1/48 Hasegawa P-51D Mustang

by Bill Lachance

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This is a Mustang that served with the El Salvador Air Force during the infamous "Soccer War," a one hundred hour conflict which erupted over a disputed call during a soccer match. Many of the Mustangs used were former civilian aircraft, which were painted and armed for combat. The auto-retract mechanism for the tailwheel doors malfunctioned frequently, so they were removed. I have tried to recreate one of these little-known birds.

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The kit was built mostly out of the box, with a couple exceptions. I added a set of Eduard photoetched belts, and I cut wheel cover doors from sheet styrene. The Hasegawa kit is molded with the flaps in the raised position, so the wheel cover doors would be closed. After the aircraft was parked for a while, the hydraulic pressure would bleed, which caused the flaps and wheel covers to droop. Closing the doors helps cover the only weak point of this kit, which is the shallow depth of the wheel wells. The kit doors will not fit without considerable trimming, so I made new ones instead. I also cut a piece of "glass" for the gunsight from the leftover clear film of an Eduard instrument panel dial sheet.

I used Gunze Sangyo acrylics for the camouflage, which sprayed beautifully for the freehand scheme. The colors are the SEA scheme used by the US during the Viet Nam war. The roundels and stripes were masked and painted. The other markings came from the Hobby Craft (ex-Idea) P-51 "Sharkmouth" kit.

Light weathering was accomplished with pastels for the staining, and a Prismacolor pencil for the chipping. Since this aircraft was freshly painted and saw only a few hours of service, heavier weathering would not have been appropriate.

I really like the Mustang in this scheme. It was built as part of a four-aircraft project for a customer, so I have to ship it. I will probably build one of these for myself one day.

Bill

Visit my website to see other models of mine, I also build models on commission.  http://www.pix.prettyneatinc.com/

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Photos and text © by Bill Lachance