@Russelle Yep! Product design it is! You know that Airfix uses Creo by the way? I haven’t gotten around to send in an application though 
!
A wash always liven things up a bit, I’ll continue with the lower surfaces today. And then I’ll have to figure out how to proceed with the NMF-Mustang…
Have a nice weekend!
Magnus
What do you use for a wash? I used to use an over-all oil wash, but found it sometimes (usually) left stains where I didn’t necessarily want them. I now use Tamiya panel liner and find it much better.
what are the odds of us having the same job, as well as building models, Magnus? I too am a product designer, although I don’t use Creo. Also thought about applying to Airfix but moving to England…? Nah. Eduard or Special Hobby on the other hand… 
What about recreational cycling and classic cars?
@Biggles50 I use mainly MiG’s enamel washes, my two favourites being “Dark Brown Wash for Green Vehicles” and “Brown Wash for German Dark Yellow”. I’m not sure that you’re actually allowed to use them on aircraft but I trust you to keep the secret… They can be further tinted using oils or Humbrol enamels and are easily cleaned up and controlled using “Odorless Thinner”, even if they are dry to the touch they can be re-solved and manipulated for several hours afterwards. I let them set for 24 hours or so before sealing them with a quick and thin layer of MrP “Super Clear”. I suppose any enamel washes will do fine, it’s just that the MiG ones are the easiest to get for me!
@Russelle I think it starts with either Lego or plastic models (or both for the more advanced cases 
) as a kid, and then engineering is the natural progression to that - the chance to continue doing more or less the same thing while getting paid for it ! When I was active in IPMS Stockholm there were lots of people working in different areas of engineering, quite a lot of people from the military and, rather surprisingly, more than the average share of conscientious objectors proving that you can actually like German armour without necessarily wanting to kill someone !
Cycling? Of course. An advanced case - both MTB and road . And it has for many years been my main mode of transportation to work. I’ve never been a car-guy though, I make do with a very ordinary Volvo V90 !
And now on to the actual modelling !
I wasn’t too happy about my choice of a black base for the metal finish but after leaving it for a week I somehow got used to the look, next time I’ll try a grey base though!
I used a few different colours from the MrP metallic paint range…
…but most of the “aluminium”-versions are very similar…
…in order to get a bit more contrast, mixing with “burnt iron” gave a much warmer tone to some panels.
It’s not that obvious in the photos but I mixed in some Gunze H53 grey for the rudder and elevators that were fabric covered on these Mustangs to get a bit of a contrast. Later ones got all metal flying surfaces.
Painted on markings followed the usual process that you have seen a bunch of times before, I spare you this time! Now the trouble starts, putting decals on the NMF… I wish Arma had used the same decals as Eduard where you actually can peel off the film afterwards - oh well, I’ll figure something out !
Magnus
hehe… sounds like a very familiar story Magnus… 
Now I get paid to build 3d CAD models, as well as being able to build them at home as a past time… 
Although what I do at work now is more engineering, than product design, but that sits ok with me…
Cars were the other ‘nudge’ combined with being a bit (huge) fan of Star Wars (not Disney’s 
)… Although, modern car design doesn’t do ‘it’ for me anymore… 
but that’s a story for another time…
Yes, onto the real models! These are looking awesome! The NMF finish is looking great, according to the Mk1 eyeball, and should finish nicely under a panel wash, filters and a dull down coat 
@Russelle I’m very much a product designer, I celebrated 1/4 century as a CAD-rat last year so I suppose I’ve really found my true vocation !
A bit of a masking-bonanza tonight!
The Mustang has a chess-board fin top. There is a decal in the kit - someone, please shoot me! I know EXACTLY how it will play out: decal will either be too large or too small or if it, against all experience, should fit it will crumple itself to death…
I’ve prepared a white undercoat that has been left to set for 24 hours…
…carefully fitting my home-made mask…
…and from experience we take the rest of the masking seriously as well…
…a bit of NATO-black…
…and suddenly half of the squares are in place…
…and this really was the trick…
…realising that this should be painted in two steps, moving the mask to fill in the rest of the squares in step two!
