AIR RACER GROUP BUILD BECAUSE WE FEEL THE NEED FOR SPEED

Well here it is, my first entry in the Air Racer Group build! After a losing battle with the Orange Peel Monster and the rear bumper of a 2003 Cavalier, here she is: the Accurate Minitures 1/48 scale P-39Q flown to Victory by Jack Woolams in the 1946 Thompson Trophy Race.

Howard that is some nice engineering there, looking really good and thanks for the detailed how to!!!! Great stuff!!

John the Cobra came out GREAT after irs resurrection!!!!!!!!!!! Could never tell the damage was there!!!!

Daddy1Thank you for the excellent "How to NACA inlets" It is both well written and explained, I will be using it I can assure you. Cant wait for more WIP pictures or the F-82R so hurry up already.

Bigfoot01 SHUUUUWWWEEEETTTT BUILD!!! A fantastic save too, I cant see where it ever suffered the indignety of being run over by that mean nasty Cavalier. Love the group shot too, you have a nicely done field of racers there. Thanks for sharing them. Your build will be on the front page shortly where it should be.  

Big John - The Cobra I looks great! Now we need the Cobra II.

I love your little racer lineup. I've been wanting that Corsair for awhile. She sure looks pretty.

Thank you all for the kind words. I was happy it turned out as well as it did. I am probably going to start one of the Musangs next. Once the replacement parts come in for the second P-39 I will start working on Cobra II.

Thanks again for the comments,

Cool we are gonna have another 51 in progress, can't wait to see it Bigfoot01. I finally started Miss America today, waiting for glue to dry on my F-104 build. Got the trimming done and base color on the cockpit, pictures comming soon.

More pictures of the Turner Special.  The cockpit is complete and the fuselage is all together with most of the filling and sanding done, I hope.  (Yeah right, the whole front of this airplane is bare aluminum).  The engine I'm using is from a 1/32 scale Revell Wildcat, with the magnetos removed because the R-1830 in the Turner Special didn't have front mounted magnetos.  I added a housing on the bottom of the gear reduction housing and an ignition ring and wiring for the plugs.  The cylinders probably ought to be black, but I like them in the steel color.  The instrument panel is a decal I drew in Corel Draw and sandwiched under a plastic card front with the holes punched with a Waldron punch set, backed by another piece of plastic card.  I Futured the decal before I placed the front panel over it.

Jeaton01 The cockpit came out really really well, and the IP is spot on IMHO. The way you sandwiched the decal for the insturments is a great idea, looks very realistic to be sure. I will have to remember that one for a future 1/32 build. Wow looks like you have been having to do a bunch of sanding too. I gotta ask what you made the seat belts from, looks like some fabric wire insulation.

bigfoot01- Great recovery on the Cobra. She looks sweet.

jeaton01- Looking good! I remember , years ago , there was a Turner Special hanging from the roof inside a hanger at Indianapolis Airport. We'd have to take my dad to catch a flight when he'd go TDY somewhere. You could catch a glimpse of it from the main terminal across the flightline. That Roscoe Turner was a character to say the least, lion cub and all.

 I'm not sure how many are familier with the 'Sky's the Limit' series of christmas ornaments that have been running since 1997. A neat line of detailed tiny minitures. Here are 3 from my collection.

First up, a Curtiss S2C-3, a Doolittle flown winner.

You know I just had to have this one. Love those Gee Bees

Here ya' go Randy, Laird Super Solution.

Finally ,a group pic with penny thrown in for scale.

I keep mine displayed all year . 

 BTW Will be spraying 1rst primer coat on the F-82 tomorrow and building the cockpit in the next week. New pics soon.

Randy, the seat belt material is wire bundle wrapping tape, I got it from a friend who lived in Seattle who said it came from Boeing.  Works good for larger scale seat belts. 

Howard, the airplane you saw was the one and only Turner Special, it has been with the Smithsonian since 1972 when Turner's widow had to sell the museum property which then became a parking lot.

John, EXCELLENT work on the Turner Special!!!!! Love the IP and seatbelts!!!

