Jump to content

Hasegawa P 51 D


LDSmodeller

Recommended Posts

Hi All

 

This is the start to my build

 

The Kit box

77ac4c55.jpg

 

Inside the box

9bb03a2a.jpg

 

The aircraft I am going to build

c1a784a9.jpg

 

The finish on the aircraft is a rather faded HSS -High Speed Silver

 

An interesting fact about NZ2413 is that she was the only RNZAF P 51D

to have a cuffed Propeller. All her other stable mates had un-cuffed props.

 

This makes life easier fro me in that I don't have to replace the kit prop

 

Decals from ventura

e13efede.jpg

 

Interestingly I have read that the blue on the roundels was a house paint which

ended up fading rapidly..... :BANGHEAD2:

 

RNZAF Mustangs arrived in New Zealand in 1945 circa Late August early September

too late to see action in replacing the very war wary F4U-1/FG-1 Corsairs.

 

The Mustangs had been fitted with rocket rails, the kit does not

have them, so I will have to build some and attach

d5fe4517.jpg

 

A TAF Mustang pulling target towing duty, but you can clearly see

the rocket rails

08bd6b3d.jpg

 

Regards

 

Alan

Edited by LDSmodeller
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I havent seen that ohakea pic before, thanks for posting! Any idea what the plane is in the background? Did the kiwi Stangs have any variation in markings or paint from natural metal with roundels and the appropriate TAF checkerboard?

 

My info on the rnzaf planes is sorely lacking, even with the rnzaf ww2 pages on hobbyvista

 

thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I havent seen that ohakea pic before, thanks for posting! Any idea what the plane is in the background? Did the kiwi Stangs have any variation in markings or paint from natural metal with roundels and the appropriate TAF checkerboard?

 

My info on the rnzaf planes is sorely lacking, even with the rnzaf ww2 pages on hobbyvista

 

thanks!

 

The P 51 at Ohakea is nice.

 

I'm not a 100% sure as the photo has been cropped, but

I believe the aircraft behind is a De Havilland Devon

 

To answer your question regarding the paint schemes,

 

In 1945 when the P 51's arrived in New Zealand they were

in standard USAAF scheme of the day with stencils etc

(being Natural Metal fuselage etc).

 

They were put in storage after the war till about

1950 when they were put into service with the TAF.

 

In the time from their arrival till their disbanding

the RNZAF P 51's wore natural metal through to High Speed Silver.

 

This photo gives you some idea of what High Speed Silver looks like albeit

a little less that the original lustre it has when fresh

FILE0930.jpg

 

Roundels varied also from immediate post war roundel/bar to straight

"D" type roundels in the 1950's

 

The RNZAF P 51's had their wheel wheels in Zinc Chromate yellow,

and as per the above P 51 at Ohakea some had their wheel doors repainted

 

Here is a link that should provide you with some photos

at various stages of the P 51's service

 

RNZAF P 51's

 

 

This next link will give you some insight in to internal colours etc

RNZAF P 51 discusion

 

Regards

 

Alan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Hi all

 

My apologies for this being unattended for the

last 6-8 weeks or more

 

Suffice to say, it's been a rather interesting

time in my life, a few firsts for me and I would

like to say God willing, the first and last time for me!!!

My first time in hospital and my first ever operation. <_<

 

Anyway I digress

 

Have a small update for you today.

 

The Packard Merlin, the heart of this famous pony

 

The Hasegawa rendition is OK for this build, in that it

will be hidden but, I want to build it and add it anyway.

 

1be0ba2f.jpg

 

The joins were a little out of alignment on the rear of the Supercharger Duct/Carburettor, so required

some filler

b8909d5d.jpg

 

Next stop some paint - more on the Merlin soon

 

Now most Mustangs - RNZAF ones I have seen photos of, show the drooped

gear doors and obviously with the gear doors the flaps drooped also.

 

Accordingly I have cut out the flaps on the upper and lower halves.

b0bfb6e6.jpg

 

My very fine tooth model saw made short work of this, the key was patience

:tumble: lots of it :popcorn:

 

These will require some remedial work eg extend the flap area with some plasticard.

 

The next item to be tackled will be making an adjustment to

the rear spar to correct it. This next photo shows (in red) the

line of the spar, and the blue hash is the area I will need to

cover over

2ac887e3.jpg

 

Well hopefully I will have some more shortly, I am really enjoying this build, it's stretching

my building skills and there's lots to learn.

 

Hope you enjoy

 

Regards

 

Alan

Edited by LDSmodeller
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Hi Guys

 

Thanks for your comments, had hoped to slip under the wire

but not quite.

 

Some progress shots and comments

 

Hasegawa didn't really provide too much in the way of securing

the Packard Merlin in place, and if time was on my side I could have

built up some engine bearers etc but opted to build some supports instead

9ef3f366.jpg

Engine sitting on them

04dfa71b.jpg

 

The cockpit is next, painted the floor boards in a yellow over brown undercoat to look like plywood prior to adding black paint

2d8c8302.jpg

 

I decided to manufacture my own seat as the kit one was not correct

I cut the back off, prior to shaping and adding a back rest

87448def.jpg

 

The new seat, not quite perfect but still looks good to me!

