1:48 P-51D Mustang

A bubble over the Mustang

The P-51D is the version that gave the type its best-known silhouette. The cut-down decking and the one-piece domed canopy gave the pilot all-round vision, the armament grew to six large-caliber machine guns and with drop tanks the machine reached as far as eastern Germany. It is precisely the reach of escort from England deep over the continent that is usually given as the reason why the Mustang became the symbol of the last year of the war in Europe.

Contents

The box masks the canopy with a pair of masks, separately for the outer and the inner face, and adds two masks for the national insignia. The cut follows the shape of the framing, so measuring and trimming tape fall away. On a bubble canopy that is a noticeable saving, because its frame forms a single curved line that a straight strip of tape never follows precisely.

Evening out the shade after removal

On bare metal working with a mask is more demanding than on camouflage, because every blemish shows. Metallic shades have a coarser pigment and polish easily, so after the film is peeled off a different sheen is left at the edge than across the area. It helps not to polish the whole surface at once: the base coat is sprayed first, the masking goes onto it, and after the masks are lifted the local difference is evened out by a light pass of the same shade from a greater distance. The metal is thereby gently roughened and the sheen levels out. Only right at the end is the model polished, so that the panels get a uniform tone and the transitions disappear. The differences between individual panels for which bare metal became famous are then made deliberately and in the order you choose, not by accident under the edge of a film.