Middle East Mustang – 1:32 Zoukei-Mura P-51D

-51 MUSTANG BUILD 8 – P

Middle Eastern Mustang

Mario Serelle adds and IDF/AF finish to the 1:32 Zoukei-Mura P-51D

n September 1948 Israel received their first two

IP-51D’s, which were quickly assembled and rushed into action to fight in the War of Independence. These aircraft were the most modern combat aircraft in service at the Middle East at the time, and were extensively used for tactical reconnaissance, strike and interception duties. In October, a second pair of Mustang’s were received, but too late see any action during the war. In the early 1950’s the IAF/DF started receiving more P-51s from different sources, including USA, Sweden and Italy giving them seventy-nine operational aircraft, with twenty-six airframes used to supply spare parts. These formed the backbone of the Israeli air defences until mid-1950’s when the jetpowered fighters were introduced in large numbers.

I’m basically a 1:72 modeller, but have built some 1:48 kits in recent years, and I expected this 1:32 build to be my biggest challenge so far. I was right, yet this project turned out as one of the most enjoyable builds I’ve done. The Zoukei-Mura Mustang is an old friend to large-scale modellers, extremely well detailed and full of nice options. Everything you need is in the large box, including engine cables and pipes. There is some flash on most of the parts, but if you take care you won’t have problems during the assembly, and you will enjoy the opportunity this great kit provides.

There’s a nicely rendered Packard Merlin engine in the box, so why not to leave if exposed? Trying to make

things easier I built all the engine components and primed them in Grey. The engine block and its accessories were then painted in Rubber Black and the frames and oil tank in Yellow Zinc Chromate, with some metallic parts being coated in Aluminium. A Black wash was used to accent the details and using a Steel acrylic paint I highlighted all raised parts of the engine, and then painted the spark plug cables as well. A Dark Brown wash helped to show up the engine mounts and oil tank details and this also served to add dirt to these components. Some chips were simulated with Rubber and Tires paint, carefully applied with a sponge. Everything was then sealed with a matt coat.

The engine was secured on its mounts using Slow Dry CA glue and then the smaller details that had been left aside were attached. Some Engine Grime was used to add more dirt to the engine itself, and a Silver pencil was used to create some small chips on the cylinder covers. A lead pencil then gave a metallic sheen to the supports, and oil leaks were replicated with Ammo by MIG Fresh Engine Oil. Now I turned my attention to the twelve exhaust pipes supplied individually. To add a worn look here also, I started painting them with a coat of Steel, which was followed by a very thin translucent Red Brown. These were sealed Matt varnish ready for some pigments. First I used Track Rust, which was followed by Black, and these were applied to the stacks with small brushes in a very irregular way and sealed with Pigment Fixer. Next, a Light Dust pigment was used on the tip of each exhaust, and the rears were painted Black for a better depth effect. A Silver pencil again added a metallic sheen to the stacks.

After assembling some small items of the cockpit, the major components were painted in Interior

Green, Yellow Zinc Chromate and Black. To represent the Mustang’s wooden floor, I started with a coat of

Old Wood which was then covered with Streaking

Grime. I used a sponge moistened with enamel thinner to work the product, and create the wood veins. Next I added a coat of Chipping Effects, and after this has dried, a thin layer of Crystal Orange was added, and later using a toothpick I revealed the original wood colour underneath. A second Crystal Orange coat gave the wood its final and weathered appearance. I know the Mustang floor was usually covered with a Black antiskid coat but I liked the wood effect so much that I decided to leave it all exposed. Back to other parts, and all the details like hoses, boxes and levers were carefully brush painted their appropriate colours, and everything was then sealed with a coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss. A Dark Brown wash was then applied to enhance all the various details

North American P-51D Mustang

MANUFACTURER: ZOUKEIMURA SCALE: 1:32 KIT T YPE: PLASTIC INJEC TION MOULDED KIT NUMBER: SWS 04 ISRADECAL #IAF-92 ISRAELI AIR FORCE P-51D MUSTANG HGW MODELS #132805 P-51D MUSTANG MICROTEXTILE SEATBELTS AND MASKS

The Zoukei-Mura Mustang is an old friend to large scale modellers, extremely well detailed and full of nice options

and Light Green was then used to highlight all edges and rivets. To give a worn look to the interior I added ‘old’ and ‘new’ paint chips using Chipping and Steel acrylic respectively, applied with a sponge. The last details to be added were the paper and etched parts for the HGW Models seat belts. Now with all components painted and weathered the cockpit was put together, and it looked great!

