Shaka HI Posted December 28, 2016 Share Posted December 28, 2016 Very nice work. I think a little bit of sanding would reduce that "dish". R Palimaka and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozart Posted December 28, 2016 Share Posted December 28, 2016 Surprises all the way, well done Richard, all's looking very good. Max Martinnfb and R Palimaka 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guyman1 Posted December 28, 2016 Share Posted December 28, 2016 Nice Richard, The wheel wells are coming along great I like the way you have approached this old bird. Keep it up mate Martinnfb and R Palimaka 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted December 28, 2016 Author Share Posted December 28, 2016 (edited) That's really impressive, Richard! I'm wondering if the new 'dish' is not now a little deep. Kev Thanks Kevin! Looking at photos of the real thing, I think you're right. I should have kept checking. In the morning it didn't look so exaggerated, and the lighting on my work desk made the shadows pretty harsh in the photos, but still...it's all a little too deep. I'll try a little sanding and filling to see if that helps. Richard Edited December 28, 2016 by R Palimaka Martinnfb and Shaka HI 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgbooyv8 Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Hi Richard, Good job on the wheelbays and the inner main gear doors! I agree, the new door inserts are probably a tad too deep. Easy to solve with some sanding though. Keep up the good work. Cheers, Peter R Palimaka and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 (edited) I took the advice from Kevin and all those that followed Thank you gentlemen, good eyes! The original clamshell door additions I made were far too deep so I sanded the top layer down to about half and softened the roundness of the inside rim of the dish...if that makes sense? I also filled the three oblong slots with Milliput and Tamiya putty, sanded and primed it all. Just some final sanding and smoothing to do. I guess I tightened it up from both directions. Although it's not perfect it looks much more convincing now, an improvement over the kit parts anyway. Edited August 7, 2017 by R Palimaka Greg W, Martinnfb, BradG and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Nice work, Richard! Kev Martinnfb and R Palimaka 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 (edited) Thank you Kev for your suggestion and honesty. It made me look again, and the final version is so much better. I've spent more time on the gear wells and doors for this one than I used to for entire kits! Next is the gear leg doors and the legs themselves. After that, I will finish the inside of both gear wells, and put the wings together...and hope it all matches up with the fuselage later! I really want to get started on the cockpit! This arrived yesterday from Airscale and it looks amazing: Edited August 7, 2017 by R Palimaka Martinnfb, Shaka HI, jgrease and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ron Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Noice! R Palimaka and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted January 6, 2017 Author Share Posted January 6, 2017 (edited) Some slow progress. An enforced day off work with a cold allowed me to do the gear doors. The kit doors as supplied are almost featureless, and flat. Here are pics of the correcting steps: the cardboard templates I made, one of the doors with the plastic card layers yet to be sanded and shaped, and a finished door sanded and primed. They just need some rivets added. I've ordered some sheets of Archer Transfers resin rivets, for applying to these and the inner doors and the wheel wells. I've also started on the gear legs and should finish them this weekend. For next time, I saved all the templates for the gear doors, the inner clamshell doors and the ribs for the wheel wells...sometimes I'm smart. If I was really smart I would cast all these doors as resin parts, but I'm not that clever. Edited August 7, 2017 by R Palimaka jgrease, Shaka HI, Greg W and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted January 6, 2017 Author Share Posted January 6, 2017 (edited) Once the landing gear is done I can finish the wheel wells with the initial painting, wiring and piping. One thing that has come up is the colour of the wheel wells and inner clamshell doors. I am very familiar with all the long debates and piles of information regarding the finish of the wells, but photos of my particular Mustang (RCAF 9253) suggest that maybe the entire wheel well and inner doors were painted in Interior Green rather than the usual YZC or mix of aluminum skin with various shades of Yellow and Green Zinc Chromate on ribs and strapping and components. On the P-51 Special Interest Group website there was an extensive discussion of the various wheel well finishes through the history of the Mustang. There were photos of post-war USAF Mustangs (from the same production batches and time-period) with the inner clamshell doors in Interior Green (photos in colour no less). Before delivery from the US, Canadian Mustangs went through the same rework facilities as the USAF Mustangs. Several photos of my Mustang from different angles show that the inner doors were a darker matte colour than others in the lineup, and they didn't display the metallic sheen that the doors on other aircraft showed. Certainly the photo evidence shows that the majority of RCAF Mustangs had aluminum inner doors. I know the danger of interpreting colours from black and white photos, but the difference is quite marked. I'd like to paint it IG, but I can hear the snorts of derision from the "experts"...on the other hand I can show evidence so I guess I don't care. Then I can start on the cockpit finally... ...and decide on whether I'm brave enough to beef up the upper cowing to make it more flat on top. This was supposed to be a simple and quick build... Edited January 6, 2017 by R Palimaka Martinnfb, Chris Wimmer and Shaka HI 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Boillot Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 ...and decide on whether I'm brave enough to beef up the upper cowing to make it more flat on top. .... Well you know you want to, Richard ... Hubert R Palimaka and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 (edited) Lol...I want to, but will I be able to successfully? Just this afternoon I made some templates of the nose contours out of plastic card. I may have to try it, and I do have spare cowling parts in case I screw up... Edited January 7, 2017 by R Palimaka Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmthamade Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 What a great history lesson on our P-51s. It's great seeing scratch building here too. As I've said before, the old kits and how they're being improved remind me of vacform kits where it depends on the skill of the modeler to fill them with scratch built goodies. Don Martinnfb and R Palimaka 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 (edited) What a great history lesson on our P-51s. It's great seeing scratch building here too. As I've said before, the old kits and how they're being improved remind me of vacform kits where it depends on the skill of the modeler to fill them with scratch built goodies. Don Thank you Don, I've been researching and documenting RCAF Mustangs for about 40 years now, and I'm still finding new photos and info. Love this aircraft and thought others might like to know. You're right, it's funny how these old kits seemed almost impossibly complex and detailed when I was a kid, and now they feel like just a shell or starting point. We are spoiled with the new kits. But I've learned a lot with this build and by watching what others are doing, and it's giving me more confidence. That Tigger Models 1/32 Wyvern keeps whispering louder in the background... Edited January 10, 2017 by R Palimaka Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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