Lane Crabtree has been detailing how he painted his CARF Models P-51. He started by documenting how he primed and painted the silver and olive drab, and last week he masked the canopy and created the stars and bars. In this installment, Lane applies squadron markings and the checkerboard pattern.
Now comes the Squadron ID alpha-numerics on either side of the S&B. These are what I call single-stage paint masks as they only require one color to complete.
Well, one more boo-boo as I missed another photo before painting the black. But you can see the paint masks in place and the masking all around them.
Speaking of boo-boo’s, made one here. The paint peeled up with the mask and left a torn edge in a couple of places. No problem. I let them dry thoroughly and touched them up later with a paint brush. But, like I recommend, remove the masks CAREFULLY and save yourself some touch-up work.
Now to one of the most difficult parts of the whole paint job – the checker board. Callie included a paint mask for this, but I must admit I couldn’t make any sense of how it was supposed to work. So, I went “old school” and laid it out with a divider, scale, fine line felt marker, and some kevlar fishing line. One of the difficult things to do on a round fuselage nose is making the lines vertical all the way around. To do this, I made the base color (yellow) about 4 inches wide fore to aft, measured off the flat spot on the nose. The kevlar line came in handy again for marking around the bottom of the nose. After this, I masked off the rest of the fuselage. For this job and the spinner as well, I used rattle cans (Valspar spray paint) of bright yellow and bright red. One problem you need to be aware of is that this paint needs about a week to dry to the point you can mask over it. Masking too soon will cause the paint to mush and you’ll have to sand it all off and begin anew. If you can place the model outside, safely, for a few hours each day, higher temps will cure the paint faster. I put the fuselage in the camper shell on a warm day to act as an incubator to speed things up. It worked.
Next week, Lane will show how he created the Hurry Home Honey nose art, the invasion stripes, victory markings and the exhaust stains for the replica Rolls Royce V12 engine. Click here to go to the next article.
BY LANE CRABTREE
OPENER PHOTO BY NANCY ABBY; HOW TO PHOTOS BY LANE CRABTREE
Very interesting! Right in this period (spring ’23), I will paint my 1:5 old Mustang*, kept for years wauting to have time to progress. What you are showing is extremely important for me. Thanks a lot. If you are interested about step-by step documentation, I will save and keep for you, while I am progressing.
Thanks and best regards
Francesco Tamburrano
* Byron Originals, Quadra 52 gas engine, extremely well documented