bdthoresen

Hey thanks for checking in, Kev. This kit is pretty rough, but it has a nice shape. I am truly curious to see what some minor scratchbuilding, some sanding, filling, thinning and a slick paint job will do to bring it up to a more modern standard. I am actually enjoying the hell out of this right now! Thanks again!
 
Thor     

Good Evening All- I have decided to enter yet another groupbuild with this ancient monstrosity...........


I will be using the ancient Matchbox kit to build either the famous Black 3 or Black 8 from North Africa, Jg 27. I  intend to keep the build as simple as I can, and add a few scratch details as I go to improve certain areas. The aim is to try and prove what can be done with a small amount of effort on a kit that is as old as I am......A real "Classic Bash". This kit had a small amount of assembly done on its motor, but it is cleanly done and well bellow the 25% threshhold. Hope you will follow along with me and see what kind of trouble I will get into. Some areas I see need some improvement are some cockpit details, and lack of sufficient gear bays or exhausts. This will be an adventure using what I have on hand.......

Nice work Bri! The prop and mixture knobs look great! The fuel line you are referring to is actually the crankcase breather line, which travels from the engine all the way to under the rudder. Very convincing effect with the tape simulating the rubber couplers. I am by no means an expert, but I have worked on this old girl...Jeff certainly works her hard! Super cool dude to be sure.......

As far as the second engine mount, they are a pain to recreate in the actual shape, being dynafocal in nature, they hardly have a straight angle on them. Keep it up, you will get her there.

In the field, our engine stands are usually made to mount the engine vertically to prevent any damage to the crankshafts. Perhaps that might be a route to look into? Aircraft Spruce sells different versions of it. Never have been sure as to why having an engine sit in the same attitude on a stand as how it is mounted on the plane would be detrimental to the crank, but it is the practice we all use just the same. Perhaps it was more of a factor on earlier engines when the metallurgy was not as good.....  

Anyway- Looking forward to more.........

THOR      
 

Nice work, Bri- The throttle handle is on the left side of the cockpit, with the prop control just under it. The knob is blue, with usually a silver plunger in the center. The other knob on the opposite side of the cockpit is the Mixture control, which should be red with a silver plunger. About three inches below the mixture, at about the 5 o'clock position, is a day-glo orange selector handle for the fuel system. Super critical part, as the Extras cannot fly aerobatics with fuel in the wing tanks, only in the center acrobatic tank.

Nice job on the light gray. I help up a piece of white copier paper to one of the airframes in the shop, and only then can you see the difference between the tubing gray and white.

We have a brand new SC in the shop we just assembled, along with Mike Goulian's 330SC in for it's post airshow season tear-down. If you need any pics- Give me a shout......

Keep it up-

THOR    

Awesome work Steve. Love the work so far. Keep em coming!

THOR   

You are a brave man Florin......But unfortunately, the Revell nose has more than a few problems; The first appears to be the top cowl width issue (Which you are working); Second, the lower nose shape in profile is too narrow from the oil chin scoop back to the firewall; The spinner is undersized by a large margin, and the prop blades are too skinny as well. The chin scoop is also too small and incorrect in profile. Nothing that cannot be fixed with some ingenuity. I illustrate what I am talking about, take a spinner from the Hasegawa D, and hold it onto the nose of the Revell kit. Some of the issues will become apparent. But I sure am looking forward to how you proceed....I love classic kits!!!!

THOR, a huge P-51B fan........

Thanks for the prod, gents. Yes, there has been progress on the wheel well repairs, but nothing photo-worthy yet. A lot going on around the house- My youngest is getting ready to graduate and leave home, and I also recently changed jobs. I am going to keep at it when I can, hopefully I can make the deadline-

More to follow-

THOR   

Thanks for the prod, gents. Yes, there has been progress on the wheel well repairs, but nothing photo-worthy yet. A lot going on around the house- My youngest is getting ready to graduate and leave home, and I also recently changed jobs. I am going to keep at it when I can, hopefully I can make the deadline-

More to follow-

THOR   

Man, Tolga that looks kick a$$; Love the airbrush work on her-

This kit has always been a "bone of contention" with me, being that it was so hard to come by under the Hasegawa label- I never really wanted the Eduard release due to the cost; It's always been a bit of a bummer in my mind;

Your rendition looks awesome- So close to the finish!

Later-

THOR  

Nice work Brian- Extra tends to deal with the seam between the body top at the wing root with an extruded black rubber seal. you might be able to replicate it with a thin strip of styrene- it would run from the top wing trailing edge to the bottom trailing edge; all the way around.
Glad to see you are getting back to her....