Howard, those are the neatest Christmas tree ornaments I have ever seen!!!! Thats what I wuld be putting on my tree!!!!!

Gotta show off my cowling.  Please don't mention that the carrier is still showing on the Twin Row Wasp lettering.  I'll try some more MicroSol on it but it is on SNJ paint.  Not so bad though in the eye instead of the camera and the photos were taken when the decals had only been on an hour.  The prop is still in gloss black, perhaps I will get the aluminum on it tomorrow. I just love that part when the decals are on.  I did the panel lines with Dymo tape and a #11 Exacto blade dragged backwards lightly in the primer coat.  The exhaust is K&S aluminum painted black inside.

Cowling looks great, John.   I really like the way the cockpit turned out and the instrument panel is perfect.

Can't wait to see her all dressed up!

jeaton01- Beautiful, absolutly stunning.

 Glad the Smithsonian has such a wonderful piece of aviation history. 

 We were sationed at Grissom till retirement of the Hustler in 69. Pop was civil service by then ,but very much Air Force. I also remember the issue of Wings with the piece on the Turner special. Seeing the cover of that magazine ,definately a great blast from the past.

 Richie & Randy- The whole series of Sky's the Limit ornaments are great. I think this years is the Cessna 410. Some aquire a fair collectable value. They run around $15 to  $20 at time of issue. The GeeBee, the 2001 release , I've  seen online for $100 mint in box. A beautiful Beech Staggerwing from 2002,$80.

 I have the boxes stashed away, but the planes are lined up across the top shelf of my model desk. I love 'em.

 Put the first of several coats of sanding primer on the F-82 this morning. Looks good but discovered several low areas along the leading edge of the wings, on the rudders, and on the right fuselage where I covered over that cockpit. I've skim filled said areas with five minute epoxy. Now to sand and reprime.Then I'll build the cockpit from underneath, finally adding the radiators and building up the lower fuselage including the NACA scoops. Then I'll move to the props.

 I will probably scratch build the props. I thought of using the kit blades as base material, but I want five or six blades each side . The kit parts would still leave me a couple blades short of the proper direction.

 Prop blades are basically twisted wings and its not too difficult to shape an airfoil. So I'm going to make the attempt. They will be similiar to Jeremy's Spitfiretron props. I like the scimitar look of those props , would make this twin 'Stang look down right sinister.

 I've also dug up some parts box drop tanks that I'll cut the ends off to use as new spinners.

 Have decided on the color for the T-6 . Model Masters 'Colors by Boyd' True Blue Pearl. Will start that one when I get my Lib or the F-82 farther along. 

 While I'll be the primary builder on the Texan, I'm going to sit my daughter in lap , put the brush or other tool in her hand and guide her hand. She loves to draw and color , but has some fine motor skill issues. She has become very good about coloring in the lines, yet handling  a paintbrush, needs a little more "slow and in control" skill. My assisting her in the Texan build should go a long way toward that.

 God bless,

Howard

Here's the next project. Hopefully will have better luck than the last one.

John, cowl and engine are really looking good!!!!!! Going to be a beauty!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Howard looking forward to more pics of the F-82 and First pics of the Texan!!!!

John, This one should be an awesome build asthe other with less heartache hopefully!

The prop is on!  The prop is on!!  Sorry, I'm just having a bit of fun before I go back to sanding the fuselage...

jeaton01 wrote:

The prop is on!  The prop is on!!  Sorry, I'm just having a bit of fun before I go back to sanding the fuselage...

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!  VVVRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

simpilot34 wrote:

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!  VVVRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

I was thinking the same thing!

Prop looks good John!

Daddy1 Oh so you are just gonna tease us by tellin us the F-82 is in primer now huh with no pics, geeze....... You are going to scratch build the props for this build ?? Wow that has been a sticking point for me on a bearcat I want to build. Maybe you could give us a how to on that, as I have no idea where to start making my own props. This scratch building is all new for me.

Bigfoot01 Your build is listed on the front page. Are you still planning on building the Cobra II if so I will list that one also, and that was an AccuMini kit too ?