From now on, pay attention to every item you attach to get perfectly aligned parts, as any flaws here can create problems in future steps. I started the airframe by the tail unit that includes a detailed wheel well which was painted in Yellow Zinc Chromate and weathered with a Dark Brown wash. Next the radiator and oil cooler parts were painted, assembled and carefully attached to the engine/ cockpit sub-assembly. The fuselage was quickly put together but some attention was needed to ensure a precise alignment of all parts. Then I turned my attention to the wings, and started painting the structures accordingly, using Interior Green for the wheel wells and Yellow Zinc Chromate for the gun compartment. I decided to pose only the rightwing guns open, and keep the left wing closed. The wheel wells received the same weathering sequence used in the cockpit, a Dark Brown wash followed by Light Green highlights. The gun compartment also received the same wash, but some chips were added with a sponge to represent some wear caused by the regular maintenance and rearming process. The guns were painted with a mix of Gun Metal and Black, with edges and raised details being highlighted with pure Gun Metal. The ammunition belts were brush painted using Brass as the main colour for the .50 cal projectiles. The wings components were finally glued together with some filling required on the leading edge insert, but nothing to really worry about, and I really liked how the machine gun bay looked.

The completed engine was fitted to its supports and linked to the fire wall and oil tank using slow dry CA glue

After painting the cockpit floor with a wood colour, Streaking Grime was spread over it with a flat brush A coat of Chipping Effects was airbrushed over the wooden floor to help creating some worn effects

-51 MUSTANG BUILD 8 – P After moistening the surface with some water, the Crystal Orange paint was scratched in some areas to reveal the lighter wood shade underneath

A Deep Grey wash was applied to specific panels where I wanted a more dramatic contrast Streaking products were used to create most of the leaking fluids on the underside of the aircraft

BUILD 8 – P-51 MUSTANG To weather the Israeli insignias, I added small drops of White and Light Blue oil paint…. …. and to make the oil paint effect more subtle, a clean and stiff brush was used for a final blending…. …. and to seal the oil paint and give a flat finish to the markings, a thin coat of Matt was airbrushed carefully over the roundels

Time to add some colour to this pony! First I painted the canopy frames in Interior Green to match the interior, and a coat of Gloss Black was sprayed on to prepare the model for the Alclad metallic colours to follow. To represent the Mustang’s painted on wings I choose White Aluminium, and the fuselage received a Polished Aluminium coat. Then selected panels around the wings and fuselage were masked and painted with different Alclad shades to add more interest. Finally, the anti-glare panel was painted with Rubber Black and the rudder was painted White. The landing gear legs were painted in Steel, and the brake lines brush painted with Rubber and Tires. This same colour was used on the tyres, and then a bit of White was mixed in and sprayed on the tread for a worn effect. Everything was then sealed with Alclad Aqua Gloss, ready for decaling. Here I used a very comprehensive decal sheet from IsraDecal, with numerous options for IAF aircraft, and my choice was for Mustang #53, one of the aircraft received from Sweden. It’s interesting to note that this

specific aircraft had national insignias outlined with a thin Blue line, making them stand out over the metallic finish. These decals were designed for Tamiya kits and the Red stripes on the rudder did not match the shape of Zoukei-Mura kit, so I had to mask and touch up some stripes, mainly on the top and bottom.

The Swedish-supplied Mustangs were received after the War of Independence, so and I decided to keep any weathering on the subtle side, to represent a post-war Mustang. So, starting with the propellers, I added some paint chips on the tip of the blades using a Black colour applied with a sponge. To add some more wear to the propellers I painted thin lines of Rainmarks Effects which were then blended to the Black colour with a flat brush. The airframe then received a Blue Grey wash and then a Deep Grey wash was used on selected panels for a deeper effect. Then I ‘splashed’ some Streaking Grime over the wing roots and blended this in with round brush moistened with thinner, and then with a flat and clean brush. On the undersides, I added some fluid leakings using Streaking Grime, Dark Streaking Grime and Streaking Grime for Panzer Grey. I also added some dust to represent wear from the runways, and finally I had to weather the national insignias and choose oil paints to do it. First I airbrushed on a thin coat of Matt over the roundels, and started adding small drops of White and Light Blue oil paint. These were then blended with a round tip brush moistened with enamel thinners, and then a stiff brush was used to tone down the effect. To preserve the

metallic sheen, I airbrushed a final Matt coat over certain the spots like the insignias, anti-glare panel and rudder.

Black pigment was then used to add subtle gun stains on the muzzles and cartridge ejector holes,and finally thin exhaust stains were airbrushed using highly diluted Grey and Red Brown. Fuel stains around the refuelling caps were then carefully painted in using Fuel Stains and a fine tip brush. The position and ID lights were all then brush painted using Ammo by MIG Crystal colours, and the Israeli Mustang was finally done!