THOR   

Nice work, Bri- The throttle handle is on the left side of the cockpit, with the prop control just under it. The knob is blue, with usually a silver plunger in the center. The other knob on the opposite side of the cockpit is the Mixture control, which should be red with a silver plunger. About three inches below the mixture, at about the 5 o'clock position, is a day-glo orange selector handle for the fuel system. Super critical part, as the Extras cannot fly aerobatics with fuel in the wing tanks, only in the center acrobatic tank.

Nice job on the light gray. I help up a piece of white copier paper to one of the airframes in the shop, and only then can you see the difference between the tubing gray and white.

We have a brand new SC in the shop we just assembled, along with Mike Goulian's 330SC in for it's post airshow season tear-down. If you need any pics- Give me a shout......

Keep it up-

THOR    

Craig-

I remembered a build here from way back when from the great Brian Cauchi, where he had built Revell's Corsair, and had used tissue to detail the fabric control surfaces- It looked as though he used Tamiya tape for the rib lines, and then overcoated it with tissue and cement; Check out his build here, the technique starts to be discussed about post number 250-

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=7290&page=17

Still one of the best builds I have ever seen- But the ideas might help you-

THOR     

Foz-

I still maintain you are the man!!

All the best to your wife-

THOR    

Looks great Andy.  Not sure what you are worried about, I know you will crush it!

THOR   

Thanks Jon and Torben- slowly plugging away at it- Spent some time filling seams on the wing assembly. I have also filed down the conical plugs that I had made to remove the gun openings in the leading edges. I am still tidying up a few things, and then I will fabricate the "tiles" to cover the rear spar area in the wells. I will add a few details to help hide the mess, but otherwise I am going to keep it simple.

After the wings and horizontal stabs are finished up today, I am going to assemble the core engine and mount assembly. Absolutely none of it will be seen, so I will probably just spray the whole thing black. That will then just leave the cockpit. Moving right along- I am hoping to have the main airframe assembled by the end of next weekend.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by- Appreciate it.

THOR     

Thanks Mike- I have that book and did not see that drawing- I am off to take another look........

THOR   

Thanks Jon and Torben- slowly plugging away at it- Spent some time filling seams on the wing assembly. I have also filed down the conical plugs that I had made to remove the gun openings in the leading edges. I am still tidying up a few things, and then I will fabricate the "tiles" to cover the rear spar area in the wells. I will add a few details to help hide the mess, but otherwise I am going to keep it simple.

After the wings and horizontal stabs are finished up today, I am going to assemble the core engine and mount assembly. Absolutely none of it will be seen, so I will probably just spray the whole thing black. That will then just leave the cockpit. Moving right along- I am hoping to have the main airframe assembled by the end of next weekend.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by- Appreciate it.

THOR     

Thanks Peter for the kind words. It took a bit of thinking, but I think I have found a simple workaround......
 

 
Here is the initial repair I made for the missing half of the rear well wall. I ended up bonding in a new spar section from .030" styrene, measured and cut to replace the missing parts; This will be used as a bit of a "backer", of which I will then fabricate some thin styrene "tiles" to cover the seams. I am not sure if I will add a bit of detail in this area, as a secondary way to hide my repair. Still looking for a bit more definitive pics of what might have been there.
 
I also took the time to stretch some sprue rod and made some conical plugs to fill the gun openings. I also bonded in the light lens to use as a base to fill it up, as it was not present on "Thunderbird"....
 

 
I will let this dry overnight, and sand it up tomorrow evening. I then can go ahead and do some final seam filling and polishing, so that the wing assembly is done.
 
Small update, but more to follow....
 
Later gents-
 
THOR   

Thanks Jon and Torben- slowly plugging away at it- Spent some time filling seams on the wing assembly. I have also filed down the conical plugs that I had made to remove the gun openings in the leading edges. I am still tidying up a few things, and then I will fabricate the "tiles" to cover the rear spar area in the wells. I will add a few details to help hide the mess, but otherwise I am going to keep it simple.

After the wings and horizontal stabs are finished up today, I am going to assemble the core engine and mount assembly. Absolutely none of it will be seen, so I will probably just spray the whole thing black. That will then just leave the cockpit. Moving right along- I am hoping to have the main airframe assembled by the end of next weekend.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by- Appreciate it.

THOR     

Well folks, here I am again looking down the barrel of another fantastic group build, wondering if I will get to finally complete something. With family coming over for the holidays from "over the pond", and being in the midst of a potential job change, I have a lot on my plate right now. Chances are, I probably will not be able to start my build until after the upcoming holidays. Bummer to be sure.

