# Academy 1/72nd scale P-51B



## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I recently finished a build of Academy's Old Crow P-51B in 1/72nd scale and I have to say that in 44 years of modeling this is by far the best little airplane I have ever built. 

I am so impressed with the fit of the kit first of all, the only place that needed any sort of putty was in front of the wing to fuselage joint and even that was hardly wider than an X-Acto blade. Nowhere else was any putty even needed, nor really any seam sanding for that matter. The top wing-to-fuselage joint was air tight and even the separate tail piece lined up to look like a molded in piece.



















I sort of got lazy on this kit, I didn't want to break out the airbrush for a 3 minute job so I brush painted it instead. This is where I absolutely amazed myself, I used slightly thinned Model Master colors, slightly thinned with lacquer thinner to make them hot and dry fast, and a super soft brush. When done there were very few brush strokes, nothing that would hold up under the clear coating and the paint was amazing and I got a sort of weathered look that I wanted. I got incredibly lucky I think.










The decals for Old Crow are only one of three versions in the kit and the only one designated for the Malcolm Hood canopy. I guess you could put it on the others but I had already sort of decided on Old Crow because of the invasion stripes. Anyway, the decals are excellent and fit the curves of the fuselage very well with only a little bit of Microset needed to lay them down into the engraved detailing. I did mine in 3 stages; the stripes first, national insignia and buzz numbers and then all of the little data decaling. There was a small gap in the checkered nose decal I couldn't fix so I put that gap on the bottom of the nose where it wouldn't show. I Future Waxed the aircraft both before and after all the decals were in place and dry.










After all the decals were in place I used some pastel chalk to provide some weathering, normally I'd do this with the airbrush but again, I was just too lazy this time. I then shot 2 light coats of canned flat clear over the whole aircraft and it looked fantastic. Again, the modeling Gods were smiling on me. After a little bit of Testors window glue and fighting with the canopy to get it in an open position, the finished product stood out as the best aircraft I can ever remember doing. 










I have an order I'm getting ready to place at Scale Hobbyist, I have revised it to include about a dozen of Academy's kits instead of the Revell of Germany versions. I'm hoping to be able to do a few more P-51's but my favorite aircraft is the P-38, of which there are now 4 variants on my order list. I don't normally do 1/72nd scale but I'm fast running out of display room hre and in my case at the hobby shop, but I think this one has me hooked.


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## Ace Airspeed (May 16, 2010)

It looks great, Pete! :thumbsup:


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## KUROK (Feb 2, 2004)

Nice!


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

Love the P-51! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Pete,
Very nice P-51, I like how the brush painting gave the paint job a subtle weathering effect.

Agentsmith


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Yeah, sometimes lazyness pays off for me.


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