Wirecutting Mustang Operation Kadesh

I want to depict the plane in flight with rudders and flaps not in neutral. As the Tamiya kit does not offer the possibility of separate flaps/controls I had to cut them out. 

All controls were then replaced by those of the respective CMK kit. This required a bit more modification than just cutting out the controls, particularly at the wing root. 

Very much to my dismay Tamiya did not provide a decal for the instrument panel. Time for instrument decals and my punch tool 

I could not definitely clarify whether this plane featured the original interior green or was repainted black in Isreal or Sweden (from where most of the israeli Mustangs have been bought). I opted for green and painted the fuselage halfs accordingly.  

With the precision and engineering we know from Tamiya, everything fits together nicely. So, time to close the fuselage. 

Minor imperfections will be addressed with Mr. Surfacer 500. 

Same on the underside. The wheel wells are closed already too. This worked quite well with only little modification necessary.  

The wing gun nozzles were replaced by brass ones from Master. 

Some cables at the battery/avionics compartment added. 

All flaps and controls positioned and the pilot test fitted. 

I did not know which gear the early israeli pilots used, so I chose an english RAF pilot to man the cockpit. 

 

 

I crammed the pilot into the cockpit and even persuaded him to grab the control stick 

Looks the right way for a right turn I'd say.  

Primer and preshading of the underside. I prefer brown over black as the contrast is not as harsh. 

Underside done. Took a moment to figure out where the paint borders to the interior green at the cooler outlet. 

Base color of the upper side is on. 

Some color variations were achieved with lighted base color and a template. 

Masks were cut refering to internet pictures of a Mustang in Hazerim, the israeli Airforce Museum close to Beer Sheva. 

Variations in the paint were achieved with the same technique as mentioned above.  

 

 

Grrrrr. Although I masked the whole plane to prevent just that, I must have left a gap somewhere and black paint from the anti glare area found its way onto the wing root. I hope that 3000grit sandpaper and/or polish can fix that without ruining the underlying paint. 

As I couldn't get my hand on any decals with the identification stripes of operation Kadesh/Musketeer, I decided to paint them.  

 

Didn't turn out too bad. Let's see whether I can live with the flaws if I look at it in a few days. 

The decals are Frankenstein'ed from various with a similar font that I found in my decal box. They still need some touch ups to get No 38 I am after. 

Preliminary result. 

Not too far of the original I think. So, let's polish the canopy, repair the overspray, complete the numbers and then further onto weathering.