Before They Were Aces-The First Aircraft of the Aces

Good to see you back Arron.  I too am a little behind schedule on Lt. Ohr's Spitfire-with a little luck and some motivation, I should be finished by the end of the month.....or not....

Well as usual work during the summer has interferred, I got sent away for most of August so got no building done. On the plus side the interferring work was a 21 day detail to Hawaii's Volcano National Park, so its a bit hard to complain.

Anyway still plugging away at the F3F, now that the wings are on I think I'll be able to get this one done soon.

HAns, I finished my Hurricane on page 16.

Hans, I finished Red Norley's P-47 back on page 13.

All looking great,  men... Just a little less than two weeks to go, and... I'm Damn proud of all your hard work and research...  If I've missed anyone on the project sheet, please drop a post on m' head so I can make it right...

Thanks guys it was a fun build in fact I am thinking I might build Lt Robersons P-51D to park along side his B model. I havent seen many D models in OD so I may very well do it.

Wabashwheels I have to say I had a blast taking the pictures, took a hundred or so of them. Poor camera Anyway it got me to thinking when I get my saw over here I should make a good photo booth. And the list goes on an on an.on huh.

Yes, a very nice job on the Mustang, Randy!

Vettman,  I love the sepia toned close-up of the front of the aircraft.  It has a nice resemblance to the period photos.  It gives it a nice realism.  I think I'll get the photo editor out and play around.  Great work, man. 

Hans, I agree, great build.  I got little history lessons from all over the globe these past few months.  It is a great way to inspire building and building accuracy.  It is fun to sweat the details occasionally.  It has been a great way to recharge the old spirit.  Thanks,  Rick.

GREAT JOB RANDY!!!! What a beautiful build, well done!!! Nice pics too btw!

Swingr1121 its a huge improvement over the old kit and at 12 bucks ya cant go wrong. The only fit trouble I really had was the canopy but that seems to be a Revell trade mark. And I think I am now spoiled with recessed panel lines and rivets. Shuweet !!

Ok guys I am calling this P-51B Passion Wagon finished so with out further fan fair here are the pictures, but first a bit about the pilot Lt Arval " Robbie" Roberson

Joining the Army Reserves in 1942, Arval ‘Robbie’ Roberson was commissioned and rated a pilot in May 1943. Transferring to the 362nd Fighter Squadron, 357th Fighter Group, he flew 76 combat missions on P51s, sharing his first victory against an Me110 over Berlin on 6th March 1944. He became an Ace on 19th September, and scored his 6th and final air victory at the same time. During the Korean War he flew an additional 100 combat hours with the 18th FBG, and in Vietnam managed to get in 26 support missions on C47s. He retired in 1973.

Lt Roberson got 3 kills in his P-51B Passion Wagon. Shortly after the 3rd victory it seems a Malcolm hood was added, he had a landing accident and was given a P-51D mustang. His B model was converted to a 2 seat trainer and transferred to another unit. Here is a picture of his D Mustang before the nose art was added.

The build pictures hope you guys like it.

I hope I did the plane justice. Now for a couple fun pictures.

This one is in sepia, the next one is in black and white I really like this one.

Hans von Hammer this group was a great idea and has really gotten me looking at history in my builds. This was only me second attempt at a historically correct build so thanks for the inspiration. You have been a great host and I hope to be in more of your groups.

PS Hans thanks for the extension 

Aaron, that's shiny!  As you can tell I easily get side-....oooh...a bird!  Haha.  No, seriously though, the Barrel is looking good.

Randy, the Mustang looks great.  Only a little bit left.  How has the kit been so far?

Aaron she looks like a lil treat!!!! Looking forward to seeing the yellow!!!

Randy, your stang is really looking good mate!!!!

Aaronw your F3F-2 is looking good I think your base coat went on well. Hurry up man we want to see more of her.

Ok guys I have been working on my build and making decals and such, its getting close Just needs touch up, the checkers added to the nose, a clear coat, weathering, dull coat, then the small bits and pieces. Wow thats still a long list isnt it Any here is where she is now.

Oh I did go ahead and add the last 2 stripes to the underside as Bondoman suggested. I did some research and couldnt find a single P-51 with only 3 stripes on the bottom so figured that five of them did in fact belong there.So thanks for catching that Bondoman

Some fabulous looking Mustangs there.

Ok, Hans, guess I'll be taking advantage of the extra time, I ended up working an extra 40 hours of OT this week which left no time for building.

Here is where I'm at, things should start going much quicker now.

Well Bondoman I am not sure if there are 3 or 5 stripes there to be honest. The decal sheet only shows 3 on Passion Wagon but the others show 5 stripes. I also don't have any pictures of the real aircraft showing the stripes. So at this point I am at a loss because most all the aircraft I see with invasion stripes on them do have 5 on the bottom of the fuselage. Any help from you guys ?