That’s it for tonight folks!
Magnus
Lol! I know what you mean, Magnus-I think my left hand has got a permanent kink in it from using the 3D Connexion mouse, and the right a permanent twitch from 25years of mouse clicks 
Back to the 'stang! That is some skillful masking! She’s looking a beauty!
Outstanding bit of masking Magnus, particularly in 1:72 
Absolutely fabulous work!
Steve
Great stuff Magnus. I used a grey gloss base for my natural metal B-25J. I am happy with it but your’s looks very good too. I like the variation in metal colours on your Mustang. I did that only on the ailerons, rudders and horizontal stabs on my model as they were fabric covered but I think I will try some variation on panels as well.
Friends! With the situation in the world as it is I really lost any interest in posting but I’ve been building and painting some anyway. I do feel it is time for an update now though!
Decals on the NMF bird and even a pair of wheels on the green one!
Chessboard around the front is one single decal that worked really well, it has been one of my main worries ever since starting this build…
Magnus
Looking excellent Magnus. Really impressed with the chequer pattern on the tail and nose
But we’re glad you still do, Magnus
@litespeed Fin chequers were painted using masks but for the nose, I really appreciated the well fitting decals!
I got questions regarding the metal finish on another forum: this is the stuff I used! The MrP metallics are the best I have ever used, they are laquer paints with the corresponding smell-issues (and probably health- as well) but using Gunze thinner helps a bit since that one is a fair bit less stinky than the MrP original thinner. The MrP original thinner smell is more reminiscent of a 1970s car paint shop and will quickly result in protests from the family and if used repeatedly, most probably in divorce. If this is good or bad is of course an individual choice but I prefer keeping both my hobby and my family !
I gave the model a base coat of duralumin and then let it harden for a day or so before going over the individual panels. I cut a bunch of tape stripes of the pink, low-tack, Tesa-tape using a steel ruler and a scalpel to get really sharp edges, these were then used to mask off the individual panels one by one. Paint mixing was done free-hand and without being too ambitious on the recipe directly in the airbrush cup, the paint dries so fast that all of the panels could be done in one session. If I didn’t like the result it was very easy to reapply the masking strips, add a few drops of paint to the mix in the cup and simply repaint the panel.
Not much left now, I need to do something about that very conspicuous red spinner though !
Magnus
They’re turning out really nice Magnus.
Very nice paint finish on them. The airbrushed markings look fantastic, especially those checks on the tail.
Friends! Thanks for keeping me company!
Both Mustangs are now finished so here’s a final gallery post!
We’ll start with the first Mustang to make an emergency landing in Sweden in May 1944, it later became the only B-Mustang to actually fly with the SwAF:
And here’s the photo recon machine:
It turned out that I have a whole little family of Mustangs at home:
The green D-Mustang is an Airfix kit that I built ten years ago, while the B-Mustang with the odd paint job is even older.
I really liked the Academy kit, it is a nice build but there are huge differences compared to the Arma Hobby kit. The Academy wing has very large wing root chord and the small windows behind the canopy are also very different. I don’t have an unbuilt Academy kit, otherwise it would have been interesting to compare the kits!
Both have now moved to the collection!
Magnus
Fantastic builds Magnus, Particularly like your family of 51 D’s. Hope you send images of your finished Mustangs to Arma Hobby, they will appreciate it
Magnus, once again you’ve raised the bar in 1/72 scale modelling!
Exceptional!
The details on the Arma kits are fantastic and the NMF is very realistic!
As always, thanks for sharing!
Looking forward to seeing what you build next
@Russelle Thanks so much for your kind words !
There will be more finished stuff to show off shortly but that’s mostly a mopping up operation for models that I have sidestepped for one reason or another during the last months. What I’m eagerly waiting for is the new Arma Ki-84 that should be on its way soon!