AIR RACER GROUP BUILD BECAUSE WE FEEL THE NEED FOR SPEED

@ Jonny Roscoe: your build is of to a good start, I like the extra details you added.

As for my build;
1) stil no pics, I have some camera troubles (nothing mayor, just the batteries)

2) I have primed, puttied, primed and painted my model. The surface is not up to par but it will have to do. I have painted the model bright green, just on of those colours which you do not use often but can fit a racer. I am going to put orange/yellow lightnings on the side! 

She's coming along quite well JR!!!!!!

I decided I was gonna switch to my other model I was planning on building later in the year buuuut...I just recently found out Im being deployed in January for 8 months so Im trying something thats gonna be less time consuming and try to finish by the end of this month. These are just a few WIP pics of the Fury...Spirit of Texas.

Hope you like.

Randy, glad you have discovered the benefits of bondo in the tube! Cheap and great to work with. I have used it for a few years now and love the stuff. The stuff is a nitrocellulose based putty and has a very mild melting action that actually bonds itself to the plastic. Sanding?? What a dream the stuff is!!!! The putty itself is very very fine and will fill, feather, and smooth out beautifully. That tube will last you for months if not years.

Borg R3-MCO, It looks like you have your work cut out for you. Those divits look like they are simulated bullet holes. You might be better off building that as a shot up Mustang that just returned from a mission, and then use the decals on a Tamiya P-51 to save the headaches

Borg R3-MCO hurry up man I cant wait to see the pictures !!!

Ok guys I have done some work on P-51D Race #11 Miss America. Its a Revell kit #4040, to be honest I am very dissapointed in this kit considering the other Revell P-51D kits I have built. The cockpit is all wrong, the fits are bad, will take a lot of sanding and filling, and the canopy isnt tinted as it says on the box. I was tempted to pull one of the good kits from the closet but decided to finish this one instead. So on with the WIP pictures.

Here's a picture of the box

Fuse together, I had to glue it in small sections using clamps and tape to get the seams close but still have some filling and sanding to do.

I did discover I will have to clip .625 off of the wing tips, the standard P-15 wingspan being 37 ft and Miss Americas span of 32 ft. So Daddy one your tutoral will come in handy as I has said. Again thanks for taking the time.

These next 3 pictures are of what I think is the result of a dirty mold, the holes, or should I call them creators, go almost all the way through. I did look at a bunch of pictures of the real Miss America, in fact all that I could find, and found no reason for these to be there.

With all the filling I have to do on this build and the troubles I have had with both Testers and Squadron puttys flaking off and not being able to feather it in very well, I decided to try some 3M Bondo Glazing and Spotting putty. As you can see I tried it on some sheet plasticard with no ill effects, It sanded fast, didnt seem to hurt the plasticard at all and feathered very well. I even bent the card back over itself with no cracks or chipping. Here's a picture after the bending.

And hey was only 4 bucks for a 4.5 oz tube, and it reached full cure in 30 minutes, much better than the putty I have been using.

a short update: I have finished basic construction (wings shortned 5 mm ech, gear widhened 2 mm each, made a "razorback" behind the canopy) So now I am busy puttying an priming.

Pics will follow shortly.

John - I've been looking for the Sweet Pea and also the Midget Mustang. Would love to have those two.

Howard - I'll do a little scratching on this but I'll try to keep it simple. Clean-up on this old thing will be a chore for sure!

Randy - It was an ebay purchase. I save a search for "1/48 Pegaso" and something shows up every now and then. Sometimes you even find one for cheap!   I would like to have all of Benny Howard's racers in a line up... Pete, Ike, Mike and Mr. Mulligan. The only one you can't buy is Mike but from what I understand it is basically the same as Ike. Maybe just a matter of making your own decals.

jmabx wrote:

Okay, Randy and fellow group builders... for my next trick... Put me down for Pegaso's 1/48 Howard "Pete". This thing is a pretty basic kit with no cockpit... not even an opening. Hopefully, in the end, I will get her looking something like this...

 Time to polish up the scratch building skills. Slick little airplane. I like it.

Okay, Randy and fellow group builders... for my next trick...

Put me down for Pegaso's 1/48 Howard "Pete".

This thing is a pretty basic kit with no cockpit... not even an opening. Hopefully, in the end, I will get her looking something like this...

I think I will make the gear widher (what's the correct spelling for that?) but not as much as on the pic.

