P-51C Mustang Firewall - The Thought Process

Since finishing my Mustang's engine, I haven't had much time to work on my model because I have been studying for my General exam to get my Airframe and Powerplant license and I've been waiting for my sister to have her baby. So its been busy. But while I'm sitting here eating a terrible TV dinner before work, I decided to throw up a quick blog that doesn't show how things are detailed, instead I give new modelers or perhaps people who are new to superdetailing an insight into one modelers thought process when I first look at the kits parts. The oil tank and firewall provide a simple, yet good opportunity for this.

At first glance the Tamiya kit provides a good amount of details, much more than some Mustang kits I've seen. Just a bit of paint, maybe some dry brushing and weathering and it should be pretty good, right? Sure if you want to take the easy way out. The firewall has a lot of potential for detailing, if you know where to look. This is where research comes in. Luckily the P-51 Mustang is a well documented aircraft and you can find dozens of books and websites with pictures of almost every part of the airplane.

The first thing that has to come off is that ugly tab with the hole on the bottom of the firewall. In the kit this is where the engine mounts via a screw to the firewall. On the real Mustang, the engine was on mounts and so it shall be on the model. Why Tamiya decided to do this is beyond me, unless the plastic engine mounts don't have enough strength to support the engine, in which case they will have to be reinforced later. So I'll have to keep that in mind.


Around the upper edge of the firewall are these little blocks to represent the Dzus fastener mounts. One look at a picture and it is clear that these also have to go. I'm thinking soda can aluminum cut into thin strips and bent into the right shape. I will create the hole for the Dzus fastener by gently poking the aluminum with the needle on my dividers. This will create the hole and the dimple all in one motion. There is also a bracket that holds the Dzus fastener mounts in place which is not shown on the kit piece. This can also be made with soda can aluminum. This picture also shows the molded weld bead on the two oil tank halves. Unfortunately if this was a real Mustang, I'd fire my welder cause the beads are way too big. In this scale, the bead would be very subtle. So these molded welds will come off too, and I will trust that the glue bead that will ultimately hold the parts together will simulate a more accurate weld. Now before I remove any of these parts, especially the Dzus fasteners mounts, I will measure their width and mark their locations on the firewall so the new details go back in the same place.


The metal straps that hold the oil tank to the firewall are fairly accurate, except the turnbuckles used to tighten them down. They are very flat on the kit piece, but if you look at the real one, they actually stick out quite a bit. I will leave the metal straps on the kit pieces, but will have to carefully scrape off these turnbuckles. They can also be recreated with soda can aluminum and thin wire. Now the reason I'm going to keep the molded straps on the pieces is because the real Mustang's oil tank straps have a thin cushion between the tank and the strap. I will create new straps from soda can aluminum and will round off the corners just slightly on these molded straps to make it look like the metal straps are sitting on the cushions. Then I will install the new turnbuckles.

The area on the firewall that holds the oil tank is shiny chrome in every picture I have ever seen of the real Mustang. Luckily the kit makes this area quite promiment. I'm think about using the shiny side of aluminum foil to create this. And since the oil tank will be covered most of the compound curves in this area, I only need to foil over the flat areas that will be seen. Sometimes modelers have to think like movie set designers. If it won't be seen there's no point in creating extra headaches. There is a material called Bare Metal foil that has an adhesive backing which could also be used, but it can get rather expensive depending on where you buy it. Aluminum foil is cheap, easy to work with, and can be glued down with white glue, super glue, epoxy. Just scuff the plastic surface with some light sandpaper before gluing.

The bolts on the firewall are not painted, but instead are a natural silver steel color. After the firewall is painted green zinc chromate, the bolts will be painted silver using the tip of my X-Acto knife the same way I painted the bolts on the engine.


The oil return line looks OK, but the thing with molded round tubes is that they don't come out round. There is always some little mold seem visible even on the best kits. Sanding them down can be a pain because that often leaves little flat spots which become even more visible when you paint it. There is nothing more distracting than to see flat spots on your round lines. I'm thinking that this line will be replaced with a metal rod of the same diameter bend in the same orientation. This is one of those often missed little details that can make a world of difference. Besides seeing a real metal line will always look better than painted plastic. The rubber hose clamp will be simulated with a thick layer of black paint. I'll mask off the area with two or three layers of tape and then apply 3-4 coats of flat black paint. I want there to be a definate lip on the paint, which is usually a painting no-no. This time it will work in my favor.

I'm sure there will be more things to detail once I actually start working on it, but I have to get through this test first. So there may not be any blogs for a while, but thats how life works. Business before pleasure. But I hope this offered a little insight into how to look at kit parts and see bigger and better things. Once the process begins, you'll see more.