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Tamiya P-51D, Sinai, 1956, with Reposted Images


dodgem37

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Thank you, Kevin. I usually know where to begin. It's where to stop . . . .

 

Thank you, Ron.

 

Thank you, Wolf. The bar I'm setting? You make me laugh. Just following your lead, and trying to catch up!

 

Thank you, Budman. There is so much going on on that engine it is hard to decipher. Pipes and wires running under, pipes and wires running over, nuts, bolts, rods, linkages. It's enough to give one a headache.

 

It had not occurred to me to do anything with the tail wheel caster until Wolfs' comment so I did some work to see what I could see.

 

DSCN6573.jpg

Parts breakdown. Removed the strut by scoring its circumference then cutting it away using a single edged razer blade. Drilled a hole in the strut to receive a brass rod. Drilled a hole in a 1/16" diameter styrene rod to receive the brass rod. Drilled a hole in the housing to receive the styrene rod.

 

DSCN6574.jpg

Mocked-up parts. Brass rod is 1mm longer than styrene rod. Brass rod will set into a pin-hole drilled into the top of the hole to receive the styrene rod. This way the unit will rotate on the brass pin and the styrene rod will act as a rotational guide.

 

DSCN6576.jpg

Mocked-up assembly. This is probably what I really only wanted to do to begin with, but I got lost in all of that other detail work. Thanks for mentioning this, Wolf. I had forgotten about it.

 

Appreciate everyone stopping by and commenting.

Thanks for looking in.

Sincerely,

Mark

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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. :deadhorse:

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

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you, Martin for your complements. You are very generous.

 

Thank you, Bud. You overwhelm me with praise, and in putting me in a catagory with Wolf. I'm working to elevate my skills to Wolf status, but it isn't easy, believe you me.

 

Thank you, Richard.

'I now think you are as crazy as me'

You make me laugh.

 

I've been putting some time into the cockpit side walls. I'm not quite finished with the cockpit, but I've done enough to show, and importantly to me, from which to take a mental break.

 

DSCN6577.jpg

I redid the sidewalls. The light is referenced from 'P-51 Mustang', Crown Books, Robert Grinsell & Rikyu Watanabe. New wiring. Drilled rod, drilled nut, and loom. New conduit along sidewall. Silver fasteners are adhesive backed lead tape, used to weight the head of tennis rackets. Picked this tip up from Paul Budzik web site.

 

DSCN6578.jpg

Another angle. The loom ties look more like barbed wire. Oh well.

 

DSCN6582.jpg

The handle near the seat with the yellow ball: the yellow ball is Purigen, which is used in fish tank filtration systems. The large ones are just the right size. Glued to solder. Most of my time working on the sidewalls was trying to succeed in putting grips on those two dials. I failed three times with three different ideas, miserably I might add, then said the hell with it and moved on. Removed and built the salvo release levers and put in a couple of invisible thread wires. Refinished the sidewall braces and added strip as a fill-in.

 

DSCN6583.jpg

Another angle. Cut a disc for the map case snap. Rebuilt the carburattor air control handles and base. The hot air control is misaligned. Oh well. You may be able to see that I drilled some holes in the canopy slide rail top. I'm contemplating solutions for the outside face. Lots of new stuff on the throttle control housing.

 

Thanks for looking in!

Sincerely,

Mark

Edited by dodgem37
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Thank you, Tomek. Sanding the primary faces after cutting/punching out the part removes the ridges. I've found that sanding afterward is a key to having a really defined part.

 

A few more shots of the cockpit.

DSCN6587.jpg

I made a few buttons, which appear to have fallen off, bummer, back to the drawing board, and redefined the fuel shut-off valve (the little yellow ball and handle toward the left), fuel selector valve (the knob in the center - I see I need to trim the top part to a point), and the emergency hydraulic release handle (on the right). I redid the rods (.010) connected to the rudder pedals to better reflect the real deal. Before they were invisible thread. Front connection to the pedal and rear connection to the rod are hinged, so they can rotate.

 

DSCN6584.jpg

.005 cut strip with .005 bits. I don't know what this stainless steel railing piece is called but I made it because it's so prominent when the canopy is open.

 

DSCN6588.jpg

Right side. I drilled a hole thru the tab on the back of the armored headrest to accept the aerial. I also drilled a hole thru the canopy while I was at it. Oh, I forgot the canopy 'weather strip'. I'll do that later.

 

DSCN6589.jpg

Left side. A little clean-up is in order.

 

Except for the bits that need replacing the cockpit is finished. Now it's on to the engine and firewall. That's going to be a real test.

 

I appreciate you stopping by.

Sincerely,

Mark

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As always very nice work Mark, not sure what the stainless steel parts are either, but could be something to do with sealing the canopy down?? I see you used .005" plastic for them, have you tried using .003" or .002" brass shim I find it very useful for these small parts.

 

Regards

Richard

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you, Wrench.

 

Thank you, Bud. Ahh yes, the engine. I've been thinking about the engine occasionally while working on the firewall. The more I work on the firewall the more I'm realizing how much work the engine, and the firewall, will require to tie each to the other. Deadline? What deadline? I'm afraid I'm defineately going to miss the deadline. Oh well.

 

Thank you, Richard. I have not looked at using a material other than plastic. I don't have as good of luck with brass as I do with plastic. Sanded plastic grips well with CA. Sanded brass doesn't work that well for me. I'm much more comfortable cutting plastic than brass. I never fail to lose the x-acto point with brass, or, when the blade isn't sharp enough it 'chatters' down the brass leaving a poor cut.

 

I shall do my best, Joe.

 

Thank you, Maru. It's only 'flawless' on the sunny side. This build has taken a lot of evolutions to get to the photo stage.

 

A minor update, that believe you me, has taken a lot of back and forth to reach this point.

 

DSCN6590.jpg

Need 6 of these for show. But I probably made about a dozen. Different firewalls have different cowl panel mounting conditions, and I did them all! This is the beginning of the the 'chosen one'. Cut .005 sheet into 1mm strips.

 

DSCN6591.jpg

.060 square rod. .040 deep x 100 strip.

 

DSCN6592.jpg

Trimmed with a single edged razer.

 

DSCN6593.jpg

.020 drill bit hole. I probably should have used something smaller, but I'm going with this.

 

DSCN6594.jpg

Glued to a backing. Trimmed excess. Sanded to shape.

 

DSCN6597.jpg

Ugh! The top and bottom firewall taped together. The bottom firewall attaches to the wing section. I didn't bother taking a picture of the other side. I removed the engine mount toward the center of bottom of the top firewall. You can see it's shadow. The rear part of the engine (I guess it is the carburator inlet) has a pin at its bottom that sets into the top of the carburator inlet 'channel', I guess it is, that gives it some stability. So I took off the mount. We'll see how that works out later, I suppose.

 

DSCN6598.jpg

Starting some detail work on the oil tank. Located a mounting condition at the 'feet'. Oil dip stick and oil cap. Located some pins to help set the top mount. Removed a few fasteners when I was working on a different type of cowl panel mounting condition so I needed to replace them. Not perfect. Oh, well. The wavy bottom of the bottom panel has holes drilled into the 'waves' as the cowling bottom panel is fastened into that.

 

Thanks for looking in. Appreciate your comments a HEAP!

 

Sincerely,

Mark

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Another wonderful update Mark! The fact that you haven't employed any aftermarket stuff but scratch-built everything is particularly impressive. I myself will be using some aftermarket stuff, I'm much too lazy, LOL!

 

Keep up the fantastic work Mark.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

 

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