Anyway, here is my plan; I am going to use a box-shot of a Trumpeter 1/32 P-51B Mustang which I acquired with no decals and instructions. The kit is complete and unstarted. I will also be using Draw Decals' sheet for Jackie Cochran's P-51C #90 "Thunderbird", which, as I am sure you probably guessed, is BLUE. The airframe has a pretty cool history, not the least of which is that it never apparently has an airframe serial number from North American. It was built from the parts of three airframes, and had a serial number assigned by the CAA. The airframe was lightened in many respects, and the finish was quite smooth. I will describe the relevant mods as I build it.

I will have to add a seat harness, replace the kit's rubber tires with a resin set, replace the propeller, scratchbuild the antennae, fill most of the panel lines, sand the beast smooth, and give it a super slick finish. I am looking forward to this one, and I hope I can do it justice.

I will post some progress pics and more background of the aircraft a bit later in the week. This is more just an attempt to throw my hat in the ring.

Thanks for stopping by- I appreciate it.

Later-

THOR   

Thanks Peter for the kind words. It took a bit of thinking, but I think I have found a simple workaround......
 

 
Here is the initial repair I made for the missing half of the rear well wall. I ended up bonding in a new spar section from .030" styrene, measured and cut to replace the missing parts; This will be used as a bit of a "backer", of which I will then fabricate some thin styrene "tiles" to cover the seams. I am not sure if I will add a bit of detail in this area, as a secondary way to hide my repair. Still looking for a bit more definitive pics of what might have been there.
 
I also took the time to stretch some sprue rod and made some conical plugs to fill the gun openings. I also bonded in the light lens to use as a base to fill it up, as it was not present on "Thunderbird"....
 

 
I will let this dry overnight, and sand it up tomorrow evening. I then can go ahead and do some final seam filling and polishing, so that the wing assembly is done.
 
Small update, but more to follow....
 
Later gents-
 
THOR   

Interesting photo, Fencer. Thanks for sharing.

Based on what I am seeing here, it would appear that the equipment shelf/bracket that is usually molded on top of fuselage fuel tanks in Mustangs was mounted to the structure, and the tank slid underneath it. OK, off to do some more research-

Thanks-

THOR   

Thanks Peter for the kind words. It took a bit of thinking, but I think I have found a simple workaround......
 

 
Here is the initial repair I made for the missing half of the rear well wall. I ended up bonding in a new spar section from .030" styrene, measured and cut to replace the missing parts; This will be used as a bit of a "backer", of which I will then fabricate some thin styrene "tiles" to cover the seams. I am not sure if I will add a bit of detail in this area, as a secondary way to hide my repair. Still looking for a bit more definitive pics of what might have been there.
 
I also took the time to stretch some sprue rod and made some conical plugs to fill the gun openings. I also bonded in the light lens to use as a base to fill it up, as it was not present on "Thunderbird"....
 

 
I will let this dry overnight, and sand it up tomorrow evening. I then can go ahead and do some final seam filling and polishing, so that the wing assembly is done.
 
Small update, but more to follow....
 
Later gents-
 
THOR   

Thanks Peter for the kind words. It took a bit of thinking, but I think I have found a simple workaround......
 

 
Here is the initial repair I made for the missing half of the rear well wall. I ended up bonding in a new spar section from .030" styrene, measured and cut to replace the missing parts; This will be used as a bit of a "backer", of which I will then fabricate some thin styrene "tiles" to cover the seams. I am not sure if I will add a bit of detail in this area, as a secondary way to hide my repair. Still looking for a bit more definitive pics of what might have been there.
 
I also took the time to stretch some sprue rod and made some conical plugs to fill the gun openings. I also bonded in the light lens to use as a base to fill it up, as it was not present on "Thunderbird"....
 

 
I will let this dry overnight, and sand it up tomorrow evening. I then can go ahead and do some final seam filling and polishing, so that the wing assembly is done.
 
Small update, but more to follow....
 
Later gents-
 
THOR   

Hey gents-

Working away on my 32nd P-51C air racer, and read in some of the reference material that the aircraft I am modeling had it's fuselage fuel tank removed when it what built up for air racing- I do know that sometime in the production life of the -51B/C they stopped using the fuselage tankdue to its adverse effects on the aircraft's Center of gravity. So, if the tank had been removed, what did they use to install the equipment behind the pilot's headrest. I believe most times there was a radio, and an aircraft battery; but I am not sure how the equipment was mounted. Was there some sort of shelf installed?

I went through all of my references and the google, and had no luck so far. Any insight into this area would be appreciated!

Thanks-

THOR