Excellent WIP, fantastic build sir!

Your friend, Toshi

Hey Mark, I'm sorry to hear about this.  I hope you find something soon my friend.  

Thanks for the link Mike.  I check the Indeed (and several other) job lists every day.  :)  I've applied for almost every open Motion Graphics or Animation job in the Denver area.  And you're right, with my experience and talent my salary requirements are definitely above entry level, but I'm fully prepared to accept quite a bit less than I was making last year.  Have had a few interviews at well-paying places, but lost out to other candidates.

I've started expanding my search nationally, even though I dread the idea of moving.  But it might come to that. 

Cheers, Mark

Mark,

Looking forward to the pictures. Hope everything becomes, if not rosy, then at least hopeful.

I imagine your salary requirements are somewhat above entry level work - however, sometimes one just has to bite the bullet (if any opportunity looks as if one could grow with the position) and slog along until you've found your "voice" again.

https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Animation+Artist&l=Denver%2C+CO#

I sure hope you find something soon. I also hope that concentration on modeling will alleviate some of the depression that can accompany being out of work. Been there, experienced that.

Thanks for the encouraging words guys.  I will eventually come back to this P-51 build.  I really enjoyed the Fokker D.VII and am currently working on a Nakajima E8N floatplane from Hasegawa.  I'll post pics of both planes in a new thread, probably tomorrow.

Cheers, Mark

Hey Mark,

Im true believer that when one door closes another opens. I understand what your going through having spent the better part of 3  of the past 7 years unemployed. I just started a new full time role in a totally different industry on a very good package.

Just stick in there, things will get better. The darkest times are when you need to be the strongest and belive in yourself.

And most of all, keep up the stellar work on your build.

Damian

Glad to see you back.  Modeling is to me is such a great escape.  Sorry to hear about your troubles.  It feels good to put everything else away and do the research, building, painting etc.  I hope you get back on the build and find it helpful.

Sorry to here this, Stecks.  Good luck with the job stuff.  Happy to see you back.

Go over to LSP forums, large scale planes, sign up and you can post a ‘looking for’ ad.lots of p-51s built over there and i bet guys have those parts you need left over.

Might check with Tamiya and see if the camera sprue is still available, along with the clear sprue for the windows.

MrStecks

 

Yeah, I've been looking RadMax.  Saw one seller on eBay that had posted several sprues from that "Pacific" kit up for sale, except for the parts I need.  D'oh!  Still looking. 

 

Cheers, Mark

 

Thanks guys, I'll have some more updates later this week.

RadMax8

 As far as getting the camera, don’t buy the whole kit. You may be able to source the camera from someone who hasn’t used it. There’s places to inquire...

 

Yeah, I've been looking RadMax.  Saw one seller on eBay that had posted several sprues from that "Pacific" kit up for sale, except for the parts I need.  D'oh!  Still looking. 

Great job on the cockpit there Mark and and excellent tribute! 

Stecks,

Looks like a great start. Very cool to provide a memorial to your family member who sacrificed it all for his country. 

As far as getting the camera, don’t buy the whole kit. You may be able to source the camera from someone who hasn’t used it. There’s places to inquire...

Way to go Mark, excllent progress.

Bit more of the cockpit components painted and weathered. 

I really liked how Tamiya handled the IP, with the decal of the instruments placed on the back of the clear dials part.  My first encounter with this process.

Oil tank and bulkhead.  I don't plan on having any panels open, so I don't know why I invested time in this... but I couldn't resist.

I think the only thing glued down in this pic is the stick.  Everything else just placed together for the photo.  I like the weathering, but I may do a bit more with the floor.  I also want to add some scratch items.

I have some ideas on the scratch-building I need to do for the RF-51 conversion, but won't really start to tackle that whole thing until I finish up these cockpit steps.  Haven't started on the side wall parts yet.

Cheers, Mark

I checked out the 1/48 F-6D conversion that bvallot showed in his thread that Goldhammer  and 1943Mike pointed me to, and will definitely be using his great work as a reference for my 1/32 conversion.  Seriously, he did an amazing job. 

I found a couple of resin conversion kits out there, both by Quickboost, but unfortunately only in 1/72 and 1/48 so that was a bust.  Also, found the P-51D/K "Pacific" kit by Tamiya that Chuck mentioned, but couldn't find a cheap seller.  Cheapest I found was $89 and I can't justify that just for the few parts I would be able to use. 

However, I did discover something interesting last night.  Since it was looking like a total scratch-build job, I pulled the fuselage out of the kit so I could start planning how to attack it.  I noticed immediatley that the plastic where the camera bay would go appeared thinner.  I turned it over and on the inside there is a clearly defined circle where the cutout in the fuselage should be for the camera bay conversion.

So I'm assuming this kit and that P-51D/K "Pacific" kit must share the same tooling.  Yay!  This will give me a great starting point to work from.  On the downside, there doesn't appear to be areas marked out for the other two holes that will have to be made.  But, I'm super happy to have part of the problem solved. 

Cheers, Mark

GMorrison

I believe that the buzz number should be RF-945.

There would be two windows, one on the side and one on the bottom, for the vertical and horizontal cameras.

Thanks for the tip on the buzz number. 

1943Mike

Goldhammer found the thread for you. It's here:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/176684.aspx

This should be interesting and informative. 

Awesome!  Thanks for finding that, I'll check it out.

Chuck Davis

Hey Mark.  Very cool project, and good on ya for honoring your family member.

It's probably too late, but just in case Tamiya's 1/32 P-51D/K "Pacific" boxing (kit #60323) includes all the parts needed for an F-6 recon bird, including cameras and fuselage panels.

Anxious to see the final result!

Wow, haven't seen that kit.  Definitely worth a look.  Thanks! 

Cheers, Mark

Hey Mark.  Very cool project, and good on ya for honoring your family member.

It's probably too late, but just in case Tamiya's 1/32 P-51D/K "Pacific" boxing (kit #60323) includes all the parts needed for an F-6 recon bird, including cameras and fuselage panels.

Anxious to see the final result!

Goldhammer found the thread for you. It's here:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/176684.aspx

This should be interesting and informative.

Found it...back on page 12, bvallot, Tamiya 1/48 Mustang F-6D conversion.  Hope it can help a little.

I believe that the buzz number should be RF-945.

There would be two windows, one on the side and one on the bottom, for the vertical and horizontal cameras.

The old 1/24 Heller kit was a RF-51 as I recall.

I'll look around too.

Thanks goldhammer, I'll search around and see if I can find that. 

Cheers, Mark

There was a thread not too long ago that someone did on an photo Mustang and he did the window and scratched the camera and other things.  Can't remember who did the build though

Will be looking in on this, I'm sure you will do him proud.

Thanks Joe.  I've only just started on it, but man this kit is amazing.  Astonishing in fact.  Finished up the first few steps, just need to do some detailing and weathering then it's on to the cockpit.

Cheers, Mark