Ironwing Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 With the arrival of Dragon's Mustang offering and the old, but still venerable, Hasegawa Mustang, one once again strikes out on an adventure of uncertain future with high hopes and a small vial of unknown sedatives. For those of you who remember my last Mustang and its untimely and still mystery shrouded demise...here we go again. For those of you new to this epic journey, welcome, have a seat and read on. Having now had time to heal from the last crash, and with Dragon's Mustang on the market for some time now, I just had to part with the money and have a look see what this new tooling was like. You all probably have your own opinions and have read copious paragraphs on the subject and don't think you need me to do it again for you. I do however think that between the two kits, both of which have some very nice and some not so nice points, an excellent example of the Mustang can be had. Hence, armed with many salvaged and remaining parts of the last Mustang, and the new Dragon bird fresh at hand, off we go into another new venture. Initially, the Dragon Kit is crisply molded and accuarate in shape. The Hasegawa kit, ancient in its vintage, matches up well in shape when compared to the Dragon Kit with minor variations. Where the Hsegawa kit distances itself from the Dragon is in surface detail. The former being relatively free of surface (with the exception of two large rut like depressions)detail and the later choked with it. For this reason, the Hasegawa fuselage was chosen as a starting point. To begin work, the raised fillet detail of the wing and horizontal stabilizer needs to be removed. In the case of the prototype, and all consequent examples, these fillets are flush with the fuselage skin without exception. Before sanding flush, their shape is scribed into the fuselage sides by using the raised detail edge as a guide. Caution should be used when removing the raised fillet detail. Check during the sanding process to ensure that the newly scribed detail hasn't been sanded away. In my case, rescribing had to be done a couple of times to prevent loss of the scribed line. I use a small conical burr fixed in a pin vice to do the scribing work. It's plenty sturdy, doesn't vibrate or bend and tracks cleanly. It does however take several passes to fully complete the scribe. Another nice feature of the conical burr it that it works in two directions. Because of its hefty body,it can be pulled or pushed without fear of the point digging in and jumping off track. I know much of this, for some, is mundane and of not much interest. It is, however, intended to develop a rationale for rebuilding or building the two kits together in order to supply a thought process or set of ideas to those contemplating such a project. Untill the next installment... Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 This gives a better view of what needs to be done in order to get things as they should be. Recutting the radius is a bit of a pain and took quite a few lite passes with the scribing tool to set it properly. Note: While removing the raised wing fillet, use caution while sanding at the lower portion of the radius to prevent damaging the fuel dump cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 full fuselage side after rescribing fillets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 original Hasegawa fillet detail... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 I know much of this, for some, is mundane and of not much interest. Ignore them There are plenty of us who find your adventure 'quite' interesting. M M ...thanks Geoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tourist Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 Way to go! I'm really looking forward to this, your last Hasegawa Mustang is in my bookmarks. Daily updates please! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 Mike, Good to hear from you...ignore who? Glad to see some of you remember the last attempt. We hope in great heaps that this will come to a much better conclusion. Rig and Tourist...many thanks for looking in. There will be more. Work goes on Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValiantWagon Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 Hi Geoff I am interested in how you got that nice compound curve scribe line - my skill is limited to simple straight lines, I have yet to master a technique for curves Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted September 12, 2007 Author Share Posted September 12, 2007 Chris, Thanks for looking in. To answer your question; the scribed curve of the wing fillet was done by following the edge of the raised detail before sanding it away. Not very complicated but time consuming. I originally had intended to sand away the detail and then use a template to add the scribing...I changed my mind and went with tracing the raised edge. I've attached a photo of the template just for the heck of it along with a photo of the tool I use to scribe with. I've tried pins, compass points, xacto blades and have had little luck with them. The attached photo is a deburring tool used in most machine shops and easy to come by. I like it. It's sturdy, doesnt tend to dig in or scitter off the line being worked on. It can be used at very steep angles to the surface, perpendicular to the surface, cuts in both directions (push and pull) and leaves a very fine line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted September 14, 2007 Author Share Posted September 14, 2007 The fuselage has been scribed and work now progresses to some plastic cutting. After having looked at the Dragon fifty-one, it struck me (imagine that) that the forward ventral bypass door (one of the two doors on the bottom of the Mustang mid-ships)on the Dragon kit was completely different than that on the Hasegawa Kit. A bit of research shows that Dragon has done it correctly. This is where the Dragon Mustang begins to earn its keep. As an aside, I must say that Dragon did some very nice things and paid close attention in most places; pity they ran totally amock in other areas. The mold quality is the most obvious of their successes. Unfortunately, it is detined to be used as a "parts bird". Keeping this in mind, work first begins with the removal of the ventral bypass area on the Dragon fifty-one. The attached photo shows the area to be removed in preparation for installation into the Hasegawa Kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted September 14, 2007 Author Share Posted September 14, 2007 This shows the difference between the two kits and the way each handled the vent area. The first Dragon insert is dry fitted in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted September 14, 2007 Author Share Posted September 14, 2007 Showing both inserts from the Drogon kit in place and roughed in. The white stripe on the left is a shim. The idiot that cut the opening made it too big. She's a bit out of focus. If you close your eyes you can't tell it's out of focus. Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 Ongoing damage/work is roughed in for the forward ventral bypass. The attached pics, for the most part, speak for themselves. Working with aluminum was a new experience. This tiny bit of detailing coast the life of an entire can. Most of it ended up on the floor in the form of parts that didnt fit. The hardest part was the vent door itself. Some of the more experienced metal workers shouldnt have difficulty. It is mostly getting the angles correctly cut and that troublesome little bend which runs across the part's width to match the fuselage. Of equal importance is making sure the opening is symetrical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 This is the raw opening without the associated vent parts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwing Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 side view...the trailing edge of the vent door needs to be cut back on an angle. I'm unsure of the angle value. I just cut it until I thought it looked right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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