August's Twin Mustang - FINISHED

[K5083]

My kit came in the classic white box that I remember from my youth, when I built a fair hunk of Monogram's 1/48 product line. Monogram didn't do a lot of 1/72, especially of the vintage types, but it did them well.



Inside, I found that the previous owner had removed all but the smallest parts from the sprues and stored them in a zippy bag. An inventory found all kit parts present and unstarted.



I've never built this kit before, but on inspection, it's typical Monogram, and rightly considered one of the brand's classics. It has well-formed parts, good cockpit and wheel well detail for its time, and no serious vices. I'm basically planning a straight build with very few enhancements.

August

[AndrewR]

This is an excellent kit. I enjoyed making it.

[Stuart]

Very Nice choice!

Welcome aboard!

Cheers

Stuart

[Martin R]

This is an excellent kit. I enjoyed making it.

+1

[K5083]

It took a few extra days to get the cockpits done and the fuselage together on this one. Monogram provided decals for the instrument panels and no sidewall detail except for some raised lines to indicate where the cockpit features would be if they had decided to provide it.



I made panels with lots of bits of scrap plastic. Yes, they look pretty crude unpainted and at this magnification. Pilot's panel on the left, radar guy's on the right.



Paint helps a lot!



Sidewall detail made in similar fashion.



And, the fuselages closed up. Fit of the cockpits into the fuselages was very vague. I found it best to leave the cockpits loose in the fuselages until the halves were joined, then adjust the cockpit position and cement when it was properly centered.

August

[Stuart]

Some really nice work on that cockpit!

I like your scratchbuilt additions and those sidewall look really good.

What version are you planning on doing?

[K5083]

This one will be black with the radar pod. I'll be using the kit decals to try to make it look just like the box top, although I think I'll leave off the ordnance. Now that the cockpit is done, the rest of the build will be absolutely OOB.

August

[Stuart]

Cool! that's generally the way - sort out the cockpit and the rest falls together.

[TobyC]

That's some impressive work on the cockpit.

[K5083]

Major assembly went smoothly. My order of assembly was to put the fuselages on the one-piece lower wing first, to make sure the curved joints lined up as well as possible. This left the center upper wing a bit gappy, so I had to shim it on both sides. I also discovered that the gun bay cover was missing, so had to cut a new one out of scrap. Everything else went together well with easy alignment and no gaps.

[Clashcityrocker]

Looking very nice August.

Nigel

[Stuart]

Am unusual looking beast - nice work.

[TimJ]

Coming along nicely.

[AndrewR]

Nice!

[Titan]

Great work in the pit August..

Regards
Mark