BiggTim Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 Did you know that Jackie Cochran won the Distinguished Flying Cross 3 times, and was one of the first women astronaut candidates? And to think I'd never heard of her until this thread! Amazing lady!! Tim LSP_Kevin and CANicoll 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tchwrma Posted December 15, 2017 Share Posted December 15, 2017 Nice choice! It will be very interesting to see this topic. Paulo.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdthoresen Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 (edited) Afternoon Gents-The house has finally quieted down, all of the company has left for home, so things at "Fortress Thoresen" seem to be falling back into line. I finally made a start on "Thunderbird", using the last couple of hours to test fit the main airframe components just to get a feel for the Trumpeter kit. My first impressions of the kit are fairly good, with decent mold quality, and parts count. Trumpeter has made some errors where almost all model manufacturers make with the P-51, (Tamiya not being one of them!) regardless of mark. Silly things, like the shape of the main landing gear wells, as well as a curved cockpit floor, and the shape of the cuffed propeller blades. There are some other little niggles here and there, but overall, it feels like a P-51B, and is light years better than the old Revell offering...Fit of the fuselage, wings, and horizontals are quite good. I did notice that there is some molding flash on some of the mating surfaces which do interfere with the fit. You can see the gaps created by this flash inside the weapons bay at the spar. Careful block sanding will be required to tighten this up a bit. This will be important on my build, as I will not be adding any of the gunbay parts here. Also notice the thickness of the fuselage spine at the rear quarter light windows. It looks a bit thick to me, but I doubt I will do much for it. I will also have to remove the teardrop shaped blister just in front of the aerial mount base, as it was not fitted to this aircraft.Again an overall shot. The rivet and panel line detail will be filled and sanded smooth, as "Thunderbird's" finish was very slick. I will only leave panels that were required for maintenance visible. I will have to source a fin fillet for the vertical, which will probably be sourced from an old Hasegawa or Dragon fuselage I have in the spares bin. I will also probably install and fill the gun bay doors, and sand them smooth, as "Thunderbird's" wing bladders were removed, and the wing was converted to a "wet wing"; This was done in an effort to try to not have to use drop tanks in the Bendix races, because of their drag.Here is another area that will require some tweaking. The perforated cowl vents were deleted on "Thunderbird", so I will cut styrene sheet, and make a pair of patches to eliminate them. The chin inlet in Trupeter's kit is a bit wonky in shape, so I will have to source a spare, or modify the kit part. Also note the exhaust cut-out looks to be a bit off in shape at the rear end. Photos of this aircraft are inconclusive as to it's exact shape. I suspect that it should be round like the front edge, but will have to look into it further. I will be using Quickboost exhausts here, and will modify a Quickboost prop to simulate the rounded uncuffed Hamilton Standard "Thunderbird" used.Anyway, lots to do. The aftermarket has been ordered, as well as the required paints. I will also be replacing the kit's horrid rubber tires with a set of resin Octagonal tread tires and wheels. I will have to scratchbuild an ADF antenna for the radiator scoop, and remove some of the cockpit details that were not carried. I will not do too much to the cockpit, but will add a seat harness from HGW. I am planning on keeping the canopy closed on this one.Thanks for stopping by. Gonna go and do some more work on it. Might be time for some Mr. Surfacer!!!!Cheers-THOR Edited December 31, 2017 by bdthoresen red baron, Shawn M, BradG and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 So cool my friend ! Happy New Year !..........Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdthoresen Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 And so it begins. I am using Mr. Surfacer 500 to fill all of the necessary panel lines. I will keep applying coats until the rivets no longer reappear after the previous coat dries. That way, I can sand and prime once, hopefully. I am sure I will have a few spot touch-ups, but this should work. More to follow later in the week.THOR Shawn M, Uilleann, TorbenD and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdthoresen Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 (edited) Well, time for another update! I have been busy working on Thunderbird for the last week of evenings. As I said earlier, the first order of business was to fill and sand out the majority of the recessed rivet and panel line detail because most of it was filled on the actual aircraft. I managed to salvage the majority of the inspection panels, reasoning that the aircraft would have still had to have been inspected on an annual basis. I will have to add the specific post war mods by scribing the relevant added details once the airframe is assembled. I think it might be easier to add than take away.Most of the external details were filled with multiple coats of Mr. Surfacer 500, and then wet sanded back with Flory Models sanders. (Love these!) I also sanded down some of the overdone fabric on the surface controls, but did not fill any panel lines on them. I did fill the rivets on the trim tabs, as I felt they were overdone. Onto the pics.....Here is a shot of the exterior parts I have been working on. Basically, all external parts of the