With the F104 barely cold and in the ground, it's time to crack on with the next build. It seems that my immediate modelling future will be 1/32 flavoured and so, for my sins (if you believe the hype), I have started work on the Dragon P-51 K. You will have heard tell of the awful surface texture, the bizarre tyres, the less than stellar fit in places and the hap-hazard engineering. But apart from that..... how does it build. I'm about to find out.

I am not going to be displaying the engine (under-sized, fire wall that does not fit) so am just building it and not bothering to paint it. The instructions, in true Dragon style omit to tell you to enclose the prop shaft in the engine when you glue the two halves together, so thats fail number one. The engine goes together OK but the engine bearer assembly is all a bit loosey goosey with no real positive alignment. I decided to glue things together as best I could and then offer it up to one of the fuselage halves to check alignment while the glue was still setting. Not sure if I have everything in the right spot but there is scope for adjustment if necessary.





There are PE faces for the radiator but these are over sized so I took a leaf out of Jean-Luc Formerys book and snipped the corners off before bending the edges to fit. Jean-Lucs build of the P-51D is a good reference for anyone tackling this kit.



Work then commenced on the cockpit. The instrument panel is a multi media affair consisting of a PE backing on which the instrument decals are applied which is sandwhiched between a grey plastic backing and a clear plastic layer. I punched discs of Tamiya tape to mask the individual instrument glasses and this part is now ready for painting.



More soon.
Cheers, Mike.