ICM P-51 D - Anderson's 'Old Crow' 357th FG

As a 'practise' build before starting the new-tool Airfix and Eduard P-51s this is my ICM 48th P-51 D in the well-known markings of 357th FG ace Cpt. 'Bud' Anderson, as based at Leiston, Suffolk during October 1944. I read somewhere (I think) that this kit is very much a 'copy' of the Tamiya P-51 and while I don't know about that, it did go together far more easily than the ICM Bf 109 F I built last year! I made a mess of the windscreen which didn't fit too well though  - I attempted to drill out the blast barrels but made a mess of that as well; note they line-up asymmetrically in the wing leading edge. The finish is a 'weathered' version of RAF dark green, while the decals are from Kagero ‘Topshots’ - but they broke up disastrously on application. I still need to source some prop stencils and maybe add a coat of matt varnish, although I would suspect this machine was kept well polished! All in all this is something of a save....

 

Merle Olmsted's 'The Yoxford Boys' describes this machine with the following caption: "... It was received at the 8th Air Force depot at Wharton in the first week of September, 1944, just off the freighter from Newark N.J. It would have arrived at Leiston a week or two later, where it was apparently immediately painted in RAF green and Anderson flew it like that until winter came on, when his crew stripped it back to bare metal. It was eventually scrapped in November, 1945."

 Note that 8th AF P-51s did NOT have a wire antenna running from tail to cockpit..

‘Old Crow’ on René Francillon’s beautifully illustrated 368-page A-4 hardback published in French by Lela Presse - almost certainly one of the best - and least known - P-51 references...

ICM Bf 109 Friedrich 1:48 - build review finished

Finished in the markings of Kommodore Balthasar of JG 2 as seen in late May 1941 in the three greys, but being an early F-2, there’s a chance it could have been finished in BoB Emil 71/02/65. Decals assembled from various remnants, including the rudder ‘kill’ markings. Balthasar was one of the leading Luftwaffe aces during the campaign in the West and the Battle of Britain. He was killed in his new Friedrich during July 1941.

I am currently considering whether or not to repaint the port wing, as the pattern is not consistent with the splinter pattern vaguely discernable on the photo of this machine (he says now!)... overall I like the kit. I found it a little tricky in parts -especially the cowl - but the detail is reasonably good..

ICM Bf 109 Friedrich 48 scale - build review (1)

 I had the idea to do a comparative build of 48th scale Bf 109s but having already built the Eduard and Hasegawa Gustavs and paid a small fortune for the 'new' Tamiya kit I quickly went off the idea as being a little pointless. How come ? ...well it occurred to me that I had paid four times as much for the Tamiya kit (around £32.... ) as I had for any of the ICM Bf 109s in the stash ( around £8.99 ..) Yes, 4x. I can't imagine that the Tamiya kit is four times as good or is four times as easy to build for example ..or is it? Now the ICM Bf 109s seem to be nicely detailed kits - you get a reasonable engine and cockpit - but I've read a few horror stories about fit and so on so here is my attempt to assemble one as neatly as possible.

The ICM Bf 109 kits feature a nice representation of the DB engine, so why not build this with the cowl open?  However adding the engine to the cockpit firewall before inserting into the fuselage seems to be asking or trouble. Best perhaps to assemble the cockpit and close up the fuselage in the normal way. Once that's done add the engine to the firewall ..

When fitting the engine to the firewall you will need to test fit the various cowl parts at the same time - you may find that the locating holes for the engine mounts will need drilling out. Once glued in, the the whole engine assembly is pretty solid. You should find that the two banks of cylinders just rest on the forward part of the fuselage. These are angled  so that when the exhaust stacks are fitted they sit level to the rest of the assembly. Some more detail parts still to add to the engine here  - eg the coolant tank and valve and a bit of wiring to 'busy' the space up a little...Plenty (!!) of test-fitting of the multi-part cowl is required throughout..

Elsewhere the locating tabs on the flaps will need to be cut down to enable these parts to be positioned other than at neutral. Unfortunately the rounded wing-tip parts do not fit well and much sanding and filing is necessary. Recessed panel lines are well done. The plastic has a nice 'feel' to it.

Painting underway using Humbrol and Xtracolor enamels over a coat of (Halfords) grey acrylic primer. I always have 'trouble' painting exhausts - this time I went with a metallic silver base coat - after all these things are made of metal - and then went over this with an acrylic brown, drybrushed so that the 'metal' just shows through.

The kit decals by the way look incredibly matte on the sheet - I've decided not to use them.
More soon.....