1/24 Airfix RCAF Mustang IV…finally done

[R Palimaka]

The cooling slots are roughed in, just need some light sanding and primer to refine them a bit. There are slots carved into the plastic underneath the louvres, have to try to make them slightly more visible.

 

 

Finally the ribs on the instrument shroud were added. I had a close up photo of the area on the actual aircraft. All this will be blended in and cleaned up.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2017 by R Palimaka

[Azgaron]

Nice work!

 

Håkan

[R Palimaka]

Thank you! I think I underestimated how much work was needed to bring the Airfix kit into the 21st Century. :-) Lots of correcting and refining is needed before I can start the fun part of assembling anything, plus there were all the little differences for the Canadian Mustangs.

 

Of course, once I finish this, Airfix will announce that their next 1/24 scale superkit is a P-51D/K, lol!

Edited November 23, 2016 by R Palimaka

[Old Dog Flying]

Richard, you have a BIG project in hand but an even bigger dilemma with all those Airfix Titanic rivets.  The majority of these were Flush type rivets including those on the fuselage and once set left very little, if any, gap around the head and most would be no more than 5/32" in 1:1 scale.  On a Bare Metal finish they would appear as small round dots of aluminum.  I've done quite a bit of this type of riveting on my own aircraft and the head, under a coat of primer and paint is barely discernible.

 

Keep up the good work..I'm lurking!

Barney

[R Palimaka]

I know Barney, it looks like it was built in a shipyard! I hope that some sanding will take them down a bit, at least they are flat and not rounded, and there are none on the wings. Kinda worried about what the sanding will do to a natural metal finish though...oh well, one step at a time. :-)

Edited November 23, 2016 by R Palimaka

[Old Dog Flying]

Richard:  Sand should not pose a problem.  Start with 600 grit wet with a few drops of liquid soap then work down to 1500 or finer, again wet with soap..  I did this procedure with a 1:48 scale CC-139H and it worked out great.  My last Big Mustang received some sanding with no ill effects

 

Barney.

[R Palimaka]

Thanks Barney, I have a pack of assorted grades to 2000, so I will give it a go. She is big though! It will take some time but it'll be worth it.

[Old Dog Flying]

Here's a pic of the Monogram DC-3 aka RCAF 1000.  Lots of sanding here as well

 

Barney

 

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[R Palimaka]

Now that's beautiful! Shows me that it is possible, and worth it.

[r0t0rdr1ver]

Were the wings on post war RCAF ponies still puttied / painted etc, or were they stripped to natural metal? Hard to tell from the photos I've seen.

[R Palimaka]

Short answer...they would have been filled and painted. That's how I'm doing my wings. 

 

Long answer...apart from the first 30 we received in 1947 which came from storage, Canadian Mustangs went through an overhaul before they came up here, some of them complete down to the wing spars. In fact many were taken from stocks intended for Air National Guard units, and arrived absolutely like new in fresh USAF markings. Once received, the RCAF Mustangs were well maintained and kept in clean condition. Later in their service they were actually painted in aluminum lacquer. So for the most part, you should fill and paint the wings. That being said, in photos you can sometimes faintly see where rivets and panel lines were starting to come through. So you wouldn't be wrong if some rivets and panel lines showed a bit.

 

Something like this, the wing is obviously puttied and painted, but with a few rivets visible:

 

Edited August 6, 2017 by R Palimaka

[R Palimaka]

Another history lesson, just to show the condition of the RCAF Mustangs when they arrived. These are the first of 424 City of Hamilton Squadron's Mustangs the day they flew in to RCAF Mount Hope (Hamilton, Ontario) on November 6, 1950, delivered in USAF markings and looking factory-new.

 

Edited August 7, 2017 by R Palimaka

[Old Dog Flying]

Bcause of the putty filler the wings and stabilizer were , like many RCAF aircraft, painted with aluminum lacquer.  The Mustanger control surfaces were also painted the same way...mainly for corrosion protection.

 

Barney

[mozart]

Fascinating stuff RP.

Max

[R Palimaka]

Thank you Max, although my "educational" posts might be acting more like a distraction from the fact I haven't posted any photos of the model being built recently...

 

At the moment I'm still correcting and adding some details: filling and rescribing detail on the elevators and wings, finishing the cooling slots on the fuselage sides, and adding the vent for the battery. I've also started shortening and detailing the landing gear struts. The gear doors also have to be beefed up. In the kit they are almost completely flat, and need building up to a more 3D result. The clamshell doors are especially poor, and need some help.

 

The project I worked on last night was the prop and spinner. The actual openings in the spinner for the propeller blades are a different shape than that provided in the kit. The kit has round holes that fit very tightly around the root of the blade but on the real aircraft they are bigger, at a bit of an angle and more peanut-shaped. Hopefully this photo will show it more clearly:

 

 

                  

 

I'll post more photos when they are done.

 

Actually, looking at the photo above, the panel lines on the Airfix Mustang don't look so bad...

Edited August 7, 2017 by R Palimaka