(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/DC8BigBrown/Amelia/DSC03009s.jpg)
Tuskegee Airmen P-51
Kit Pegasus Models Snap tite 1/48th
Hayes Hobby SHops $9
Amelia has been wanting to build another model as of late, and is always bugging me to use the airbrush. So when we were at Hayes HS yesterday, we picked up the Pegasus Snaptite P-51 to build this weekend.
Well, we started on it this Friday morning at about 9am and we had it finished by 1pm.
I started by letting Amelia practice spraying water through the double action badger gravity feed airbrush. "Start the air, turn on the paint" was the mantra we followed. After spray painting a old 1/72 corsair with windex in the airbrush, we were ready to try paint.
We used enamel paint today, so I did all the mixing of the paint, and Amelia did 100% of the painting. I did all the airbrush cleaning for her (all modelers should be soooo lucky!)
She started by painting the interior sprues with IG (I looked for my DDG, but since I didn't find it in under 2 minutes, IG was good enough..again, all modelers should be so lucky!)
The fuse interiors and cockpit parts were her first time spraying real paint. We painted parts on the sprues. Takes a bit to get used to keeping the brush moving, and holding parts in an appropriate manner for paint coverage. She got real good, real fast. Kids tend to want to get the airbrush too close to the subject, so you need to keep reminding them to pull back.
After the interior was painted green, onto some black for the IP and the tires. A rusty brown was used for the exhausts. By the time the exhaust were painted, all else was dry to the touch.
All parts were snap fit, but I had her paint all parts joins with Testors Liquid cement for insurance. (I hate how snap tites disassemble themselves half way through a project)
I let her start out using the hobby knife, but the plastic was pretty hard, so I took over at the knife and promptly cut my thumb! LOL! >:( Anyway, the way the sprue gates were engineered was the problem. Twisting the part off worked much better than cutting (by design IMHO), then a quick clean up of the nub.
I had her follow all instructions until all the fiddly bits were read to attach to the airframe. At this point I deviated from instructions and left the Fuse/wings assembly without legs and props for painting.
Now for her big painting job. She crammed toliet paper into the cockpit. Meanwhile , I mixed up some old Floquil silver and told her she would have to hold the tail of the model with her left hand while rotating and painting the entire model. Floquil is pretty forgiving, and she sprayed a nice mist coat on all parts sans the tail. Of course, she ended up with some old silver fingers and nails, but she really liked that. 8)
While painting the old silver, I suggested she touch up an area with some streaks, and she shot back "No, I like that it kinda makes it look like its old and dirty"
So....thats how it starts? ;D Genesis of a true "spanish style" modeler!
She then sprayed all the gear parts with silver while on the sprues.
While the old silver dried, we had a snack and then I had her assemble the gear and fiddlies.
At this point, I asked her if she wanted to finish it now with decals, or do some detail painting on the nose and tail. To her credit and patience, Her choice was to detail it, so I taped one side of the antiglare panel, and had her tape the other side. Paint scheme was simplified for brevity.
OD antiglare was then sprayed on the nose. The process was repeated on the tail, I taped one side, and she copied the other. Then she sprayed the red tail on the "red tailed devil."
After some pizza for lunch, all was dry and ready for decals. I cut out the kit decals, while she dunked them in hot water and placed them on the model. After the first two, she really got the hang of it, and like all modelers, now decaling is about her favorite phase of the hobby.
The kit decals were pretty darn good to tell the truth for a snap tite. It included stickers also if one wants to go that route. The were good enough that I went down to the man cave and retrived the micro sol and had her apply a bit to settle the decals over the few bumps on the airframe.
While this dried, she took the previously painted prop spinner and hub and assembled them, and brush painted the props black.
A simple snap on of the prop and windscreen, and the model was finished.
The only bad thing I can say about the 'snap tite' function of this kit was that a few pieces really took some strenght to make them snap, and at 10 years old Amelia didn't have the hand strength for a few parts. On the plus side, it does not fall apart if you stare hard at it either.
Not a bad kit for a beginning modeler. Even if they are spanish school!
Amelia with Tuskegee Airman associate Lenoard "Hawk" Hunter.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/DC8BigBrown/Amelia/DSC00242s.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/DC8BigBrown/Amelia/DSC03010s.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/DC8BigBrown/Amelia/DSC03013s.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/DC8BigBrown/Amelia/DSC03014s.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/DC8BigBrown/Amelia/DSC03017s.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/DC8BigBrown/Amelia/DSC03016s.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/DC8BigBrown/Amelia/DSC03015s.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/DC8BigBrown/Amelia/DSC03012s.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/DC8BigBrown/Amelia/DSC03011s.jpg)
That is a very nice build.
Can she paint my kits too?
What a great job!! I hope to see more from her. Great quality father/daughter time.
Bill L.
Wow looks like a winner :) Keep up the great work Amelia.
regards,
Tony
Wow Stan, she did a great job. You should be proud of her skills. Very nice paint job.