BobM's Hasegawa P-51 Mustang "Eggplane"

[BobM]

Well, even though I'm still on vacation for a few days, I thought I'd start my entry into this SIG today.

For this build I'll be working this kit:

2017 Egg Plane SIG by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

It comes with the markings for Major Robert W. Moore's "Stinger VII" which I recently completed (as my second build) from Italeri's reboximg of Hasegawa's kit:

P-51D Stinger VII Completed by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

And that was inspired by this:


Once I get home I'll post my sprue shots and get going!!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Good choice
Interested to see the two of them photographed together
Bon Chance

[Lysus]

[Skullfish]

i want it to read "Scrambled" on the cowling


Jase

[BobM]

i want it to read "Scrambled" on the cowling

That would be cool, "Scrambled VII"... Too bad I don't have that kind of talent!

OK, here are some eggs-ellent photos of the box contents.

First two small gray sprues:

Box Contents by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr


Box Contents by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

The clear sprue (aka the canopy) and decals:

Box Contents by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

And finally the instructions:

Box Contents by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr


Box Contents by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr


Box Contents by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr


Box Contents by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

Oh, but we can't forget to peek at our eggs-emplary pilot:

Box Contents by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

Well, for now... That's all Yolks!

[Skullfish]

Bravo, Bravo
J

[BobM]

Ready for another "eggs-ellent" update? This one promises to be full of some "eggs-iting" adventures and "eggs-traordinary" feats of modeling magic. So hold on, here we go!

After several hours of removing parts from sprues, filing, sanding and assembling, along with a little filling, rescribing and masking, all parts are pretty much ready for paint.


Ready for Paint? by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

Or are they...

I've been considering doing an inflight display. I've been on the hunt for some small clear acrylic rod to use for mounting and wasn't going to commit to this idea until I found something. Well, I've not found anything locally and since I don't have a lot of time on this one I don't want to risk ordering anything that I have found on eBay and the like. But then I remembered I have some very stiff 1/16" (about 1.6 mm) steel rod laying around... I think that will do the trick!

With that decision made, I realized that the landing gear would be in the down position since there is no official option for an inflight configuration. But after looking at the underside, it will be a simple matter of removing the tailwheel and landing gear mounts and filling. Here are the before and during shots (I'm currently waiting for everything to dry completely before proceeding).


Underside - Before by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr


Underside - During by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

You probably noticed the big mess on the air scoop. Well, my first attempt at drilling a hole for the mounting rod was way more crooked than even I could tolerate. So I drilled it bigger and filled it with a piece of sprue and some "sprue-goo". I think in the end this will give a slightly sturdier place to for the rod to mount.

The landing gear and tailwheel areas are filled with bondo Glazing and Spot Putty. The larger filled area on the one wing is due to an assembly issue. The lower wing surfaces are inserts into the upper wing, in that corner this is no support underneath and I pushed it in a little too far and couldn't get it back out... hopefully I can clean it up a bit...

Overall this has been an enjoyable build. I'm using it as a chance to continue improving some of my techniques and experiment where I can. While fairly minor, this is my first time modifying a kit with my own ideas.

Well, until next time... that's all yolks!

[Lysus]

Overall this has been an enjoyable build. I'm using it as a chance to continue improving some of my techniques and experiment where I can. While fairly minor, this is my first time modifying a kit with my own ideas.

Well, until next time... that's all yolks!

Puns aside, this is my favorite thing about egg builds, you can just try stuff out and not worry about screwing up your $80 kit. Eggsemplary work, man!

[BobM]

Puns aside, this is my favorite thing about egg builds, you can just try stuff out and not worry about screwing up your $80 kit. Eggsemplary work, man!

You've got that right... Then again I haven't "graduated" to an $80 kit yet.

Thanks!

[BobM]

Good progress the last couple of days. I cleaned up the underside and got everything primed. It took a couple of applications of putty on the one bad wing, but after priming with Stynylrez, it's looking pretty good.

There are only a few pieces that need assembly, so priming went quickly. I did the pilot in white since I hope that will make his final colors a bit more vivid.


