Big D builds a Mustang - Badly. Really Badly.

Disclaimer: I am not good at making models but I do it anyway. This will not be pretty. 

 Yep. This is another model making post. If you're expecting any kind of improvement  then you're on course for disappointment.  If anything I've got worse. 

  "I fancy a model" I thought to myself "Not a Spitfire though - I want something different and preferably with an unusual colour-scheme."  AA quick visit to Waterlooville Models and I came out with something that fit the bill. The colour-scheme was downright eye-catching. 

This is what the kit looked like when I unpacked it

 Right away I noticed something odd. 

Wasn't there supposed to be some Swiss markings for this thing?  

I ended up peering back in the box to see if I missed another sheet. 

Nope. 

Eventually it dawned on me that the box included some little white crosses and I would need to paint the rest myself. 

 "Bollocks to that" I said to myself and went for Plan B. 

The back of the box offered a pair of alternatives. 

The Nationalist Chinese was clearly the more striking of the two so a Kuomintang Mustang it would be.

Now I just had to build the bloody thing. 

After a bit of fiddling, excessive swearing and lots and lots of squinting at the instructions I managed to get the cockpit assembly put together.  These fingers are really not suited for tiny parts. 

Maybe I should build 1/48 instead? 

I then glued the hull together and deployed my high-tech clamping apparatus.

This is when I noticed something.

I don't think the big hole in the bottom of the fuselage should be there? 

Did I put a bit in upside down or something? 

Once I'd slapped a thumbs worth of filler in there and glued the wings on I had something a bit more plane-like.

For some reason I didn't take many photos after this. 

So here's a picture of a plant in my garden.

Anybody know what it is?

It's the lilac-y thing I'm interested in.

To try and some up the rest of the build it runs a bit like this:

P51B sits on kitchen table while I add bits to it every now and again. 

I add the canopy.

I take the canopy off because it doesn't fit properly and frantically file down the pilot's headrest 

because it was about 3mm higher than it should have been. 

I get the masking tape out and prepare to carefully mask the canopy so I could paint in the frame lines. 

I decide to freehand it instead because this is model already way beyond the point where it will impress anybody and I need my kitchen table back. 

I perform a paint job that could have been bettered by a 6 year old with ADD and a twitch. 

I add the decals - as usual throwing away any that are too small and fiddly because sod that for a game of soldiers. 

And here's the finished result. 

I think we can agree that it looks decent provided you're not too close.

Too close being defined as "Within 6 feet"  obviously.

The thing is, I might be terrible at making models and I know right now some of you are mocking my lack of skill, talent and working motor control but I did enjoy putting this together and I do feel a sense of  achievement in getting this made.  It's now sitting proudly on my shelf  alongside the wonky Gladiator and the Spit with the upside-down wings and my inner ten year old is quite pleased with himself. 

That's All Folks. .