The P-51"mustang" Group Build. 2008

Quick progress pic.  Hey, it finally looks like something resembling a P-51!  Fit of the resin fuselage to the kit parts was really good.  I do have some seam work on the fuselage, particularly on the rudder area (rudder not installed yet). 

Either I begin the seam work next or install the PE in the wheel bays.  Haven't decided yet.

Cheers 

For those of you too young to remember the Red Baron here's a little history.  She was a highly modified P-51D powered by a Rolls Griffon engine which turned two contrarotating props.  At one time she held the record for fastest piston engined aircraft at just over 499 mph.  She was lost in 1979 at the Reno Air Races after a supercharger bearing failed causing a shaft which drove the oil pump to fail.  As oil pressure dropped, the props turned flat causing the aircraft to crash in some rocks short of the runway.  Although the emergency teams were told by Bob Hoover, who was flying the pace plane that no one could have survived, they rushed to the crash site and saved the pilot, air racing legend Steve Hinton.  Steve Hinton survived and has gone on to a storied career in air racing and the restoration community.  Here's a couple of pics of RB-51 in her prime.

www.public.fotki.com/lewbud/group-build/redbaron1978mojave02.html

www.public.fotki.com/lewbud/group-build/redbaron197902enhanced.html

Enjoy.

Hey this is awsome I come home and theres a bunch of life in this GB!

lewbud wrote:

Was wondering if we were restricted to military a/c or could I inject some speed and color into this build?  I found a 1/72 kit of the Reno racer Red Baron and was wondering if it would qualify as well.

You bet that would qualify! That would be very interesting to see a racer in this.

Wow, Arki.  Nice work bud.

Was wondering if we were restricted to military a/c or could I inject some speed and color into this build?  I found a 1/72 kit of the Reno racer Red Baron and was wondering if it would qualify as well.

Fyuri wrote:

I'll be posting some WIP photos shortly, I've almost completed the assembly and it's almost ready for the exterior paint. This looks like it'll be the first one I actually get done. I'm going to try and find some decent Tuskeegee Airmen decals for it.

Fyuri,

Don't know what scale you're building here's a start Aeromaster sheet AN48799 for 1/48 and AN72226 for 1/72.  Available through Squadron and probably most internet hobby shops.

wow Arki Great job with the pit, All that aftermarket stuff works really good, I am going to try to after market the heck out of a P-47, but thats for later. Again awsome work.

As promised some progress pics of the cockpit.  Sorry about the photo quality, my lighting wasn't quite up to snuff and there's a little blurring in some photos. 

The Eduard PE is a nice addition although I didn't use all of it.  The Ultracast seat is always good quality.  The wood flooring didn't quite turn out as well as I would have liked, but not much of it will be visible anyway once the fuselage halves close up.  

And that's the next step. 

Ok, I've managed to finish the cockpit and side walls.  I need to clean up the wash a little, and then I'll post some pics by tomorrow night.

A couple of quick progress pics.  I've installed some of the PE in various places.  The majority of the interior PE is pre-painted, so the next step is to paint the cockpit area in prep for the rest of the PE.  The color matching will be a pain. I've sanded some of the existing detail off the IP in prep for the color PE.  I have a few other areas to remove detail from.

I've also cleaned up the resin replacement fuselage halves.  In the pic I'm holding the replacement against the original.  I'm very impressed with Loon's quality.  The replacements are virtually identical to the original including interior detail and locating pins.  The only visible difference is the fillet. 

Not a lot of progress, but it's something.

Nice build! Is that 1/72 scale?

Be sure to update your WIP percentages in your profile!

Great job, Vassar!  That's one nice early Mustang. 

Man, that looks like a rough runway - hope you've got good tires on that baby! 

Ken 

Great job Vassar thats one to be proud of. Are you still planning to do your other 1/72 Stang? if not I will take it off for you.

Got my Mustang finished for the GB.  It's an Accurate Miniatures P-51A.

I've managed to wash all parts down and peruse the PE pieces.  I realized upon review that I hadn't bought just the interior PE upgrade but an interior and exterior PE upgrade.    I'm all for extra detail but the extra work doesn't necessarily thrill me.  Oh well, I won't use all of it anyway.

Suddenly the resin fuselage is looking like the easy part. 

Sorta.   Certainly the wings, landing gear, elevators, canopy, cockpit, etc. are still good.  

I'll use the left-over fuselage halves for paint experiments.  

The intent with the drop-in replacement is to eliminiate any cutting, as opposed to the resin replacement tails.  I dunno, we'll see how this goes.

Happy 4th everyone! 

A drop in FUSELAGE? Doesn't that pretty much render most of the original kit useless?

I know you're good with the cutting-and-fitting stuff (not to mention the filling-and-sanding stuff) so I'm glad it's you and not me.

Can't wait to see this one go together! 

Meh, aside from the fuselage most of the AM is pretty easy small stuff.  This won't even get close to my Mosquito build in terms of effort to incorporate it all. 

I hope.

I'm looking forward to starting it.  

Ok, as promised Andrew here's what I'll be building for this GB.

The kit will be the great 1/48th Tamiya P-51D.  I've built this kit before and it almost falls together.  Probably 3/4 of the kits in my stash have some measure of AM accessories and this one has quite a bit although most of it is minor.  I'll be adding Ultracast exhausts, props and spinner, wheels, flaps, and seat; Eduard canopy mask and interior PE set; Eaglestrike decals and one other item of note which I'll get to in a sec.

The markings will be of this aircraft.

Sharp-eyed observers will note this particular aircraft is a filletless P-51D.  The Tamiya kit is a filleted P-51D.  

There are several aftermarket replacement tails to build a filletless P-51D, but I decided to try something that had come out about a year or so ago.  I'll be using the Loon Models resin replacement filletless fuselage.

It's an entire drop replacement resin fuselage for the Tamiya kit.  I'm pretty interested to see how well this works.

I'll get a start on this after the holiday.

Cheers 

  Andrew,

 Great job on your aircraft , you keep getting better at this. Are there any more P51s

 from our leader ? I still have to get with my daughter to get these pictures posted ,

 but if I need any help, I will e mail you .

 Frank C