All Primed... by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

And here is a good shot of the cleaned-up and primed underside. If you look there are plenty of minor dings, chips and scratches. Some from re-scribing lines, others from poor filing and sanding. But I'm really egg-static over the result!


Underside In Good Shape by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

Next steps are to re-drill the mounting hole in the air scoop and then color coats!

Thanks again for looking!

[BobM]

Here is my photo for the Friday Live Show update. Not much progress other than getting the pilot painted.

He was brush painted with Tamiya paints, not easy and/or I'm not very skilled... But I did it to the best of my abilities and it actually came out a little better than I egg-spected!


Friday April 14 Update by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

[Twokidsnosleep]

Your pilot looks great!!!
Coming along nicely

[Fridgy]

Egg-celent job on your little pilot!

I hope my spook will come out half as good

[BobM]

Continuing to make progress, but for such a small kit it's slow going. I guess that no matter the size, it still take just as long for things to dry!

I finally got time to paint the cockpit, Tamiya XF-71 Cockpit Green, what else!

Cockpit Green! by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

Next the decal for the instrument panel was added (after a quick coat of Future) followed by a coat of XF-86 Flat Clear. The pilot was set in place and we are ready to add the canopy and button up the cockpit!

Let's Fly! by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr


Over the Shoulder! by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr


All Buttoned Up! by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

The cockpit was glued with a PVA glue, once that dries I'll prime the canopy and then I can move on to the color coats!

Now since this will be an in-flight display, I'm also working on a base. But I'm keeping that under wraps since A) I don't know how it will come out and B) it will be a nice surprise at the end, right? So far it's working out, but the hardest part is yet to come!

Thanks again!

[Lysus]

That pilot looks so good...

[BobM]

It's been a while since the last update. Most of that time was spent working on the base. I'm still not sure if it will work out; I'm 50/50 on how it is coming out and I've run into some problems I've had to repair. I'm continuing on... we'll see if it makes the final reveal or not.

In the meantime, I've also completed the main body color, Tamiya X-11 Chrome Silver:


X-11 Chrome Silver by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

As you can see the finish was pretty rough. I had read about using a paper towel as sandpaper and decided to try it; that worked really well!

I then painted the cowl/anti-glare with XF-62 Olive Drab, applied a coat or two of clear and added decals:


Paint and Decals by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

From this experience I learned what I had heard, but not yet run into myself... not all decals are created equal! I'm not sure if it was me, my technique, the decals or the model gods; but I had a heck of a time with these decals. At some points they were incredibly delicate, at others incredibly resilient. I ended up with several tears and holes, and even destroyed the entire ID number for the starboard vertical stabilizer; oh well...

The end is in sight. A couple of more clear coats, some panel line accent, finish the base (in some form) and final assembly!

Until next time...

[BobM]

Ok, I'm calling this one done!

After the decals, I applied a couple of coats if gloss clear and let it dry. Then I applied Tamiya Black Panel Line accents to, well, the panel lines! This was my first time doing this and it didn't always flow as well as I expected. I guess some lines were too shallow, some too wide and some not glossy enough. But some place went well. Once this dried I removed the excess with a cotton bud and Mona Lisa mineral spirits. This went really well, except for the shallow ones that lost most of the accent, and rubbing too hard on some edges. But all In all, I'm real happy with the result.

The final step was a couple of coats of Tamiya XF-86 Flat Clear and a little final assembly.

This was then mounted on my base... ah yes... my base. Well, I gave up on my grand plan due to my lack of artistic skills and/or patience to get it looking good. The concept was a an egg cut in half and painted to look like an aerial view of a countryside/farmland. This would have set on an egg shaped wooden base with the support rod coming out holding my little Mustang flying over the countryside. So, even though my artitpstic skills suck, my woodworking skills are just fine; I ended up with just the wooden base.

But, you don't get to see that until I post the final photos in my reveal thread. That may be a day or two away.

Until then, I'll leave you with this sneak peek:

Reveal Preview by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr

[BobM]

The reveal thread is up!


Final Reveal by Bob Mortensen, on Flickr