Every Cowboy needs a Pony***FINISHED***

[jssel]

Aligning them to match (wings and horizontals). Quite a step from wing up to the stabilizers. I used long strips of tape to make sure they matched. Will post a new picture in a few as the landing gear is on as well as the propeller/spinner. Also preparing for decals.

[Molly-new]

Certainly looking the part now. Great paint job.

[jssel]

OK. Here is the ground eye view of the landing gear.

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The inside of the doors are painted aluminum but I placed a strip of BareMetal foil in the center. I have heard and read this was a tire bumper and /or an area rubbed smooth from spining tires on takeoff. I tend to believe the former.

General over views





Ready for decal work now.

[Chris]

Looking good..those green 51Bs sure had a special look to them didn't they.

[Old_Tonto]

She is looking pretty sharp mate.

[jssel]

Busy putting on the decals. Tested one and it shattered into a million shards of decal. So............taking the decals I need for this version, I covered them with Mirco Super Film. Saved my bacon. The decals are usable again but it is a slow process with extra long soaking etc.

This is the first time I ever had this issue with the newer Vistachrome invisa type decals.

Should have some piccies up today after work. Most of the port side is completed now.

[jssel]

While the decals seem to be putting up the good fight. Progress is being made.

Here is the port side of the beast:

[ShaunW]

Very nice Jeff, the B looks better in the OD scheme than the D IMHO.

[aeroplanegripper]

Thats a great looking P-51 there Jeff, and the markings are sweet. Nice job!

[Dirkpitt289]

[jssel]

So now the decaling is completed and ready to start wrapping things up.





As stated before the decals looked very nice on the sheet and I have never had problems with the Vitachrome type before. But the use of Micro Super Film required more soaking time and caused the decal to curl at the edges. This meant more time on each subject than normal.

This morning work started on cutting up the canopy to pose it open. The top cover swings open to the right and the left side drops down

[Chris]

Looking good, nice canopy cutting.

[Molly-new]

Very smart. I was tempted to go with the open canopy option myself but chickened out, so it will be interesting to see how yours turns out. Did you do the cutting with a razor saw?

[jssel]

Hi Chip. Righteo. Next pic I will include it. After years of using xacto, I changed and glad of it.

[ShaunW]

Very nice work Jeff. The canopy arrangement on the '51B sounds a little bit awkward for cutting out and I feel I would have chickened out of wielding my Xacto at it!