Phantom P-51D "Double Nuthin"

[Out2gtcha]

Very nice work Brian!

 

Kev

 

 

Thanks Kev!    Im having issues again splitting time between this guy and my HpH Walrus. I seem to get focused on one or the other, and really need to learn to pick one or the other up, after I set the one Im working on down to let paint or glue dry.

Ive been focused on the pilot for a couple days, as I cant close the fuse without him in, and he was going to take the longest to finish compared to the rest of the stuff that needs to go into the fuselage before its closed.

[Out2gtcha]

My next adventure here will be finishing up the mechanism that retracts the tail wheel. As mentioned above, this is just a clear IM rod. The tail wheel action had to be 100% free of any catches, and had to operation with complete ease, so that the rod itself does not flex and eventually stress and break.

 

At this time Im actually more worried about the small disk with the peg on it that not only actuates the MLG, but also actuates the above mentioned clear rod for the tail wheel. OOB, Monogram just has you insert a clear smaller rod under that disk that plugs into the loger rod that actuates the tail wheel, and then they have you glue on the center fuel tank cover; of which the bottom has a square hole cut out for this smaller rod to keep it in place.

The square hole on the main fuel tank cover I dont think is enough to keep that small actuator rod in place, so I think I am going to box it in, to make sure that tiny clear rod that is actuated by the main disk stays where it is, as if this lets go the whole thing could break.

[Out2gtcha]

I also have Randy @ StencilPal helping me out with the masks for this baby, as Im going to try to shoot all the markings in paint.  All those checkers will be the BIG challenge!

[DonGaa]

Hi I am enjoying your build a lot as I am building this one too. I have been waiting for your next posts to see how you solved the rear gear problem. Is there a post imminent?

Don Gill

[Out2gtcha]

Hi I am enjoying your build a lot as I am building this one too. I have been waiting for your next posts to see how you solved the rear gear problem. Is there a post imminent?

Don Gill

 

 

Thanks Don! Yes as a matter of fact there is........................Ive just been building and not taking pics along the way as I should have been.   Im cleaning up some of the paint on the nose and tail, as I now have the yellow on the tail.....................and the red and yellow on the nose.....................black checkers still to come in mask form from StencilPal.

 

To that end, I am also going to foil certain parts of the clear airframe to "conceal" some of the marks the weld glue created when it creeped behind the clear plastic.  I also will be foiling the trailing edges of the wing flying surfaces for the same purpose.

To you question on the gear...................yes, I have pretty  much figured that out, and it works as far as I can get it..................I just need to finish painting the fuse separately off the base, then I can paint the MLG doors..........as this is pretty much what I need to confirm the gear retracts as it should since the MLG doors are what catches the mains, and what will also determine if I have things right or not.

 

The BIGGEST issue I think will be making sure the tail wheel not only fully retracts, but also fully extends....................Its all down to that clear rod that runs off of the clear cam wheel in the center. I have also been toying with RECHARGEABLE D batteries that work off of a remote housing, instead of the Phantom Mustang base itself.

If your building one, you know how delicate that battery holder is, and I think I may extend the battery leads, and purchase a separate dual D battery station, w/rechargeable Ds. This way I can fill in the normal local for the D batteries with camera fil canisters full of lead to make a stable base, like the OOB D batteries do...............AND I wont have to continue to lift up  the entire model on the stand and fiddle with the delicate battery holder to replace the Ds when they need.  I tinkered with the Idea of a LiPo or Li-Ion battery set, but some quick research found there are not too many if any  LiPo packs out there that match the Ds voltage AND amperage.

 

Pics soon I promise!

[Out2gtcha]

Well life has been a bit-O-chaos lately with trading in for a new vehicle, and some after hrs stuff w/work, but I HAVE been working on the Phantom...............

[Out2gtcha]

I have been busy w/the initial stages of the paint that will go on the Phantom.   This will only be the rear empennage, the front nose section from the front / forward exhaust cover, continuing on the spinner and back-plate, and then of course it will eventually get the black checkers on the empennage, and wings as well.
 
Models built of Double Nuthin, sometimes represent the paint on the nose as red, with a black accent stripe:
 

 
 
 
 
This is NOT accurate AFAICT.  On the 1:1 DN, it looks to me like the nose/spinner is all red, with a YELLOW stripe, as the stripe is obviously NOT black, and looks like the same yellow as on the tail to me:
 

 
 
 
This is the way I portrayed DN. The paint is no where NEAR perfect, nor even really that good, as I broke off the back end of the tail wheel gear door mounts, and had to RE-make them from scratch after the yellow was painted.
The matching yellow stripe around the nose proved to be MOST difficult to mask and I had a LOT of bleeding and leaks. I still have a lot of cleanup and re-painting to do, but I wanted to confirm the tail wheel and doors still worked as they should before proceeding.
 