Looking good Randy!!!

Sweeter than honey, honey. But the fuse gets all five...right?

Mike thats a very nice Mustang indeed To be frank Mike, from the looks of your build I would say you have been back to the hobby for quite sometime. I will be looking forward to seeing more of you builds on the forum.

Yup Mike I am up now I decided to go ahead and paint the invasion stripes on my build, mostly because I always have trouble with those decals never fitting right and so on. Hans always induces me to try something new and his group is no exception. There is a bit of touch up to be done but over all I think they came out ok.

The white boxes all masked and painted white this morning.

A bit more masking and on went the black this afternoon. I hate having to wait for paint to dry dont you guys ?

Finally took the masking off an hour ago and was able to see my ummmm handy work. Not too bad, needs a bit of touch up that I will do tonight then the future goes on in the morning.

Sorry Hans I blew the end date

Thanks for the kind words guys.  This is it.  30 June...  I'm calling the P-51 done.  Overall I'm happy with the results.  Not bad for model number 4 since coming back to the hobby, huh?  (Amuse me..  lol)   I chose not to weather this build.  My reasoning is that when the picture of this pony was taken it was a pretty new aircraft.  It only lasted a couple of weeks after the picture.  Without further ado...

Took the time and drilled out each barrel..  Also drilled out the exhaust too..

Here's a shot showing the added insignia from the Eduard 190 A-8/R2 kit..

Hans, thank you for hosting this build and coming up with an excellent idea.  I think you've forced me to do another 'stang in Ben Drew's "known" crate, "Detroit Miss".  And before you say anything about the Monogram kit coming with those markings, I was at one of my LHS last week and there it was just sitting on the shelf.  Needless to say the kit came home with me. 

With 90 minutes to spare, Randy, you're up! 

Mike

Mike she's a beauty!!!! Very nice build mate!!!!

Hey Mike whos teasin now geeze She is looking really nice she is.

I will try and have pictures of my P-51 with color on her tomorrow evening.  Man I am really taking this one down to the wire huh

C'mon Randy..let's see some pics!  Almost the end of June..gonna be tight...

Just for a tease...

That's all for now.

Mike

Swingr1121 GREAT SAVE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see this one finished gonna be one sweet build.

Hans von Hammer and guys I havent forgotten this build and am finally on the home stretch, I just have to stop changing things on the P-51. I havent been able to make up my mind between the standard canopy or the Malcolm Hood for crying out loud. Must seem as bad as a girl trying on dresses. Yesterday I spent the afternoon making blast tubes and gun barrels for the wing guns. So looks like I will me the deadline of June 30th by a few days or so. Now to get the Malcolm hood on it and get masking and painting. Oh almost forgot the kit prop in my kit was a joke so I had to rob another kit for a prop. I dont know if I got a short shot or what but 2 of the blades were not shaped even close to right.

Any news as to what happened afterwards????

Swingr great save on the decal!!!!! That's using the old knowledge box!!! She is really turning out well, looking forward to seeing her on her feet, which look great as well btw.

Inching ever closer!  So tonight found me with some time to be at the bench.  Decided that it would be a great time to finish up the decals.  All was going well until I got to the port wing insignia.  The Tamiya decal just did not want to conform.  Go figure.  After all was said and done, I lost the decal!  The damage to it was irreparable.  After some choice language I thought to myself, "self, how are you going to fix this mess?"  I went to the spares box.  No luck.  Found another Mustang kit (Testors  ).  No luck there.  Then I looked down at my stash and saw Eduard's 1/48 FW-190 A-8/R2.  Eureka!  I remembered that there was a marking option for a captured 190!  Here, check out the sheet:

It's not quite perfect, but it's close enough for government work.  So I slapped that puppy on and away I went.  As of now, it's just fiddly bits left. 

As if the decal situation wasn't enough, I decided that I needed some more punishment.  I tried to add some brake lines.  Never tried that before.  This is only the 4th model that I'll have completed since I got back into the hobby.  I don't think that they turned out too bad..

That's all for now.  More to come soon.  I'm still going to try to get this done before the original deadline.  Think I can do it? 

Mike

My father in law would spend all day in a dark room, go out to the flight line wearing red glasses, and take off at sunset. But he says somehow every runway in the war seemed to point west ...

That is a good war story Hans. I'm gonna tell him when I see him Friday for a grill out and a couple frosty ones on his 90th.

bondoman

I would imagine the Phantom flew off into the sunset, er, sunrise!

And that is why I think the F-106 is superior to the lowly Phantom, because when the pilot ejects from a good Six it goes over and lands safely in a farm field and can be jacked up and flown again once it gets a new canopy.

I would imagine the Phantom flew off into the sunset, er, sunrise!