Air Racer GB Round 2

Thanks all. As can be seen in the following pics, I've got the exhaust stacks flush with the cowl, and am in the final filling and sanding stage . Next time you see the engine, there'll be paint on the Bulldog.

Howard

Wow......I had been away since Friday midday so I'm just learning of this. My thoughts and prayers to the Leeward family and those at the airport.

I will continue with my Gee Bee in the spirit of Jim's passion for racing......and hoping I get a spare moment to build soon.

Daddy1- superb work as usual 

Daddy1 your attention to detail and scratch building skills are no less than mind bending. That engine looks like it is getting close to ready for run up man

Stage_Left on your Gee Bee

Not much to show guys but believe it or not progress has been made. These Pegoso kits dont have many parts and look simple. Well they arent loads of flash very hard brittle plastic, not easy to work with. But its the only game in town that I know of for this aircraft. So heres where it is now.

Got everything all cleaned up and glued together. The gear legs were missing from the kit so I had to make some from pictures, you can see them circled in red.

The legs look ok to my eye on there, now for the wheels thats gonna be fun

Scorpiomikey I didnt see my build in the Golden Age section sorry. Actually the Midget Mustang first flew in 1948 so wouldn't have been considered golden age.

Got one of the main wheels on the mustang this evening and have been fighting the second one, it just doesnt want to match up grrrrrrrrrrrr. I will get it though.

A small update for you, Got the main gear on the Midget and have a bit of paint on the canopy as well. I am hoping to have this one finished up by the end of the week.

I did have to make a second gear leg as I broke the first one trying to get the wheel straight, as you can see I was able to get them pretty close.

The Midget is looking sharp there Randy, and I'm also for more of your Gee Bee ,stage left.

 With all the filling and sanding I've done on the Bulldog , some of the rib detailing has been erased . To recreate the ribs , I've masked off all the metal covered areas of the racer and cut narrow strips of tape to mask the areas between the ribs and stringers. Pretty tedious but I think it will be worth the effort in the end. Next I'll spray sanding primer over the the masks to leave new rib and stringer lines , followed by a light sanding with an extra fine grit paper to soften the effect. Then a base coat of white overall and then color. 

 This should start to move along pretty well ,when I get past this stage.

 Howard.

Thank you Daddy1 and Stage-Left its nothin fancy like yours but its so small !!!! Got more paint on it this evening and will get the black on tomorrow.

Daddy1 I thought I was goin crosseyed on my build then I see the masking you have done and, man I gotta stop whining ! I CAN NOT wait to see how this turns out.

Ok guys this lil Mustang is finished, I did have some worries near the end but I made it through the troubles. First a bit of history on this aircraft.

 Long Midget Mustang

In 1948 Dave Long, chief engineer with Piper Aircraft at the time, designed and built an all metal racer which he called the Midget Mustang. The public debut of the aircraft was at the 1948 Cleveland National Air Races. The closed course midget racers had a minimum weight of 500 lbs., minimum wing area of 66 sq. ft., fixed gear, at least a 6G structure, and the powerplants were limited to stock 190 cubic inch engines.
The prototype Midget Mustang #67 was close in the competition, taking 2nd in the elimination heat. Engine problems caused Dave Long to drop out of the finals however. He went on to build a prototype production aircraft and had made an arrangement with Schweizer Aircraft to produce the design before his untimely death in 1950. The Midget Mustang is well known for its air racing legacy during the late '40s and early '50s.

And a picture of the tiny Midget Mustang next to her big sister Miss America

Scorpiomikey thank you for hosting the group and allowing me to finish my build late. You are a good host and I hope to join more of your groups in the future.

Well done, Randy!

Wow, Thanks vetteman, that means alot coming from you. Midget mustang looks awesome. Ill update the front page shortly. Feel free to grab that badge.

vetteman- wow, that's a sharp looking bird you turned out! Outstanding work......you've definitely earned the badge IMO.

I join you in thanking Mike for hosting the GB. I may not have finished my build yet, but I've enjoyed being part of the group.

Stage_Left

vetteman- wow, that's a sharp looking bird you turned out! Outstanding work......you've definitely earned the badge IMO.