I have not touched the wings yet, as they will be done in a separate painting session after the fuse is attached to the wings.
Overall, and from a foot back or more, it looks pretty good IMHO. It is hard to tell from these pics, but I used Tamiya AS-12 as a base for all colors, so that any part of the underpaint that would remain visible on the fuselage OR spinner or wings, will be seen as aluminum, and not the red or yellow exterior color. I will be getting the checker masks from Randy @ StencilPal anytime now:
 

 
 
 
 
The spinner had a small section masked on it prior to painting ala-Young C Parks P-51:
 

 
 
 
This way, even though it will be red, there will be a clear "window" where the spinner hub will still be visible, and continue the Phantoms "see through" mission:
 

 
 
 
 
The front end yellow strip still needs some major touchups, and I will have to remove some of the over-spray, then polish the clear section that had yellow on them, but overall not that bad except when you get right up on it:
 

 

 

 

The rear yellow and black demark turned out Ok, and look pretty decent from a few feet back:

 

 

 

 

However upon close inspection to make sure the tail wheel and doors still retract as they should, you can see there is some major touchups needed. But in the end, that is very do-able, and the bottom line is my modified tail wheel (OOB Phantom tail gear, w/an AM resin tire) as well as my modified tail wheel doors (OOB front mounts for the doors, but scratched rear mount, and EZ Line w/Bobs buckles eyelets mounted on the doors to suck them up behind the tail-wheel) all still work as good as can be expected. I just need to fix up the yellow paint around the rear door mounts. Im also NOT worrying about lining up any checkers on the tail wheel doors either as they will remain plain yellow for my own personal sanity:

 

 

I will also be painting the yellow ID stripes on the wings, as well as using some red, or even clear red, on the fuel filler caps on the wings and fuse both.

 

I also will be foiling the ailerons, flaps, canopy, windscreen as well as several small "panels" around the fuselage. These panels are technically erroneous panels, but they will LOOK like they are supposed to be there, and those, along with the foil on the flaps and ailerons will be used to cover up some of the marks in the clear plastic left by the weld cement used for the clear parts.

 

In the end, this is not only a build for my office that will never see my display cabinet NOR any IPMS contest tables, Im also trying to stay true to the model itself, which is ALL ABOUT being a clear model, and showing off some interesting visuals with it, as this was never intended to be an accurate Mustang model.

 

More on this to come..............I continue to tinker with this one, and will have more substantial progress once the checker paint masks arrive.

 

Cheers all!

Edited June 12, 2015 by Out2gtcha

[sluggo]

and will have more substantial progress once the checker paint masks arrive.

 

Cheers all!

which was scheduled for yesterday.............. They should be there today...... fingers crossed.....

[Shawn M]

excellent work so far!

I've re-ear marked AM bits from my Dragon build for my Phantom Build.

 

You mention Plastic weld glue, are you using liquid?

I was planning on using clear parts cement for anything attaching to or remaining clear.

[Limey]

Fantastic model love the paint job just a point to help with the undercarriage if you drill out the right hand landing strut hole drop the gear to down then cement the landing strut with the drilled out hole in place and let dry you wil get a perfect retraction by the landing gear Hope I explained it ok???? Limey

[Limey]

Hi Limey here obviously from the uk was looking at your fantastic build and hope I'm not intruding but I did notice that the undercarriage retraction was not behaving itself I had lots of thinking time on this and came up with a simple solution. Construct the left hand strut as per kit instructions and put the u/c in the down position then the right hand strut needs modifying by removing carefully the locating lug inside by a small file when removed then cement the strut in position and leave to dry. Should provide smooth operation of undercarriage hope this sounds ok

[Nicolas]

I've been eagerly reading your build posts as I too am building the Phantom P-51.  I'm getting close to the point where I'll be gluing the fuselage halves together and am concerned how Tamiya liquid glue will effect the clarity of the clear parts. Up until now I've used a combination of CA and Tamiya glues for small parts.  Fortunately, the use of these glues has caused little noticeable aesthetic impact. However, now that I'll be gluing the largest pieces with the most noticeable seams together I'm concerned. 

 

What glue/technique did you use. 

 

Thanks

[tomv87]

Beautiful work on this classic kit!

 

Tom

[Shawn M]

your build is getting me antsy for mine...I may have to reshuffle the build queue

[Out2gtcha]

excellent work so far!

I've re-ear marked AM bits from my Dragon build for my Phantom Build.

 

You mention Plastic weld glue, are you using liquid?

I was planning on using clear parts cement for anything attaching to or remaining clear.

 

 

Thanks Shawn!  Ive built a few of these and its always plastic weld type of cement. I tend to stick with something like Tamyas Extra thin, just to make sure I have as little as possible to show later.