I decided it was time to brave another natural metal finish (NMF), so I built the Tamiya F-51D boxing of the P-51D. This kit has everything the P-51D boxings have, plus additional underwing armament. This kit also has both kinds of canopies, standard and Dallas, and two kinds of props. I knew I didn't want to do a Korean War plane, so I searched through my decal stash and found Aeromaster 48-657 Yellow Nose Mustangs of the 361st FG part 3. I thought Death's Angel would do nicely, since the paint scheme was pretty simple, just a yellow nose and an olive drab anti-glare panel.

As with the Corsair, I used Model Master Enamel FS34151 Interior Green for the cockpit. The propellor blade tips were Tamiya XF-3 Flat Yellow and the propellor blades themselves were Gaianotes EX-02 Flat Black. I knew I was going to use Alclad II for the exterior, so I used Gaianotes EX-07 Silver for the landing gear and the wheels, as I like to have a bit of contrast.

For the exterior, I started by painting the yellow on the nose using Tamiya XF-3 Flat Yellow. I used Tamiya XF-62 Olive Drab for the anti-glare panel. I usually use Tamiya Khaki Drab to represent Olive Drab on US aircraft, as I think it looks a bit better, but since the area to be painted was so small I used actual Olive Drab.

Now came the critical moment - painting the NMF. I primed with Gaianotes Silver EVO Surfacer, thinking that using silver for a primer would make painting the Alclad easier. Unfortunately, the Silver EVO Surfacer was quite grainy. I used EVO in other colors before, and been satisfied with it, but I don't know that I'll be using the silver again. I gave the kit a slight sanding, then applied the Alclad Aluminum. It turned out okay, not great, but okay. I think the next time I use a gloss black primer and double check for defects.

I used Model Master Acryl Clear Gloss for my decal undercoat. The Alclad was pretty glossy as it was, but some of the decals went over the yellow areas, so I had to apply the clear coat. The Aeromaster decals went on well, using Microset and a little bit of Microsol. I actually applied nearly all the stencils on this build, something I usually don't do. I used Future after applying the decals and attaching the landing gear, drop tanks, propellor and pitot tube, then used Acryl Clear Flat.

Page last updated June 15, 2023.