I looked at pics from contemporary race aircraft such as the Wedell-Williams and the gears are not that wide on those. This is indeed because of the bracing. But I figure this is a lightweight variant and shorter wings will make the wings more stiffer. So a bit widher is reasonable.

Another "problem" is the engine. I think it look to much "bolted on" and gives the aircraft a hunchback. I am going to work on it to make it more aerodynamic.

Borg R3-MC0 wrote:

OK, I see we are well under way. I have gathered the parts for my Whiff, extreme racer....a race variant of the Boeing P-26. The donor kit is a revell 1/72 P-26, the cowling a revell/lodela 1/72 Machi 202 (I really like those 1930's cowling with buldges) I am trying to decide if I should keep the gearthe orignal width:  Or make it wider: I am now glue some pieces together, pics will follow. I am also thinking of shortning the wing, making it more "racy".

I think the gear would look good a bit wider but not so wide as you have them.  Remember the P-26 has a wire braced wing and the spars were not heavy enough to carry gear loads too far out.  A bigger tail fin and rudder would be on my list too, but it is your whiff and an interesting one, too.

Daddy1 Man you make custom work on these kits look so easy ! And your work on the B-24 is making me think about a B-25 I have in the closet. I want to thank you for the how-tos you have written for the group, makes things for us beginners (me) much easier.

Borg R3-MCO Oh I am liking your build ! Its very interesting, cant wait to see more of it. I think I would have to agree with the other guys a bit wider on the landing gear would look better and in fact would make for much easier ground handleing if you do decide to clip the wings. In looking at the old racers convinces me those pilots had their hands full on the ground with the narrow gear track as well as in the air flying them. Borg I added your build to the front page as a 1/72 Revell P-26 highly modified.

Man you guys are gonna have me cutting plastic soon and I am just now playing with scratch building parts. Nice thing about this hobby is there is always something to learn or try.

  Borg-Interesting , verrrrrryyyy interesting. I think a little wider on the landing gear for a more aggresive sit, but keep it close to stock for a cleaner look. Notice the width of the gear on the Gee Bees, Laird , Turner Special, and others. The gear's not too spread out.

 Looking good.

 Howard

Howard - Thanks for the "how-to"!

Borg - So far, that's the best looking P-26 I've ever seen! Never much cared for them but at least you giving it a sleaker look.

OK, I see we are well under way.

I have gathered the parts for my Whiff, extreme racer....a race variant of the Boeing P-26.

The donor kit is a revell 1/72 P-26, the cowling a revell/lodela 1/72 Machi 202 (I really like those 1930's cowling with buldges)

I am trying to decide if I should keep the gearthe orignal width:

 Or make it wider:

I have made a canopy using the "heat smash" method over the feul tank of a Folland Gnat (last pic)

I am now glue some pieces together, pics will follow. I am also thinking of shortning the wing, making it more "racy".

 bigfoot01- There have been many fine female aviators in our history. You just built a wonderful tribute to one of them. Great job.

 jeaton01-A fine Turner Special. I really love those vintage racers, the personality of the pilots of the day seemed to fit the "seat of pants" contraptions they flew. Roscoe was something else.

 Jeremy-Here's a quick wing tip how-to I threw together.

 I originally used some thin sheet stock , but had problems with the trailing tips wanting to break , so I went to a little thicker material. Worked out fine.

 The Modelcraft 's thick plastic and thicker end stock helped to really round up the bottem surface. This idea can be altered and adapted in so many ways and is very easy.

 My inspiration are the tips on Precious Metal and Dago Red. I'm glad you guys like them. I think they add some visual speed.

 I've been playing with some cockpit layouts the past couple nights on the F-82 . It's going to be simple, pure function. Still figuring out some ways of getting a consistent right and left twist for the prop blades, but I'm sure I'll come up with something .

 God Bless,

 Howard

John - You sure did a nice job on that one! I didn't think that old kit could look so nice. That Turner Special is such a gorgeous plane.

Jeaton01 Glad you were able to find the space for the Turner, my loss I guess . Your build is on the front page. Again it is an awesome build Jeaton you did the Turner Special proud.

I gotta tell ya, you guys have all been making it hard to pick a picture for the front page with all these great builds.

Jeaton01 Beautiful build Jeaton !! The NMF as flawless, and I can even see your hard work in the cockpit. All your work and attention to detail really stands out on the Turner, very very well done. Oh and if you cant find space on your shelf I have some room on mine I will have your build on the front page today, just gotta decide which picture it will be now. How did you get the prop blur effect I really like that.