Airfix 1/24 P- 51 D Wings

[sixgunns]

Can the Airfix 1/24 P- 51 D kit be built with correctly canted wings O.O.B. ?

I see this built with wings having no cant upward when looking at the front. How could the wings go on horizontal straight ? All drawings of P-51s clearly show canting. No getting away from this flat look when displaying – especially grounded. So I wondered if this is a problem with the Airfix 1/24 scale kit .

 

I haven't built this YET but observed the problem .... is it a problem ?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

 

J.K.

 

sixgunns

[D Bellis]

The "canted" wing thing is known as "dihedral" (die - HE - drawl). Yes, the Airfix 1/24h P-51D does have rather flat dihedral OOB. I built this one a LONG time ago (1982? ) and used a couple strips of hard wood glued to each other in the center, then glued to the lower wing half to correct the dihedral angle. Seems to me that the inner ends of the wing tops had to be sanded down some to get them to fit the fuselage correctly. NONE of this fix was difficult or time consuming, and the result was WELL worth it.

 

Get creative, and don't be afraid to try installing a dihedral brace of your own in this kit.

 

HTH,

D

[sixgunns]

Thanks D, I thought if it was a real problem with this kit that I could figure out a way to put the dihedral back in. I think a twin in-wing dihedral brace would be the thing. This size Mustang is not something to take lightly and i want to build the Maj. Preddy AC and do it right. I have the decal. I have an old MPC waiting too - 1/24 scale passed me by for years.... now I have the itch like a lot of other diehard AC modelers. I always figured someone engineered these big 1/24 AC so there was plenty of problem-free time building them. Evidently even the Trumpeter 1/24s are not perfect. Though their 1/24 Japanese Rufe looks mighty fine - just looking in the box anyway.

 

I just ordered a 1/32 Trump Corsair F4U-4 - couldn't resist. That's an old favorite and I've built & detailed the Rev. 1/32 Corsair.... and stockpiled a couple as they became cheaper. The images on-line were just too much. When I get my hands on their new Hellcat I'll have a life experience probably.

 

And I wish they had put the 5" HVAR rockets into one of the re-pops of the Rev. 1/32 Typhoon. I have to make my own.

 

 

 

 

J.K.

 

sixgunns

[Craig361]

If you go through with the fix, remember the dihedral of the P-51 was 5 degrees @ 25% wing chord.

[LSP_Matt]

Hey lads...could you get the dihedral correct by measuing where the tip of the lower wing should sit relative to a given height on the fuselage.

 

Sort of like running a horizontal plumb line from the wing tip to the fusleage then measuring where ( in a vertical dimension) it interesects.

 

Cheers Matty

[Edgar Brooks]

The problem is that the fuselage forces the wings out, and down. You need a wingspar; there is a drawing, in the Patrick Stevens book, which was published, to complement the kit. If you'd like a scan, let me know; I also have photos of the wheel wells, so, if you'd like to spend several hours filling in the gaps, in the kit, I can help, too.

Edgar

[JET-A]

I remember when I built this kit...and yes the wings were straight with no dihedral. The top half of the wing root area, when mated to the lower section, butts up against the fuselage, as I recall, and adding dihedral will be hampered by the wing to fuselage interface.

 

The way I solved this problem is I removed some of the material from the wing root edges, leading edge to trailing edge (try to remove the same amount on each side). I placed the model between two books, wing tips resting on the books, fuselage in the middle. I then pushed "straight" down on the fuselage until the wing root sealed up. You don't need to apply much pressure. Check and see how it looks...if I needed more dihedral, I removed more material and re-checked. I had the Squadron P-51 in action book and I compared the profile pictures with the model.

 

By the way, I made a sanding block from a piece of wood to remove the material evenly.

 

When I got the dihedral where it looked fairly close, I zapped it with CA glue, filled, and shaped the fillet area.

 

I never thought about building a spar, back then, but it's a great idea. Anyway, this is how I fixed my P-51, it worked for me!

 

 

 

Lou

[sixgunns]

I am wondering if the spar is worth it. We have better glues today and that in theory should hold this together. One would be cutting and fitting after accessing the wing interior. Yes, it is a solid way to proceed , but has anyone actually done this in plastic in 1/24 th ? I'm concerned about the two wings' symmetry mirroring ea other regardless of 5 deg. or 4 1/2 deg. final finish. I wondered too if I might just remove a little of the upper wing by sanding. Where it butts the fuselage. That is easy to control equality on ea wing top. A small amount of the lower wing part will be reduced too.

 

Edgar, what is the title of that Patrick Stevens book ?

 

 

 

 

J.K.

 

sixgunns

[Edgar Brooks]

The full title is "P-51 Mustang, Classic Aircraft No.3, Their history and how to model them." Roy Cross, Gerald Scarborough, and Bruce Robertson wrote it, and the ISBN no. is 0 85059 107 4. It's way out of print, dating from 1973, so your only chance will be the second-hand market. Patrick Stevens don't exist, any more, either.

Edgar

[Ed Fuquay]

Thank you all for the tips. I got one of these P-51 models and I was wondering about the same problem. Currently I am building the old Monogram 1/32 scale see through model (Phantom Mustang) and it seems to me that it would be easy to make a wing spar based on the Monogram's part. I also intend to build the wheel well detail, which is not present in the Airfix kit. I think this Airfix kit is pretty good and worth a good building effort.

Thanks again for all of your input.

 

Ed

[CharlesMetz]

The full title is "P-51 Mustang, Classic Aircraft No.3, Their history and how to model them." Roy Cross, Gerald Scarborough, and Bruce Robertson wrote it, and the ISBN no. is 0 85059 107 4. It's way out of print, dating from 1973, so your only chance will be the second-hand market.

Two copies are offered for sale on abebooks.com:

 

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResu...12&tn=P-51&x=16

 

Although the prices there may seem high, it is an excellent book and would be very helpful to anyone who's building the Airfix kit:

 

Cross, Scarborough and Robertson: 'P-51 Mustang' (Classic Aircraft series, No. 3; Patrick Stephens/ Airfix [uK], 1973; 104 pages) -- AIRCRAFT TYPES INCLUDED: P-51A, P-51B/C, P-51D Mustang; A-36 Apache; COCKPIT DETAIL: Mustang I [P-51] (p. 62, 93); P-51D (p. 57- 60, 81); TP-51D rear cockpit (p. 70); WHEELWELL DETAIL: Mustang I [P-51] (p. 95); P-51B & P-51D (p. 85, 88); MISCELLANEOUS DETAIL: Mustang I [P-51] radiator, wing (p. 64), nose panels (p. 65, engine bay (p. 93); P-51D undersurface detail (p. 41), engine bay (p. 55), K-14 gunsight (p. 56), gun bay (p. 87); A-36 radiator, dive brake, gun bay (p. 66); CUTAWAY DRAWINGS: A-36, P-51A, P-51B (p. 67); P-51D (p. 83); MULTI-VIEW DRAWINGS: Mustang I [P-51] (inside front cover); SPECIFIC MARKING PROFILES: Mustang I [P-51] (p. 16), P-51A (p. 21), P-51B (p. 28, 33), P-51D (p. 42-44).

 

Charles Metz (who has no financial interest ... blah, blah ..)

[keith in the uk]

Hey six guns. Dont bother buying the book not at those prices anyway.

I have a copy i would be willing to lend you should you wish to borrow it.

[rafju]

Hi 6guns

 

Please check PM