Budman

Looking forward to seeing what you do with the engine Mark...I know it will be top notch! Bud

I don't know if this is the place for this but here goes. So I whack the open bottle of super thin glue and unknown to me, a splash ends up on the rudder of my P-51. I didn't realize it till a few moments later. The rudder is toast. I am bereft. Out of desperation, I email Tamiya late Friday nite and explain my problem, admitting I was at fault. They email me right back and say it might take them until Wed (today) to locate the parts. Then on Monday they email me to tell me they have located the parts and need my address. The parts show up today and there is no invoice. I emailed them and they said "no charge, its on the house". Now I have 3 of their 1:32 kits, and will get several more but they didn't know that!! THIS IS TRUE CUSTOMER SERVICE. Thank you very much Tamiya!!

Really coming along beautifully. You are really doing this SPAD justice! Bud

I used .062 aluminum tubing for the "aluminum" piping. The white portion is made from .030 wire with plastic coating which brings the diameter to .045. I originally had the whole thing made out of the alum tubing but the straight parts of the conduit looked too large. I plan to run the individual plug wires with the braided hose from Detail Masters (only on the intake side). The assy is not quite as shown in the manual on the intake side in that I could not make the bend radius on the aluminum tubing any tighter so the stubs are a bit too long. Thanks for your help on this Mark. Bud

While I am waiting for stuff to arrive for the P-51, I assembled the Merlin for the Spit to check what I could do and couldn't do with the spark plug conduits and individual plug wires. Mark (Dodgem37) was kind enough to warn me that there wasn't room to do what I really wanted to do on the exhaust side so I wanted to see if anything at all could be done. As can be seen, the plug wire conduits and individual plug wires don't have a problem on the top of the engine (intake side). On the exhaust side it is another can of worms entirely. There is room for the conduit but absolutely nothing else. Therefore, I will wire the plugs on the top side of the engine (intake side), but will only have room for the plug wire conduits on the Sides of the engine (exhaust sides). It will look complete on the top where it can be seen and from the sides, only the conduit can be seen anyway. O well... Thanks for stoping by. Bud

Wolf, we have all run out of superlatives. There are no more words that have not been said. I have not seen work equal to yours. A little oil, some coolant, a battery and some exhaust headers and your Merlin would run. Really nice work. Bud

Modeling is fun but are you having fun yet? Just kidding, this is gonna be intresting in that you need to overcome just about everything that could go wrong. I admire your attitude!! Bud

Welcome captzeno, glad to have you. This is a great forum. Looking foreward to seeing some build pics! Bud

Get yourself one of these things, it is a blast to work with a kit that is loaded with detail, engineering, fit and function!

Grant, Thanks for the mini review, will be looking foreward to some pics!

Thanks J

Thanks for the kind words Grant. How do you like the Trumpeter Bf 109e-3? I need a 109 for my stash. Thanks, Bud

Just a quick update... Joined the fuse halves today, and altough I was a little nervous, it went perfectly. Everything just went click, click,click. Ya gotta love it!! I am gonna try to show the rudder seam but there ain't one. How cool is that? Just for fun I taped the top halves of the wing to the bottom with 1 piece of tape per side and fitted the wing and fuse together just to see what the fit looked like. The fit was perfect. What I didn't expect was when I picked up the fuse, the wing came with it...and the fit stayed the same. This is a great kit This kit never ceases to amaze me Bud

Just ran across your thread and had to commend you on the stellar work you have put in on this beautiful SPAD. What craftsmanship and ingenuity!! Bud

Richard, I accused Wolf and Mark of being the most mentally deficient modelers on the planet but I was not aware of your work at the time. Upon seeing your work (which is also insanely over the top) the three of you have caused me to consider competitive basket weaving as a hobby (but I can't find a forum for it)!! Truthfully, the work that the three of you do is really unbelivable. You all have certainly thrown the gauntlet and challenged the rest of us to pick up our game. I cannot comprehend the linkage you designed, engineered and then fabricated. Thanks for the pictures. Can't wait for more!! Bud

Mark, Not to worry, I took it as a caution and appreciated it as such. Thanks..

Thanks Mark

Mark First, both you and Wolf are at a completely different level. You guys do such near impossible work so cleanly and your engineering is without equal. You guy's work leads the way for those of us who are trying to improve our skills (or lack there of). I read your warning on the exhaust side ignition and I really appreciate your saving me a lok of work just to find it won't fit. A quick look at the exhaust manifold certainly proved you correct. What a shame. Your build is a beautiful thing to watch. What a tail wheel!! Bud

Well, if at first it doesn't look right, do more looking. Now the plug wire conduit runs down to the magneto cap as it should. The conduit is made out of .062 aluminum tubing. It looks a little large but it will look smaller when painted black...I hope. Now to tidy up the conduit pieces, drill holes for the individual plug wires, assemble and install. Then, off to do the exhaust side conduits and wires. Nothing to it...I'll be finished in a week or two?? Bud

There has been much knashing of the teeth elsewhere on this forum, as well as myself, on the ignition system for the Merlin. Specifically as pertains to the Spitfire and P-51 Tamiya kits. The problem is there is very little space in the exhaust header/engine block/airframe members area. Reference was then found suggesting plug wiring on the top (intake manifold area) of the engine. This made life much better not having to deal with the troublesome exhaust area. But apparently this is not to be. Mark kindly gave a couple of wonderful links one of which seems to have dashed the easy remedy. There is a schematic on pg 2 showing both the intake and exhaust side plugs being wired to their respective magnetos. There are 2 spark plugs per cylinder, one on the intake side and one on the exhaust side. Looking from the supercharger end, the mag on the right is mag "A" which is wired to the intake plugs and the left mag "B" is wired to the exhaust side plugs. Both are used. Not only do we use the intake plugs but also must use the troublesome exhaust side plugs. Bummer. I therefore have been working on the intake side plug wire conduits. My camera has a hard time with close ups as you can see And a couple of things from the paint shop... I have to thank my wife for the spray booth!! Bud

Hey guys I could not make sense out of being able to pick from running the plug wires on either the top of the engine by the intake manifold OR on the exhaust side. I did some research and found that when looking fron the supercharger end the magneto on the right is the 'A' mag and the one on the left is the "B" mag. The A mag is wired to the intake side spark plugs and the B mag is wired to the exhaust side plugs. Each cylinder has 2 spark plugs. Hope this helps sort out the ignition wiring. By the way, the "research" was done on Marks link. Thanks Mark The info is on pg 2 http://aviationshopp...nuals-a-26.html Bud

I wonder how many times I am going to post the same info more than once??

Not yet but I have the hex and small punch sets on the way and will give a report on arrival. Bud

Not yet, but I have the hex and small round set coming and will report on its arrival. Bud

Thanks for all the input guys... I am in the same boat you are Ron Bud