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Tamiya P-51D with custom stencils


Bravo52

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The Mustang is coming along.  Once you get the cockpit in the fuselage, things start to happen pretty quick.  I've run into a small problem with the alignment of the motor.  I've read before where there can be problems with this fit.  Taking a look at the firewall, it doesn't seat just right.  I've pushed and prodded and it won't go.  What that leads me to believe is that the sidewalls on the cockpit are a little off.

 

firewall_zpscf01f550.jpg

 

The motor from the front view is cocked a little to the port wing.  All this means is the exhaust faring won't seat.  I can "make" it fit but...

 

Mtrshift_zps22b6b2e8.jpg

 

While it looks like there might be a twist in the motor rails, they are in fact square.  The real problem here is my picture taking ability is not good.  Lets just say I'm no Ansel Adams.

 

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Overall this thing is a beaut!  Everything fits like it is supposed to.  Maybe I'm dreaming but it seams Tamiya engineers figured just the right places to put the spru gates to keep all of the trimmed attachment points facing where they can't be seen.  

 

closedfuse_zps2cfcc7d4.jpg

 

Even the plumbing on the bottom, that will likely never be seen, looks fantastic and the fit is spot on...which further confuses me regarding the firewall fit... Hmmmm.....well, at least I know it's there! :)

 

Plumbing1_zps67974919.jpg

 

One other area of concern is the seam in front of the radiator outlet door leading up to the air inlet scoop.  While the fuse sides line up perfectly, there is no easy way to smooth this without having to obliterate some rivet detail.  I'm hoping a light sanding will leave enough rivets to make it convincing.

 

lwrseam_zps332f88ae.jpg

 

One last beauty shot of the cockpit.... :)

 

cp1_zps962d2b4e.jpg

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"Tamiya engineers figured just the right places to put the spru gates to keep all of the trimmed attachment points facing where they can't be seen".

   Noticed that as well..really left a positive impression...great engineering in this kit.

   Looking real sharp Jerry... :popcorn:  :popcorn:  :popcorn: 

Edited by williamj
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"Tamiya engineers figured just the right places to put the spru gates to keep all of the trimmed attachment points facing where they can't be seen".

   Noticed that as well..really left a positive impression...great engineering in this kit.

   Looking real sharp Jerry... :popcorn:  :popcorn:  :popcorn: 

I was working on the wheel-well and came across the perfect example of this on the small scale.  You can see by the arrows that the spru gates are aligned with the tab slots.  This is done throughout the kit.  It is most handy on the body panels that are going to get painted in a bright silver to represent the aluminum finish.  

 

Wheelwell1_zps65ddb8ea.jpg

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I was able to build the entire wheel-well without gluing a thing until it was all aligned and fit correctly. While there is nothing special about the wheel-well (other than the abundant microscopic detail and the fact it fits better than OJ's glove), but serves as an example of how well the kit is engineered and the fitment. 

 

WW2_zpsbaffdcfb.jpg

 

I am going to leave this piece off until I paint (toothpick arrow).  That way I can access the small details and plumbing for detail painting.

 

WW3_zpsf014c2c8.jpg

 

Now to add some glue.  :)

Edited by Bravo52
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One quick tip when building this kit.  I use other magnets to hold the other magnets in place while gluing the pieces together that trap the magnet.  I found this really helpful when gluing the fuselage magnets in place as well as the landing light holder (I'm pretty sure the landing light goes here, perhaps it goes on the outer panel of the lower left wing...oh wait, that's only on the early model mustangs...What?...wrong airplane ;)  )

 

LL1_zps0e0a090c.jpg

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Some minor updates to the build.  Ran into a little problem with the cowling fitting.  As I elided to in an earlier post, things seemed a little off keel with the way the motor sat in the frame.  I fiddled around a bit and could get the cowling to fit with a little bit of a tussle.  I didn't want the "smash fit" because I want to be able to take the cowlings off and show the engine.  So....I had to do a little fine tuning on the exhaust parts.  Really only on the left side.  It was nothing more than sanding down the backside to clear the last rocker cover bolt on the Merlin.  Turns out, once I sanded it down equal to removing the ejector marks, it was enough to make it fit....mostly.