aircraft. Wings, tail, fuselage, and gear doors were all filled and sanded.Here is a shot of the correction I made to the chin inlets. I fabricated some blank off plates with .020" styrene sheet, and filled the seams using CA and accelerator. A smear of Mr. Surfacer 500, and away we go.Another shot of the fuselage half. The rivet details that were filled can still be made out, and there was a lot of it!A shot of the lower wing. I filled all of the pre-drilled holes for the drop tanks, rocket tubes, and the three formation lights in the left wing (The "B" Mustang did not have them) with styrene rod, then filled and sanded them.And the upper wing. Same deal as before. The three piece gun bay covers were installed, filled with CA, and sanded smooth, as Thunderbird's wings were converted to wet wing fuel tanks.Not a terribly exciting update, but a huge milestone for the build. I am starting the cockpit now. Much to do. Thanks for stopping by-Until next time-THOR Edited January 13, 2018 by bdthoresen RLWP, BradG, BiggTim and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Looking good ! Carry on sir !.....Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdthoresen Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 Thanks Harv! THOR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Good to see an update, Thor! Great work so far. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdthoresen Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 Thanks Kev- Really digging this one!!!!THOR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r0t0rdr1ver Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Nice update Thor! I have a particular interest (and decals) for this aircraft also. I'm really looking forward to this build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmthamade Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 A shiny race aircraft!! Great change from the dullcoated warplanes. I've built the trumpeter P-51B, apart from its inaccuracies it is a kit that has pretty good fit. Rivet filling....fun, isn't it? Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TorbenD Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Great (and exciting) update Thor, shaping up very nicely my good man! Fill, sand repeat, fill sand repeat... I think maybe you and I need to find a tune to hum along with that mantra! Torben Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdthoresen Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 Nice update Thor! I have a particular interest (and decals) for this aircraft also. I'm really looking forward to this build. Thanks Rotor- I like the post war racers. Some of them were pretty neat. I someday want to tackle "Beguine"...... A shiny race aircraft!! Great change from the dullcoated warplanes. I've built the trumpeter P-51B, apart from its inaccuracies it is a kit that has pretty good fit. Rivet filling....fun, isn't it? Don Thanks Don- It does make a nice change from the norm. I only recently started reading up on the post-war air racing scene, and I am truly fascinated. Thanks for stopping by. Great (and exciting) update Thor, shaping up very nicely my good man! Fill, sand repeat, fill sand repeat... I think maybe you and I need to find a tune to hum along with that mantra! Torben Yeah, I will take suggestions on that tune. There will be more I am afraid, but until then, I am going to plow on. Thanks for stopping by Torben...... I hopefully will have more to show during the weekend. Thanks All- THOR Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdthoresen Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 And another small update-Actual construction has begun. I started with the cockpit floor. Trumpeter has molded the floor to match the curvature of the wing center section; but it is my understanding that the B/C series Mustangs had flat floors. I have decided to leave it as it is, as I am planning on leaving the canopy closed on this build. I started by removing the fuselage fuel tank from the part.....An extra fine toothed razor saw made quick work of this....I then fashioned a blanking plate shaped from .030" styrene sheet. It was then sanded to the original part's edge contour....While that area was drying, I then shifted my attention to the main gear bay. The fit of the parts was o.k., but it did require some clamping to get a positive fit while the cement dried. The other issue I found was that the previous owner of the kit had started removing all of the bay locators to try and fit the Aires wheel wells in it. This made it especially tricky to line the parts up correctly.....I also received some of the aftermarket I will be using for this build-I will be using the CMK resin wheels/tires with oval tread, as this seems to be the most common tire that Thunderbird flew with. It also allows me to ditch the horrible rubber tires that come with the Trumpeter kit.....I also will be using the Quickboost prop picture above to imitate the uncuffed post-war H.S. that Thunderbird flew with. I will have to modify the prop tips a bit, being that they should be a bit more rounded than how the are presented out of the box.I also will be using the Quickboost exhaust, as it is an improvement over the kit parts. These look a bit different than some of the photos of Thunderbird, but being that she used multiple different Packard-Merlins in her race life, I think I will let it slide. The resin parts are already hollowed out, and casting quality is top-notch.Lastly, I will add the Eduard (HGW) set of fabric belts to the seat. This will be the only addition to the cockpit, as I said the canopy will be closed.That's all for now gents. Thanks Again for stopping by-THOR Martinnfb, TorbenD and BradG 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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