BANDAI 1/24 Mustang build

[ghodges]

Since I finished the Trumpeter 1/24 P-51D, I decided to tackle the older 1/24 Bandai P-51D. I'm doing so for comparison purposes, but also because there's a nostalgic story for me with this kit dating back to 1976. It was THE model that was responsible for taking me in a more "serious" direction in my model building! 

This one will be in Preddy's markings too, but be his earlier Mustang, "Cripes A'Mighty 3rd". 

Preddy's earlier Mustang was a  P-51D-5 without the fin filet, so the first thing to do was to saw that off of the fuselage. The resulting gaping hole will be filled later with epoxy putty.

I'm leaving the guns out of this build too, so I glued the gun bay doors in place from the inside, which is easier than doing so after the wing is glued together.

Bandai molded the rocket launcher stubs as a part of the wing bottom (like the pylons) so they all had to be ground off and the resulting holes filled using plastic rod. I've also ground dimples into the wing tip to deepen the IFF light sockets.

The biggest problem with the old Bandai kit is it has NO wheel wells, just a center bulkhead and the wing spar. I used sheet plastic to box the wells in. I also cut out the flaps so they could be dropped on the model. Note that the flap sections from the top wing had to be extended with sheet plastic to match the span of the bottom flap pieces.

Plastic tubing sliced lengthwise was used to make the curved leading edges for each flap. Note the slots in the end of each gear well.... those are for the gear leg sockets in the top of each wing to fit into.

I scracthbuilt these cylinders using concentric tubing and strips of white tape to detail the underside of the center gear bays. Some rubber tubing was also added.

Although hard to see, there are longerons in the bay floor made using strips of white tape. The colored cross braces with the holes in the them are the edges cut and saved from the sheet plastic that came with the old Mattel vacuorm machine.

The well edge support gussets were made by cutting a 1/2" hole inside a square of sheet plastic and then quartering it to make 4 at a time. Some black wiring was then added for some additional plumbing. The white longerons are a little easier to see here.

The tail wheel well was also completely open so I boxed it in and added some cross bracing. Note that the tail gear leg sockets have been modified so the tail gear can be added at the end of the build instead of trapping it in place when the fuselage is glued together.

I'm leaving the engine out of this Mustang build also, so the exhaust openings need to be boxed in to close them off and provide seating for the 3D printed exhaust pipes to be added at the end of the build.

That's my progress so far..... more to come!

 

Gil

[ghodges]

In another small step forward, I finished the main IP. This is the Bandai kit panel, except that I drilled out the instrument faces and added film and decal instruments on the back. Clear UV cured resin was then used to fill the IP holes and create their glass covers.

More cockpit work to come!

 

Gil 

[ghodges]

The next item to be tackled was the floor... which was molded as a simple flat piece instead of having the proper sunken center section.

The center section was cut out and a new lower center section added using strip and sheet plastic. I also added the missing wing gas tank gauges into the floor and gave them PE bezels from the spares box. The large discs are covering holes that shouldn't be there. Buttons and dials have been added to the side consoles using cut plastic rod and punched discs. The 3D printed seat (sitting in place to help determine the position of the socket for the control stick) has had a sheet plastic back pad made for it. And lastly, you can see the screening cut and glued in place to close off the nose carburetor intake since the engine will be left out of the build.

I also got some 3D printed resin 108gal "paper" drop tanks for this model...

They were molded in 3 hollow parts, with a center section, a nose part, and a tail part. The center section needed its interior edges thinned for the nose and tail parts to fit properly. My references show 4 support bands on the tanks, so I added the 2 missing ones (at the joints) using thin white tape. The Bandai kit sway braces have also been glued and pinned in place and they can be used to help hold them for painting.

Questions, comments, and critiques welcome as always!

 

Gil 

Edited August 27, 2024 by ghodges

[ghodges]

99% of the interior painting is done!

The seat and the radios are just sitting in place for the pic. Also, the O2 regulator and hose still need to be glued onto the right cockpit side wall.

The radiator exhaust well was just a big hole in the kit, so I blanked it off with sheet plastic. The forward bulkhead is painted flat black and masked off so the interior can later be sprayed interior green while leaving the wall black (note the tape is puckered so it can be grabbed and removed more easily after that's done). A section of screen will be glued to the black wall for additional detailing in the end.

Almost ready to close it all up!

 

Gil 

[ghodges]

Well..... one step forward and two steps back as they say....

The good news is the fuselage is assembled and the initial rough sanding has been done. Note the epoxy putty filling the hole in the spine and fin where the fin filet was removed. It'll be sanded after giving it 24hrs to set.

The bad news is after test fitting the assembled wings to the assembled fuselage, the center of the wheel well was butting up into the bottom of the cockpit floor, especially where the cockpit floor was lowered to make it more correct. So, that center section had to be removed to get the wings to fit properly to the fuselage and that section of the wheel well will need to be rebuilt once the wing is in place.

With some luck that will be the only real problem for the rest of the build, and I have no one to blame but myself!

 

Gil 

[VMF211]

Those kits had some pretty nice detail for the time. Looking forward to seeing this one!!

[ghodges]

The main parts are all assembled and the first coat of primer is on. There's a bit of rescribing and fine sanding to do and it's on to the painting stages.

The hole cut in center wheel well has been been repaired and detailed too!

 

Gil 

[Ron Bell]

Great work, as usual. What scheme? NM? Bandai kits have always been rather good, tanks, planes whatever. They had some 1/30 scale armor kits back in the day that were better than the Tamiya ones available and covered some more obscure subjects and of course there are their 1/48 armor kits with interiors. 

[ghodges]

Thanks for the kind words Ron. This will also be in Preddy's markings, but in his more commonly seen "Cripes A' Mighty 3rd" scheme with the full D-Day striping and without the fin filet added to the later "D" models. This kit is very good for its day (1972 molding), but it had no enclosed wheel wells, and from an aesthetic viewpoint the wings and the vertical fin are on the thick side. 

Got the silver primer on today...

I used Tamiya rattle can TS-30 "Silver Leaf" and it provides a very nice, bright metallic look that I'll probably just stick with for the model! That means I can start painting those D-Day stripes tomorrow!

 

Gil 

[ghodges]

I sprayed some rattle can Tamiya Gloss Aluminum on the wings to better represent the "puttied and painted" Mustang wing, though it's tough to tell in the pic. Both of the Tamiya spray paints are quite hardy and I had no problem masking over them with Tamiya tapes to paint the D-Day Stripes and the blue nose. Note that I cut tape to mask off the stars/bars for the fuselage so I wouldn't have to worry about color bleed through under the decals after applying them.

As it turned out, the mask lines fell right on the wing pylons.... a hassle to mask over! The flaps are just placed there for painting, and will be down on the model.

The paints used were AK lacquer Flat white and Tamiya Lacquer Flat Black for the stripes and Model Master True Blue for the 352ndFG nose color.

Decaling is next! Hope to have this one done by the end of the weekend!

 

Gil 

Edited September 6, 2024 by ghodges

[ghodges]

The Mustang is done....

See more completed pics in the Aircraft topic below!

 

Gil 

[VMF211]

WOW!!! Very nice!!