skinning my P-51D

[Thomas12481]

How should i go about covering my P-51D (900 series)???? Should i use the tissue paper that comes with it or something else??? And what about painting it??? Btw this is my first wood model that i have done

[OldBrampton]

Hi Thomas,
This is the first time I have used this forum and you may already have had replies, so please bare, with me if you have. I did a Guillow's Piper Cherokee 140 and skinned it using 1.5mm sheet balsa. I cut the formers smaller by 1.5mm and cut paper patterns to the fuselage, wings and tailplane. I then cut the 1.5mm sheet using the patterns and allowing an extra 1mm for shrinkage, I found the key to success was to soak the cut balsa sheet in warm water and then lay it on the fuselage and pin it in place, allow to dry off and when you unpin, the balsa stays formed. Check to see if the size is right then glue and pin in place again and it should work, at least it did for me. After the whole plane was skinned I coated it in PVA glue to 'set' the shape and sanded and spray painted the finished model. Not perfect but satisfying for me.

As I said you may have already had replies and success using another method, if not all I can say is try it and see!!
regards, Old Brampton.

[Wildpig]

Thomas,
I'd go with the tissue in the kit. It's fairly simple to do. For painting- airbrushed or spray can acrylics will do fine. I usually just use kit tissue and if I want different colors, I buy whatever color tissue from a local craft store.
There are several build threads on this forum about covering and painting. Use the Search feature. One thread I can think of was the Guillow Cessna 180.
Can you post a photo, to show off your first balsa model?

[Bill Gaylord]

There's always Microlite iron-on also. Doesn't have the vintage appeal of tissue, but it faster and easier to apply. It will reshrink mostly on it's own, sometime with a bit of heat, after painting. They recommend not to paint, but folks have been painting it with all forms of Testors and other paints successfully. Here's the smaller FW190 with painted Microlite covering:

http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=156807&d=1327821910
http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=156808&d=1327821910
http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=156859&d=1327995115

[Mfezi]

Here are some excellent guides on how to cover with tissue. In fact, you'll learn a lot by going through Scigs30's other posts also:

Scigs on covering the 500 series Bf-109:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1589

Similar tutorial on the 500 series Stuka:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1706

Covering round fuselages (this is a bit more advanced):
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2261