P-51B Mustang “Shangri-La” by GrandpaPhil - FINISHED - Monogram - 1/48 - PLASTIC

[GrandpaPhil]

I am building “Shangri-La”, a P-51B Mustang flown by Captain Don Gentile as part of the 336th FS of the 4th FG in March of 1944, using a set of War Birds by Kits-World decals!

 

The kit:

The decals:

 

 This will be a fun build!

[Canute]

I built a model of Gentile's Shangri La back in my "yoot". I am in, Phil! 😄

[GrandpaPhil]

1 hour ago, Canute said:

I built a model of Gentile's Shangri La back in my "yoot". I am in, Phil! 😄

Ken,

  Welcome!

 

The first round of subassemblies are assembled and ready to paint!

[GrandpaPhil]

Here’s my rendition of Captain Gentile in 1/48 scale:

 

I still need to paint the whites of his eyes and his pupils.

 

1/48 is too small for me to worry about irises.

 

That’s just outside of my resolution.

 

He’s leaning up against Oryol’s conning tower.

Edited Saturday at 06:10 PM by GrandpaPhil

[GrandpaPhil]

The interior is painted and assembled:

The fuselage is now glued together:

The fuselage for this one was warped out of the box.

 

The fuselage halves were banana shaped like the Spad I just built.

 

I used force to reshape them prior to gluing.

[GrandpaPhil]

It’s mostly assembled now:

Yes, that is a wooden antenna, lol.

 

Time to paint!

 

I’ll start with my usual priming with thinned down black paint and move on to the olive drab for the plane itself.

 

I need to paint the propellor hub assembly and nose red.

 

I figured I’d attach it after painting the plane itself the olive drab.

[GrandpaPhil]

It’s now olive drab and gray:

And the prop hub is painted:

I am going to glue the prop hub on and then let the model sit overnight.

[Old Collingwood]

I have  a  few  pics  that might  help  I took them some years back  at an Airshow  over this side of the pond.

 

OC.

[GrandpaPhil]

12 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

I have  a  few  pics  that might  help  I took them some years back  at an Airshow  over this side of the pond.

 

OC.

OC,

  Thank you very much!  Much appreciated!  Those helped me quite a lot and answered a couple of questions that I had!

 

The Shangri-La is fully painted and assembled now and just awaiting decals, final highlighting and final sealing:

Edited 13 hours ago by GrandpaPhil

[GrandpaPhil]

The decals are on and I’m waiting for the Max Hold CA that will hold the HF antenna to dry so I can attach it to the mast.

Following my experience with my last round of plastic models, I sealed the model immediately following adding the decals to prevent them from curling up.

 

I used the technique of putting thinned down glue on thread for the long-wire antenna, as is typically done with card models.

 

I would have just used an eyebolt like in times past, but there’s not enough material to drill into on the rudder, so I kind of made my own EZ-line.

[GrandpaPhil]

And done:

Thank you everyone for watching and for all the likes and comments!

 

Quick note, I’m not too happy about the canopy, but due to the fact that I am most likely going to be building a lot more aircraft for the next couple of years, I ordered some canopy glue.

[davec]

Looks great!  Congratulations on finishing!  If the fogging was from the glue, canopy glue will prevent it next time.

[Old Collingwood]

Great finish Phil  -  looks a treat.

 

OC.