Fooesboy

I am very surprised and saddened by that comment, and quite disappointed in WNW or any other manufacturer for taking a wasteful approach like that. We have enough things throwin out all the time without adding perfectly good products to the trash pile.

Great project! I also have the LZ conversion and will be following closely for any tips I can pick up. Here is my attempt at the ChTZ S-65 using a E.T. Models PE set.

Hi Peter, Its a real privilege to watch over your sholder as you produce these masterpieces. I for one am very grateful for the huge amount of time you put into producing these detailed build threads. Chris

Hi Michael, Yet another fantastic model from you, I really enjoy your ascetic touch.

I too will be following with interest as this is a nother kit I have been contemplating.

Sitting down at the bench today are looking over what I have left to do... The way I see it is that there are 2 more complicated steps left, then it's just final assembly. 1) fitting the 9 pirces of solder for the pipe work in the engine bay. 2) the dreaded vac formed canopy with the die cut foil trim. I've had a look again at the IMCTH website and they have an interesting series of videos were they are building the Zero, unfortunately in Japanese but it does give some good tips on how to handle the canopy.

Well gang, The engine bearers ane finally done and the engine has been attached to the fuesalage! A major step forward for me and has definitely been the hardest part of this build by far. I have lost count of how many times I have tried to do this only to have the parts break apart. The trick I found was to use 30 mintue epoxy instead of CA to glue the side pieces C39, C40, C41 & C42 to the white metal pieces G4 & G5. For anyone following along, take extra care to ensure G4 & G5 are bent to the correct angle. I also gave up trying to assemble as per the instructions and instead attached the bearers to the firewall and used part G1 to set the correct gape at the front. I had thought about attaching part G1 at this stage but found that it was impossible to fit the engine. Sorry about the terrible photo but I thought it important showing what I have done. Everything was then cleaned, sanded and scuffed with scotchbrite. Once I was happy, the fuse was very carefully masked. I then used Tamiya metal primer from the rattle can followed by airbrushing my zinc chromate green, this showed up the gaps that needed to be filled. It took me several rounds of filling, sanding, painting and checking before I was happy with the resault. Fitting the engine took quite a lot more persuasion that I would have liked and all the handeling has resulted in some damage that I am yet to fix. Words fail me, I am so glad to have gotten through this step, it's not my best work but there is no way I was going to attempt to redo it.

Hi Dave, This is the aproach I have thought about, one point that had concerned me was keeping track of each airframe. Is there much difference between each marking options in build steps / colour call outs etc? And how are your organising your builds? Aside from that I'm super excited to watch these come together!!!!

I keep meaning to get this kit myself. Nice start so far.

Hi Eric, This kit looks amazing and I have been tempted to pick it up purely for that fact alone, unfortunately the aircraft just does nothing for me... I will however be following along with great interest as you turn out another masterpiece. Cheers,

Hi Ian, Just wanted to tell you that I have had a good look at the funnel frets #5 & #6 and apart from a different layout (and size of funnel of course) they seam to have the same parts. Now the Pontos onstructions are somewhat lacking and there are many parts on each fret so I might have missed something.... I am still trying to work out how to keep organised during this build, one thing that I have done is create a PE part map, a basic list of each fret and what numbers it contains. Let me know if you would like a copy. I'm looking forward to seeing some progress from you some time in the future.

Just wanted to drop by and see how you are going. I have picked up my IMCTH kit again, thanks, in no small part to watching your progress! One step to be careful with is the engine mounts, I have spent an excessive amount of time on them! What I have found is that CA is not a good choice of glue, the PE plates that are glued to the sides of the white metal parts have kept breaking off. The CA is just too brittle, in the end I have used 30 minute epoxy and fitted them to the firewall / rest of the fuselage. This step is proving to be the most difficult one by far for me. I will post an update to my thread once the engine mounts have been painted and the engine installed, I hope ot have this done by the end of the weekend.

Finally an update!!! I never meant to put this down for so long, I was at the point of painting the propeller and came accross DirkE's build of his Kitty Hawk T-28 (unfortunately thanks to Photofukit no more photos) and he had done an amazing job on the prop... so realistic it kinda put me off.... Now I know that build threads are suposed to inspire, and it has it was just the timing... I knew that there was now way I could achieve this sort of result. (Photo used with permission from DirkE) Fast forward 16 months and I have been itching to get back to my Mustang... Fortunatly I had saved this photo, printed it off even, and would occasionaly be looking at it trying to muster up the courage to have a go. This is what I have come up with, it is lacking the finesse that Dirk has shown on his example. I have also been working on the engine, I had gone a bit overboard with the AK Engine weathering washes and it looked terrible. I ended up applying another coat of thinned black over the top and it is starting to look acceptable. The last bit to show are the wheels, I have added some dust and altered the colour of the tread. I have also been working on the engine bearers, this has turned into another disaster that I will share with you all in the next update...

Hi guys, This build is far from dead..... just been in hibernation! I've gone back and fixed the links to my photos and will post an update very soon.

I have about 15 pairs of tweezers (yeah, I'm a bit OTT on the tool front), but the pair i use time and time again are my Tamiya straight tweezers. I would go as far as to say that if I could only have 1 pair they would be the ones.

I too really like the look of the worn pinstriping and had thought it was intentional. I am sure that whatever way you choose to portray the pinstripes in the end will look fantastic!

Thanks for all the help guys, in the end I have used them all except 69 and 71.... I like the look of a couple on the backside, just added a bit of interest. The Fündekals have settled down great and were a dream to apply, I'll post a photo once they are clear coated.

Geoff and Tim, Thank you very much guys, you have both given me a lot more insight as to what I am trying to depict. I think for the front I'll just use 68 & 70, then I'll take a look at the back and see if I wish to add 72 and or 75 to add a bit of interest. Thanks again!

Finding photos of the back side of a propeller is very hard, infact I cannot find any period photos at all.

Thanks Tony, It looks like the Hobbydecal link you have provided is showing a cuffed and non-cuffed propeller? My question really is in regards to decals #69 & 71 for the frontside of the prop and #72, 73, 74 & 75 on the back.

Hi guys, I have purchased a set of the Fündekals P-51 stencils solely for the prop decals. Their instructions... http://www.fundekals.com/p51Stencil.html have a number of options but give no guide lines as which to use. Any help in this regards would be much appreciated. This will be going on my IMCTH Mustang that I am loosely basing on "Daddys Girl" (decals also from Fündekals) as I plan on also building a Tamiya P-51 to display along side at some stage No pitcures attached as I am yet to sort out my hosting.....

Great progress, the rest of the fuse is pretty straight forward from here. I've gotten as far as the engine bearers and have really struggled with a couple of points, your build makes me want to pick it up again! Looking forward to your next update.

Glad to see it healing well, isn't it funny (not humorous) how things can change so fast.

All the advice so far has been right on the money, only thing I'll add is that it is great to be getting another modeller to NZ.

Hi Micha, I hope you will do a detailed build log as I have this kit and have made a small start. It will be my first model with fiber optics and I don't know were to start!