The P-51"mustang" Group Build. 2008

I'm here...just not building yet.

Seriously, in the future, you should try a shorter span for each GB. While you do get more people in over a longer period of time, you also have verrrrrry long stretches of nothing.

Hi Andrew,

Put me down for an Academy 1/72 P-51B in Old Crow markings.

Brian

Thanks Arki, glad someone is still here, seems like you and Dupes are the only left.

I'll jump in, it'll give a chance to use up some 357 FG decals that I bought for a club build a couple of years ago.  It's amazing how 20.00 worth of decals can make me buy 100.00 worth of kits.

Yeah, I didn't forget about this GB.

Just been really busy trying to get my house ready to sell. I'm closing on a new home July 31st and we really need to get the one we are in now sold. Between work and the commute (140 miles round trip), I'm gone around 12 hours a day and as soon as I get home, I'm handed a new "Honey-Do" list. The weekends are even worse...

Oh, and I have a baby due in August so my wife really can't much. (I won't let her lift anything) 

I am actually part of like 5 Group Builds at the moment. I'm seriously considering pulling out of all but this one and the Corsair GB since I am like 75% on my Mustang and around 25% on my Corsair. All others are unstarted.

I have made a little progress and will post pics soon.

Regards,

Jeff 

Thanks Jeff, no rush we pretty much have another year.

Well here's my finished one.

  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

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 

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.  

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! 

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! 

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. 

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

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.

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 

Nice build! Is that 1/72 scale?

Be sure to update your WIP percentages in your profile!

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.

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.