P-51D Merlin's Magic 1/48

[N4521U]

I hope this is appropriate to post a Reno racer? I lettered this plane many years ago when I was sign painting in the states, she is still flying. A repair took place a couple of years ago, oxy bottles gave way while filling on the ground, how lucky was that! Note the Clean skins on the side of one of the pics, all replaced, both sides. Rudder had to be rebuilt as well.

Story about the yellow tail. While racing at Reno the trim tab let loose. Bob Hoover was doing the overhead safety observer duty in his Rockwell Mustang, all yellow. After landing, he was waving to the stands, cockpit open. The waving got more intense, jumping up and down, pointing to his nose, and he waved with more vigor,.............. until......crash. They called it the Hoover Matic. he ran front on into a pick up truck towing another airplane. Straight up through the engine and into the cab, looked like a sliced loaf of bread, everyone bailed from the truck. He loaned his yellow tail to Stu, so he has kept the yellow color.

The owner Stu Eberhart flew F86's in Korea, as he told me he was given the option during training in the UASF, P-51 or F-86, jest were the Thing, then when he was posted all the Mustang trained pilots had to switch to Sabers anyway. His son Bill shares flying, he is also a USAF trained pilot.

I am adding some cockpit details, scratch built, not too successful, will have to give in and get a detail kit. Having trouble locating one of these here in Oz!

Clipped the wings, you can see in the shots of MM that he has installed flared tips. I tried to sculpt the from "clean clay" then make a mold, some success, will try again. Wing leading edge is clean of gun ports, likewise shell casing openings. Instrument panel is Not military, and cockpit is white! Has a rear seat as well, am getting cockpit detail shots from the planes crew chief and will have to do this somehow.

Have to try and make custom decals, number 22 on sides as well as my nose art. I have an idea for an approach to do this, will have to ask members if someone has a printer to do this? yes? Have received a manual pdf from brewerjerry, what a legend he has turned out to be to do this for me.

Nonetheless, here's my start! cheers, Bill

 

[Heinz]

Very cool man!

 

[B-17engineer]

Sounds good `

 

[Airframes]

This should look geat! Which kit are you using BTW?

 

[r2800doublewasp]

Very cool I saw this plane at Reno last year!

 

[r2800doublewasp]

Looks like Revell's kit to me, but I could be wrong.

 

[Wurger]

I echo Airframe's post.

 

[N4521U]

It's a Tamiya kit. Thanks for the encouragement. I took a real close ujp of what I have done inside, gord it don't look all that good. So I think I will use a detail kit, if I can find one for Tamiya, there scarce in Oz. Anyone got one they may not use? The gear lever is WAY too big, and I want it to look right. Got to get the wing tips right as well, they are next. cheers, Bill

How far north r2800? I lived in Anderson for a few months, and Yuba City in high school.

 

[r2800doublewasp]

Looks great so far! Btw, I live in the Bay Area only about 20 minutes away from San Francisco

 

[N4521U]

I lived in Livermore for 20 years. Berkeley in the mad 60's. Oakland in the 40"s, San Lorenzo in the 50's, Newark late 50's, we were like bloody gypsies when I was growing up. Fremont before I moved to Oz. I guess I think of Northern CA as above Sacto. cheers, Bill

 

[N4521U]

Just have to remove what is not wingtip. May have to start over cuz it's just to bloody BIG! This one took three eppisodes of Star Trek. Then I have to make a mirror copy of it for the starboard side. I have never been known to make anything easy on myself. cheers, Bill

 

[N4521U]

Well I have had some time. Got the cockpit pictures from the crew so have gone after that. Lots of changes to the pit, radios and stuff, LOTS. and the instruments, still working out how to do them, but it will come. Still have to make the oxy block and the hose. Now how am I gonna do the hose??? Finally got the wing tip more like the real thing. Used a 4x4 styrene strip, you can see the wing has been cut down to the wing tip join and flapper bit cut down as well. But tried to make the gear lever by hand, this is not working, so am looking for a cockpit set so I can get this smaller. May do it with wire, and add the bulges with super glue.

 

[Wurger]

Looking good.

 

[Airframes]

I agree with Wojtek. I see what you mean if that's the landing gear lever! I reckon stretched sprue, with PVA for the rounded end, and, if required, a piecce of tape for the point at the bend, mid-way down the shaft. Alternatively, in this scale, this part could be built-up by painting, or a bead of Superglue run around the shaft. From what I remember of the 'gear lever, it's fairly close up to the pedestal, and would only be about 0.5mm in diameter in 1/48th scale, so the 'joint' would hardly show, apart from tonal differences, and is mostly hidden anyway.

 

[N4521U]

Well I put off trying to make the matching starboard side wing tip long enough. I sat down and just went for it, and shazam, it turned out ok. What a relief. Now I can go for the landing gear. Did some cleanup on them and the tail wheel, but the tail wheel looks kinda silly attached to the strut. I may try and make a mold of the wheel and then remove the wheel from the kit part and use a wheel I cast. Or is there a tail wheel and strut kit? Tips I am chuffed over tho. cheers, Bill

 

[Wayne Little]

Sweet!!!

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Very nice. I read somewhere on one way to make a hose. Take some very thin wire and wind it tightly around something near the diameter of hose you're looking for. Then paint over it with rubber cement. It will be fagile but will resemble a hose to the scale your looking for. If it is a solid looking hose, not ribbed, then you could use solder found at an electronics store with a resin core. slightly heat the core till the resin leaks out and you have yourself a bendable tube or hose. Hope this helps.

 

[N4521U]

Good idea NUT. I will have to do some testing. Just got an Eduarde PE sheet for the instrument panel. Will have to come up with some way of customizing at 1/48th. I sure know how to make things hard on myself. Got the front landing gear struts cleaned up this morning. Got to get the radial tread tyres from Craig tho. Will make a cast of half the tail wheel, cast two halves to make two good sides then cut the wheel off the kit piece. See what happens. cheers, Bill

 

[Airframes]

The way I've made hoses in the past is to use lead wire, available these days in various gauges from model outlets. For a 'solid' hose, just cut to length, bend and position as required and paint. Thin electrical cables, such as those found on PCB's and telephone connections, can also be used for this.
For a 'ribbed' oxygen hose, for example, wrap some fuse wire or similar around the (lead) hose, coiling it along its length, pulll tight, then carefully pull it down and off, allowing the wire to partly engrave the lead. This will leave shallow indentations which, when painted and then given a darker wash, look fairly convincing. If you can't ge lead wire, then stretched sprue of fuse wire, with a smaller gauge wrapped around it, looks reasonable, but of course does not have the advantage of being as flexible.

 

[N4521U]

Another one to give a go to. I'll never finish this thing. LOL much appreciated. cheers, Bill