P-51 Mustang - my first plane build!

[Intmd8r]

My first (and probably my last!) airplane build.  Made this for my father's Birthday over 3 days (staying up to 3am on the 3rd day counts, right?).

Its box stock, and not historically accurate, but it looks fine enough on the shelf.

Enjoy.

[CFMgarage]

That's a sweeeeeet looking mustang! I dig it!

[cobraman]

Looks good. One of my favorite war birds.

[SfanGoch]

Ditto what Ray said. Pretty darned nice for an express job.

 

[landman]

She's a beauty Steve. My first model was a Mustang too. It was in 1958 or so. 

[Intmd8r]

Ditto what Ray said. Pretty darned nice for an express job.

 

Thanks!

I thought this would be a quick build. Only 59 parts? Base color is aluminum? How hard could it be?

Had plans to hand it over Saturday morning, which meant I had 3 evenings to work on it after the kids went to bed. First two nights was spent on paint. Wrestled with it hot 6 hrs Friday night - a solid 2 1/2 of that was fighting with the decals. No amount of Micro-Sol would make the checkered decals conform to the fuselage! Pretty happy with the end result. Dad was quite surprised too!

Thanks again to all for the compliments!

[bogger44]

Looks good to me, nice work on the Mustang.  Glad your Dad likes it, too.  The first plane I ever built was a P-51 as well.

[Snake45]

Is that the Monogram (now Revell) 1/48 kit? That's not a particularly easy kit to build. I know--I've done three of the things.

[Intmd8r]

Is that the Monogram (now Revell) 1/48 kit? That's not a particularly easy kit to build. I know--I've done three of the things.

I'm pretty sure it's the same one. Don't remember the scale, but for sure it was a Revell kit.

[Intmd8r]

Looks good to me, nice work on the Mustang.  Glad your Dad likes it, too.  The first plane I ever built was a P-51 as well.

Thanks!

The old guy is who got me in the hobby as a kid. The crazy idea started in March when I brought him with me to a model show at the Canadian Warplane Museum in Hamilton, Ontario. He said it brought back memories of building his favourite plane - the P-51. Convenient place for the inspiration.

Long story short, he wanted to get back into the hobby, but didn't think he could do it with his eyes & arthritis. 

[Jim B]

Great looking P-51D.  Very well done on your marathon build session.

[unclescott58]

A quick build. I'm impressed. If you told me it took you several weeks to build it, I'd still be impressed.

[GTJUNIOR]

Very nice. 

[Brudda]

Very Nice!!! The P51 is my favorite. 

[Roadrunner]

I like it just fine. I've got several Hasegawa and Tamiya 1:48 Mustangs to finish one of these days, I hope mine turn out as nice.

[Intmd8r]

I like it just fine. I've got several Hasegawa and Tamiya 1:48 Mustangs to finish one of these days, I hope mine turn out as nice.

Thank you! That is a very nice compliment.

[Lizard Racing]

I did the same P-51 and left it all silver and did decals for Utah ANG.  I knew there was no way I was going to get the checkered nose right.

Yours looks very good.

[Intmd8r]

Thanks!

I think that if I were to do it again, I would cut the checkered decals into strips & apply them that way. At least they would be easier to conform over the contours of the nose.

Edited May 15, 2016 by Intmd8r

[High octane]

Very nice build on that plane as I prefer those Mustangs over the four wheeled versions. I built a plane a couple years back so that I could hang it from my ceiling of my den/model room. It was the Revell Texan, and probably the first plane kit that I've built since 50 years ago.

[mustang1989]

That looks like a good build to me especially considering that its the Revell kit. The last time I built one of those was about 30-ish years ago. I've got a Tamiya Mustang in the stash as well and one day I hope to build it.

[Roadrunner]

That looks like a good build to me especially considering that its the Revell kit. The last time I built one of those was about 30-ish years ago. I've got a Tamiya Mustang in the stash as well and one day I hope to build it.

You'll love it, it fits together like a dream.