 

EX1_zps542ea550.jpg

 

The next minor setback was the wheel well.  I preshaded the WW and put the top coat on and it looked great.  Then I went to detail the plumbing and the Vallejo paint kind of took off on me.  I have some cleaning up to do to make me satisfied. : (

 

WWPlumbing2_zpsa65def27.jpg

 

WWplumbing_zps7b8b7ee5.jpg

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Houston, we have a problem!...  I had to walk away for a day or two when the most unfortunate thing happened to the Mustang.  Not catastrophic mind you, but something that took a lot of my time a patience.  I was working on getting the cowlings fitted (more on that later) when I hear this little "klink".  Not a "snap" or a "pop", just a little "klink."  Obviously my first instinct was to freeze.  I looked around to see what I had broken but I couldn't find anything. Hmmmm... :hmmm:  I looked down on the bench and low and behold stuck to my Xacto knife was a good old MG1.  Apparently the magnet on the right motor mount beam came unglued and popped out.  

 

Plumbing1a_zps6affbf89.jpg

 

Not an easy thing to glue back into place without deconstructing the front end.  The space is too small to fish anything firmly attached to the magnet into so I had to use a piece of .010 music wire.  Every time I got it close to the hole, the magnet (with a mind of it's own) would slide around the wire.  I put a loop in the end of the wire and that helped.  Using another magnet I was able to get glue on the piece and hold it in place until dry.   :BANGHEAD2:

 

Of course the cowl was a little off...

 

cowlfit1a_zps39dc262b.jpg    

 

I knew there was going to be problems early own when I tried to fit the exhaust fairings.  Apparently the motor is leaning a little left.  I got the exhaust faring to fit, but it did take a little persuasion.  That was enough to cause the gap in the cowling.  I suspect when I built the motor, I left it a little "un-square" when attaching the left cylinder bank.  It doesn't take much.  What it caused was the upper rails to not fit snugly.  :blush:

 

cowlfit3a_zps0abec298.jpg

 

Oh yea...I have to do a little touch up on the cylinder heads...  :angry2:  So I ground down the back of the exhaust fairing to clear the cylinder banks.  I also noticed that there were stress cracks in the piece in the front (red arrow).  At the same time, I did grind through the edge in the rear of the fairing (yellow arrow) and did a little touch up on the back.  It is all fixed and painted.  Can't tell its that thin and the "weld" marks are still in place.

 

ex2a_zps380ac0c7.jpg

 

But HEY! the right side fits perfectly!

 

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It's now on to the wing.  

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Been a little while since the last post so here is a quick update as to where I am on the Mustang.  The wing is basically finished with the exception of a few bits needing a tweek or two to close gaps.  The way the wheel well fits and the parts around it, I found the landing gear caps need a little sanding to close the seams.  I don't intend to make mine permanently "gear down" so I'm going to need to "adjust" the styrene a little  :hmmm:

 

overall1_zpsf02c43b3.jpg

 

At the same time, I'm still working to get the cowls to fit right.  Mostly there and will wrap that up this week.  

 

Cowlfit5_zps64f42895.jpg

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The next area that I'm going to focus my attention on is the belly scoop.  The parts fit well and won't need too much work.  This is the fit just after glue up.  I haven't attached it yet to the wing/fuse because I want to see if I can close that seam a little on the back end...

 

bscoop2_zpseab26d51.jpg

 

This is the only seam on the lower part of the fuse that will need attention.  I've found the Trumpeter rivet tool (wheel "C") matched the pattern on the scoop panel lines so if I happen to obliterate any of the detail, I'll be able to repair it without too much fuss.  :shrug:

 

BScoop_zpsef6d8e20.jpg

 

 

 

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