24 replies to this topic

[LDSmodeller]

Hi All

This is the start to my build

The Kit box


Inside the box


The aircraft I am going to build


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


Interestingly I have read that the blue on the roundels was a house paint which
ended up fading rapidly.....

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


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


Regards

Alan

Edited by LDSmodeller, 31 July 2011 - 06:18 AM.

[Peterpools]

Alan
Going to be a interesting build to follow and enjoy.
Peter

[seiran01]

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!

[MARU5137]

Alan

I'm gonna enjoy this as I love Mustangs and thay are such beautiful aircrafts.

Great good start ...Keep the photos coming...

Edited by MARU5137, 03 February 2012 - 07:23 PM.

[LDSmodeller]

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


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

[LDSmodeller]

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.



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


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.


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

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


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, 21 October 2011 - 08:53 AM.

[LSP_Ron]

Looking really good

[MARU5137]

Alan
Sorry that you have not feeling well.It good to see that you feeling better and getting there..

You must recuperate and take it slow and easy..having said that your updates and work is looking GOOD so far..

BEST WISHES

MARU.5137

Edited by MARU5137, 30 May 2012 - 10:37 PM.

[MARU5137]

How are you ALan

Hope you are feeling much better than you were last year.

Any progress on this Beauty...

Take care
best wishes.

MARU 5137

Edited by MARU5137, 30 May 2012 - 10:37 PM.

[LDSmodeller]

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

Engine sitting on them


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


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


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


Added some paint to the equation and the engine looks good


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

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.


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


Hope to have more in the next day or so

Thanks for looking

Regards

Alan

[Peterpools]

Aln
Nice start on the the Hasegawa 'Stang.
Peter

[MARU5137]

Alan,

Great updates..

Amazing detailed workmanship.

[LDSmodeller]

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.

Painted my seat.

Placed the cockpit assembly to see how it looks.


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"

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


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....


Moving to the aft of the fuselage I boxed in the tail wheel and added some strenghtening
strips, as I had seen in photographs

The tail wheel sitting in it's new home.


Part one done

Edited by LDSmodeller, 03 March 2012 - 12:01 PM.

[Peterpools]

Nice progress on the front office and seat. Looking good.
Peter

[LDSmodeller]

Part two of my post

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


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


What it looks like with the wing on.


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.



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

Thanks for looking

Alan