254baae1.jpg

 

Added some paint to the equation and the engine looks good

342f9ae2.jpg

 

The cockpit set up, with some black paint applied to the flooring and radio area

17eda811.jpg

Still need to add the interior green

I have painted chromate yellow in the engine area and rear of the aircraft, I have painted

black the area immediately behind the pilot. RNZAF P 51's from what I have read, were

Chromate yellow-engine area, Inteior green for cockpit, black for the radio section behind the pilot and chromate yellow the rear.

The demarcation lines were roughedly feathered, which is what I have tried

to acheive.

ec2db829.jpg

 

The cockpit in situ, looks good (to me any way) can't wait to add the interior green and get it all together

6d6bcd96.jpg

 

Hope to have more in the next day or so

 

Thanks for looking

 

Regards

 

Alan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Hi All, more of an update

 

Maru and Peter, thanks for your comments

 

Gee my day or so has been nearly a month ;)

 

Anyway, onward and upward

 

starting off with the cockpit again:

Added some interior green to the cockpit area.

326864be.jpg

Painted my seat.

cc7e7624.jpg

Placed the cockpit assembly to see how it looks.

326864be.jpg

 

Previous I had painted the flooring black over the "plywood" colour, and with an

old T-shirt and some light judicious rubbing gained a "slightly worn look"

cc7e7624.jpg

The same was done to the seat to give it a "used" look

 

I decided to make a cushion for the seat, so took some 1.5mm styrene cut it to

shape, adding two pieces together, then covering in masking tape to simulate cloth, a coat

of Olive Drab and viola one cushion as seen on the seat

6023ebf3.jpg

 

You will notice the top of the seat has a metal bracket to keep the pilots harness in place, I found this PE fret set, I'd forgotten I had it, so next step for the seat, to make up pilots harness and attach....

5f68dc37.jpg

 

Moving to the aft of the fuselage I boxed in the tail wheel and added some strenghtening

strips, as I had seen in photographs

ab0c9680.jpg

The tail wheel sitting in it's new home.

09f57cef.jpg

 

Part one done

Edited by LDSmodeller
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Part two of my post :speak_cool:

 

On to the outer part of the fuselage, I began to prep the wing fillet area where the

upper portion of the flap would sit, to remove the "molded" area

6a69e3c7.jpg

 

This had to be taken very carefully, one slip and I would ruin the slim cover over

the flap well, it took me about a 1/2-3/4 of an hour to do each side.

The finished item - quite pleased with the result. I will need to add some styrene to

close up the gap in the fuselage

ed0f48fa.jpg

 

What it looks like with the wing on.

80fb2bbb.jpg

 

Now you will notice some styrene strip on the inner trailing edge, I placed this there

to act as support and strenghten the wing in this area.

28af8d2b.jpg

ce3faa89.jpg

 

Well that's all for now, I'm really happy with the way this is coming along, and with

the RNZAF's 75th birthday upon us, I want to get this finished (I have more projects

lined up for this year)

 

Stay tuned :lol:

 

Thanks for looking

 

Alan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Hi All

 

Another update and milestone (Update part 1)

 

Using the PE fret I made up the seat harness -man- that was hard on the eyes,

used to have 20/20 vision but after that <_<

 

Added the seat harness

2639c950.jpg

 

Dry brushed some black on the IP to tone down the white bring out the instruments dial faces,

quite pleased with the results

e692888a.jpg

 

 

Added the side console to the pit

85c83e06.jpg

6d76f770.jpg

 

Sitting in the fuselage, looks good to me

b6f00242.jpg

 

 

Dirtied up the tail wheel well- historically, some of the airfields these aircraft flew from

could be quite muddy in Winter and all the fine volcanic soil mixed with water

can create a mess. I recall living in the Hobsonville married quaters on the airfield

perimeter, and watching an RNZAF helecopter come in and sliding along in a spray

of dirty water

0ed85704.jpg

 

Part two to follow in a moment

 

Regards

 

Alan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi all

 

Part two as promised including the milestone

 

Filled in the cavity left by my surgery previous

126b4be3.jpg

528f66ba.jpg

 

A little Tamiya Putty to seal any gaps

82c9b754.jpg

 

Cleaned up with some nail polish remover and Q tips

31b116cd.jpg

9e566115.jpg

 

I decided to construct a larger oil cooler to stop see through - not perfect

or accurate but it will do the job

c8ad70fa.jpg

a7f7a9d5.jpg

 

And now the mile stone - the fuselage is glued together :thumbsup:

ae92ae1d.jpg

9a40edf5.jpg

 

And finally -(No Wise cracks about the peg colour, it was the first one I grabbed

out of the peg basket :shrug: )

353c5cd6.jpg

 

This has been fun so far, next the wings!!!!! :)

 

Hope you enjoy

 

Regards

 

Alan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...