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I'd like to build a Merlin powered P-82 as it might have appeared over Japan escorting B-29s, if WWII had lasted through 1946 and into 1947. My plan is to build Monogram's F-82G kit but change the "Allison nose" to a "Merlin nose." I'm trying to figure out how to go about this. The exhaust stacks on the F-82G are these square things that I guess hide the exhaust flame on the night fighter version of the F-82. So I'm wondering, should I get the F-82 kit and two 1/72 scale P-51 kits and do a nose swap? The P-51 and the P-82 are such radically different airplanes that I wonder if such a swap is possible without a lot of surgery. I've thought about just removing the square F-82G exhaust and replacing it with Merlin exhaust from two Mustang kits but the nose swap seems to make more sense. I'm open to any ideas anyone might have. I haven't been back in the hobby long enough to have accumulated a lot of extra unused parts. So that's where I am.
BTW: Have a look at this, it's kind of where my idea comes from:
http://xp-82twinmustangproject.blogspot.com/
OK. In the stash: Way too much to build in one lifetime...
Depneding on how accurate the kits are, you might be in for quite a bit of work. As I recall, the F-82 is loosely based on a P-51H, which has different contours than the P-51D. That could make matching the grafted nose to the rest of the plane involve a lot of putty and sanding. I'd want to do a bit more research to see how the nose contours vary betweeen the Allison and Merlin engines. Good luck.
John
Yeah. Good call, John. I had forgotten about the P-51H factor in the design of the P-82. At least the P-51H was still Merlin powered.
Yes, you do need 2 H models to do the swap as the H used an uprated Merlin. Bet bet would be an RS Models H as the donor according to Scalemates.
WIP: Monogram 1/72 B-26 (Snaptite) as 73rd BS B-26, 40-1408, torpedo bomber attempt on Ryujo
Monogram 1/72 B-26 (Snaptite) as 22nd BG B-26, 7-Mile Drome, New Guinea
Minicraft 1/72 B-24D as LB-30, AL-613, "Tough Boy", 28th Composite Group
I saw the RS Models kit. Twenty bucks for the kit, I think. Injection molded too. I was looking at 1/72 scale P-40 kits too, just for the exhaust stacks.
Well, I've thought about it and slept on it and thought about it some more. I'm going ahead and buy the Monogram/Revell F-82G and build it stock out of the box. I'm not going to modify the exhaust. I know there are a lot of kit bashers out there that will say "no, you hafta do it." I just don't want to spend the money on the two P-51H kits, really. I'll still paint the twin Mustang in WWII colors of some fighter group based on Iwo Jima to get what I'm after. I wanted to build a P-82 that my dad might have seen looking out of the flight engineer's window of his B-29 on the way to the Empire. Of course, the war ended and my dad never went overseas, but what if, you know...
I went to Michael's this morning to get some tack stuff and dowells to use for painting canopies. While I was there I found two Monogram F-82G kits and I bought both of them. I was reading up on the Twin Mustang last night and discovered that the F-82G was delivered to the AAF during 1946 so it will still appropriate to paint the airplane kit in WWII Mustang group colors I believe.
I'll have to look that up. Jug groups never occured to me. I know they were there.
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