Jeaton01 Sorry but you had to show off the business end of the Turner Special huh ? YEAH right ! From the looks of your WIP pictures this one is going to be a build to write home to Momma about. Lookin sweet so far. Your extra work on the prop really makes it stand out. Well done I must say, but it doesnt seem enough.

 Sorry for the tease. Will get some fresh pics up soon as I get the low areas filled,sanded, and reprimed. With all the bodywork I'm doing on the F-82 , I plan on several coats of primer ,sanding in between, to get a very smooth finish. I will probably be minimalistc with the panel lines for the same reason. It's my understanding many of todays Unlimited Gold class racers fill and glass over many panels to get a slicker surface.

 As far as the props? Still figuring out how to go about that. 

 I thought of using a couple of the extra prop blades left over from my Tamiya P-47 as a base to build from , but the twist is in the wrong direction for the counter-rotating side. May go with 4-bade scimitars like Tsunami's ,but I really want 5-blade props. 

  I will use the kit spinners as idea/patterns for the hubs and new spinners. Scratching 10 blades the same shape won't be hard, but consitency in the airfoil profile and twist of the blades could be a little tricky. Just takes some figuring out and coming up with some kind of jig and a contour gage.  I will put together a good 'how to' when I build them.

 Right now I'm getting my Lib back up to speed ,so it will be complete when the Collings people come around in Jan. Then I'll also have the work space to start the Texan. Looking forward to that one for some quality daddy-daughter time. 

 BTW - Work does still progress on the F-82. I take it to work and sand out the contours at break time.

jeaton01- Looking good! Nice cockpit too. I've always liked this airplane. It looks fast.

vetteman42 wrote:

Daddy1 Had to complain about the tease dont ya know, just couldnt help myself You are right about the panel lines, on the fully painted racers I have only seen access panel lines and and cowling panel lines. On the NMF racers like Risky Business they smooth the panel lines as much as they can and use only flush ( in the litterial sence of the word ) rivets. I think five blade props would look nasty on your F-82 just mean and fast as he##. I have given thought to carving a master prop blade from wood and molding it from fiberglass resin so they would be indentical but dont know if they would be too brittle as thin as they would be for sanding and such. I have been following your Lib build and can only say thats gonna be one awesome model when finished, cant wait to see it. So hurry up and finish that one, so the father daughter build can get goin. I envy you that build its gonna be too cool.

 I'm going to use the license tag plastic I've been using for the props . It's pretty pliable and retains shape fairly well. I plan on cutting the the blades from some thicker sheet then laminating a strip or two on top of that. Then I'll file and sand the air foil shape. 

 To create the twist , I'm thinking of carving two wood bucks for the different direction prop blades and with the aid of a hair dryer, some how burnishing the blades  down on the bucks to get a consistent twist from one blade to the next. 

 Putting a push on the Lib right now to get that one complete. Isn't it amazing how ideas for projects come up faster than we can build them. Trust me fellas they will be done. 

Daddy1 sounds like a better idea than mine was I will be keeping an eye on your props.

Jeaton01, your engine and cowling for the Turner Special look awesome! Can't wait to see it finished up

Daddy1, That P-82 sounds like it's going to be incredible. It will probably be the hottest looking plane in this GB. Lets see some pics how shes coming On a side note, I just read that the P-82 that the CAF was hoping to be gotten back in air is being reclaimed by the USAF Museum and likely will never fly again I always hoped to see one of those fly someday, but I guess that ain't gonna happen.

Vetteman42, yes, I will eventually be doing Cobra II when the new canopy and doors come in in. Yes, all of these kits are AM.

Here is where I am at. Just starting to fill in the gun barrels and shell discharge openings. Once all the seams and surface are cleaned off it will be out to the garage, I mean "paint booth"

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v485/BigFoot01/Air%20Racer%20Group%20Build/

Had a relatively quiet weekend of Ambo Duty, only two runs, so I got quite a bit done this weekend. It is actually a relatively dark green, but the light in the pictures gives me flashbacks of Kermit the Frog singing "It's not easy being green" and "Rainbow Connection"