alaninaustria Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 What an awesome project! Great work so far Dave! Keep’em coming! Nice to see your work again! Cheers Alan Rockie Yarwood 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Molitor Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 I can’t say much more than what the rest of the gang has already mentioned. Fantastic efforts going on here. Love the P-51B/C. Sakai and Rockie Yarwood 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironman1945 Posted December 13, 2020 Author Share Posted December 13, 2020 So I dont know about you guys, but for me it never fails... with every build there is always some sort of disaster that causes a detour. In this case, I was working on the aft fuselage windows, and ran to answer a phone call. Then I made dinner. After I got back to my desk and when I went to sit down I heard "crack". Didn't realize the windows had fallen on the floor. After a steady stream of words suitable for my previous life as a Naval Officer, I got down to business. The solution was to put the pieces back together, sand and polish smooth, and vacuform replacements. Here is a pick with the parts backed with epoxy putty and raised to obtain a good draw for a vacuform. And in this shot you can see where the parts were cracked Starfighter, Greg W, LSP_Kevin and 5 others 6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironman1945 Posted December 13, 2020 Author Share Posted December 13, 2020 This is my small vac box I made some years ago. Its built to take our vacuum hose. And a top view with the parts in place Landrotten Highlander, easixpedro, LSP_Kevin and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironman1945 Posted December 13, 2020 Author Share Posted December 13, 2020 I have a number of hardwood pre-sized platens to hold styrene sheets for this, but in this case with such small parts I made a smaller platen and used thumbtacks to hold the clear sheet in place. So, I heat up an element on the stove, only takes a few minutes until the plastic is pliable. Then its placed over the vac box, vacumm is turned on, and in this case a good draw was the result. And finally, a shot of the parts with removed off the platen. You'll note there are 4 parts here vice 2.... I ended up filling 2 spare windows I had used to vac a window with a camera opening on my P-51 Mk 1A photo recon conversion. With the extra room I thought I may as well make the extras in case I needed them. Hopefully I'll get more done over the holidays! Cheers everyone and please stay safe out there! Dave/Ironman1945 Derek B, easixpedro, dodgem37 and 14 others 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sakai Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 Really good recovery Dave, and a nice little tutorial on vacuforming. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 Well done. I've been having the same kind of 'luck' lately too so don't feel lonesome Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 Nice save Dave, well done Sir Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Molitor Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 Nice save Dave.... Sakai 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironman1945 Posted February 7, 2021 Author Share Posted February 7, 2021 Hi all. With grafting a 70's vintage 51B upper fuselage to a more recent Revell 51D early, then using a combination of vac canopy parts based on the Hobbycraft early 51A kits, it took a lot of work to get a decent fit for the clear parts. Lots of repetitive shaping and filling. The hardest part was grafting the vac Hobbycraft 51A windscreen onto the forward fuselage. Using brute force in the way of my mini grinder saved a lot of time. Took a fair bit of grinding to get a good fit. The Trumpeter 51B kit has been criticized for the shape of the nose, but through this exercise I've also found the shape of this kits upper rear fuselage to be out of profile as well. It appears to be too "rounded" and too wide, which is why I went with the old Revell 51B kit. Here are some pics of the last few weeks worth of work. Cheers and on to joining the wing to the fuselage! Oh, and ... GO CHIEFS! Dave/Ironman1945 Landrotten Highlander, dodgem37, Greg W and 14 others 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Nice progress, Dave! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nighthawk Calling 1 Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Great work so far Dave, any ideas on markings for her yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 '. . . clear sheet . . .' Got a brand name? Good show. Nice capture. Thank you. Sincerely, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 mmmHmmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Eagle Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Nice work. Very good lessons for us all. I've never tried it, but how long of a working time is there with the CA/talc mixture. We all know, that as soon as you complete this nice bit of work, somebody will issue a new kit of this version of the mustang- Finally Sakai 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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