 Here's some pics of how the "ribbing" turned out . I was hoping to shoot a base coat of white after work this afternoon when I got home from work, but the weather didn't cooperate. Looks like central Florida is in for few days of off and on showers and since my spray booth is the open end of my garage . 

 Tried painting farther up under roof once, the fumes were too heavy . Got to get a regular vented booth one day.

 I'm shooting MM insignia white enamel as a base for the red so the moisture in the air shouldn't be a problem . Just have to catch the rain free periods between rain squalls. If I can get this thing painted this weekend , I should have it finished by the middle of the next week.  

Howard

Thank you guys, what I thought was going to be a fairly easy build turned into a nightmare. I am happy I was even able to finish it.

Stage_Left I do hope you will post pictures of your Gee Bee here, I really want to see the finished pictures.

Daddy1 your technique for the ribbing came out even better than I had thought it would, but then I should have known that this is a Daddy1 production. Looks fantastic man

 Now if the weather will let me get the color on it.

Howard

Cant wait to see it.

I have news people. Laid the first layer of black. Started masking it up and it kinda took on a mind of its own. The design looks nothing like i planned, but its gonna look epic when its done. Im praying i dont get any bleed through.

This bearcats gonna look sweeeet. So glad its sunny today.

Scorpiomikey

Cant wait to see it.

I have news people. Laid the first layer of black. Started masking it up and it kinda took on a mind of its own. The design looks nothing like i planned, but its gonna look epic when its done. Im praying i dont get any bleed through.

This bearcats gonna look sweeeet. So glad its sunny today.

Pictures MIKEY we need pictures man !!!!!!!!!!

Just taken the masking off. Needs a few touchups. 

Feedback?

WOW !!!! talk about fast !!!

Mikey I like what I am lookin at so far and really like the color lines you have choosen. This is gonna be good, cant wait to see where it goes from here  

Thanks vetteman. I need to smooth the lines out a bit and a bit of black bled through in some places. Next step is decals (when i can figure them out lol)

Heres some better photos.

Most of the touchup work i need to do is on the bottom. Thankfully black is very forgiving lol.

MIkey that black paint went on great man, I always have a hard time with black. Thanks for the better pictures, now I really cant wait !!!

The promodeller P39 is 1/48 scale. Haven't thought up a scheme yet but i am sure me and the miss(us) can come up with something dashing lol.

 With many apologies for the delay in posting , lots going on in my little piece of the world .

I finally have color on my Bulldog. 

Had a little cracking and checking problem to sand out.( Paint went on too thick along top of wing while trying to paint the inside of the wing struts.)Sanded and touched up those spots.

The red is a half/half mix of the 1/4 oz bottles of Testors red and Testors dark red. 

 The kit comes with patterns for masking  off to paint the scallops and swoops.  

Howard

daddy1

The kit comes with patterns for masking  off to paint the scallops and swoops.  

Howard

You lucky ***. That lady in red looks mighty fine. Those wing ribs have added a whole nother dimension to the kit. 

Howard- yup, that red paint really looks good and like Mike said, the rib effect is great.

Daddy1 the Bulldog is lookin good, as was said above the extra work you did on the ribs it gonna pay off big me thinks. Hope this weather allows me some time painting too, its been cold damp and rainy here in SoCal all week.

 I've got the black scallops and swoops on the Bulldog. The decals are super thin and a bit on the brittle side .They reacted well to Microsol but some spots needed the coaxing of a second and third application. 

Doing some touch up then I'll paint the white out line stripes with an 18/0 liner brush. The kit has decals for those strips but the scallop decals were slightly off register so I'll have to go over the stripping on those anyway  with the liner brush.

 Fresh pics tomorrow. 

BTW - keep your fingers crossed, I'm going to try and skin the prop blades with aluminum foil. Should look very cool with real polished alumimum prop blades.

Howard

 As promised , fresh pics.

The skinning on the blades was done with kitchen aluminum foil and Microscales foil adhesive. You have to make sure everything under the foil is smooth as with all bare metal finishes , blemishes will show through.

 After skinning gave them a coat of Future to seal them. All I need to do now is detail the hub and paint MM aluminum for subtle contrast.

Still need to finish the white outlines then a couple coats of Glosscoat.

Howard