, too.
The red-yellow checker on the nose I´ll do with one of them infamous Academy decals!
I read about the headaches with these.
I try the hot water method to get them undone from the paper, then I´ll use Mr Mark Setter to make them lay on the kit,
and seal them after dry with a gloss coat.
Let´s see if it works.
Waiting for the day, when wars for territory will be something to be read about in history books only.

Playing Tetris taught me: If I clean up too much, my kits disappear.....8-(

Markus, alias Crashpilot, or Crash, or CP, as you wish
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Re: Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals, WIP

Post by Crashpilot »

Maaaan, I think about opening a thread, called "The Academy decalling experience".
Never had such a funny behaviour with decals before, and I already had brittle ones before.
They remind me of very old brittle Heller decals from their 70ies yellow boxes, that didn´t seem to have hardly any glue on their backsides!
In the end I made them stick with thin liquid plastic cement, of course they wrinkled at first very much, but after a while they got even, and then you can be sure, they keep on sticking!
So I used that method on the Academy ones, too.
Sounds very brutal, but still better than using hammer and nails :lol: .
To be exact, I put the liquid cement on some edges of the decals, and hope that the glue "crawls" a bit further bit
under them.
Of course, I still have to do touch-ups with paint now.
But at least they cover well, they are opaque :ha: .
So now I know the secret of these "beeeeep" of a "beeeep" decals: Academy wants you to use the glue of your
choice to get em on the kit, they are just meant as some :evil: "colour-film"?!
Waiting for the day, when wars for territory will be something to be read about in history books only.

Playing Tetris taught me: If I clean up too much, my kits disappear.....8-(

Markus, alias Crashpilot, or Crash, or CP, as you wish
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Re: Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals, WIP

Post by Crashpilot »

update:
some more non-stickers glued on, but not much progress, can only finish it in April, no more time now!

Image

at least good colour density, the white stripes over dark paint don´t look too bad - but it was a mess sticking them on.
Waiting for the day, when wars for territory will be something to be read about in history books only.

Playing Tetris taught me: If I clean up too much, my kits disappear.....8-(

Markus, alias Crashpilot, or Crash, or CP, as you wish
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Re: Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals, WIP

Post by Crashpilot »

....some little progress, prop is fully painted now, invasion stripe on the belly, tomorrow some snap(s)
Waiting for the day, when wars for territory will be something to be read about in history books only.

Playing Tetris taught me: If I clean up too much, my kits disappear.....8-(

Markus, alias Crashpilot, or Crash, or CP, as you wish
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Re: Heller 80268 P-51D-5 Mustang 1:72, other decals, WIP

Post by CementNotGlue »

Bravo for attempting red/orange chequers!

Here is my P-51 choice with red diamonds - well beyond my level of competence:

http://luftwaffeinprofile.se/Robert%20Bernhart.html;
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