Antonio Argudo Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 (edited) no problem mate it's going to be a beauty Mustang, keep the good, cheers Also found this diagram comparison from the NAA manuals Edited March 8, 2021 by Antonio Argudo Sakai, Derek B, Landrotten Highlander and 4 others 5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petrov27 Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Great progress on the conversion! I tried one years back and it was a trainwreck. Your efforts make me want to try again since it seems like despite a couple announcements no new 1/32 P-51B kit is imminent. Also just lots of great info and pics about the P-51B in this thread - I had thought the gun bay was the same dimensions between the B and D but clearly not. That last diagram really hits it home for sure. Antonio Argudo and Sakai 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironman1945 Posted April 11, 2021 Author Share Posted April 11, 2021 I wouldn't describe myself as a rivet counter. But whenever I do something like this.... conversion, scratch-build....they're always seems to be something that, initially I am okay with. Then, after a while, it bothers me to the point where I reach a stalemate .... " Do I rip it apart and rework it, or can I live with it?" Of course the very fact that I'm even asking the question means I already know the answer. But its always a long process. And so it goes with the windscreen/forward part of the canopy for this build. It sat too high.. and there was a small bubble in the port side of the 1st screen I vac'd. Likely from me overheating the PETG sheet. Likely most wouldn't have noticed. Initially I was ok with it. But then after 4 weeks of staring at it on and off, this is the result... out with the grinder and awaaaayyyy we go! Ahhh I dont know why I always delay, I should've just faced reality and gotten on with it! HA! Time to vac another screen and get on with the grunt work. Cheers and stay safe everyone! Dave/Ironman1945 Paramedic, Martinnfb, MikeMaben and 12 others 14 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 6 hours ago, ironman1945 said: they're always seems to be something that, initially I am okay with. Then, after a while, it bothers me to the point where I reach a stalemate .... " Do I rip it apart and rework it, or can I live with it?" Ouch Man have I been 'there' !! Soldier on Dave Derek B and Sakai 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironman1945 Posted May 31, 2021 Author Share Posted May 31, 2021 Finally got around to some paint. Pretty happy with how it looks. Clear coat, decals, weathering.... the process continues. Cheers and stay safe everyone... Dave/Ironman1945 Brad-M, D.B. Andrus, Landrotten Highlander and 22 others 25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 Great to see some progress, Dave. Looking good! Kev Sakai and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Griewski Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 Great progress and thanks for bringing this build thread back. I am learning from it. I set my D to B conversion aside when I moved house. I was at a stalemate at the same moment. It is hard to get it back on the bench. But no ‘B/C will magically arrive in the near future so I will need to claw into it. Martinnfb and Sakai 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironman1945 Posted June 1, 2021 Author Share Posted June 1, 2021 One more pic of the other side. Thoughts to date, when I started this I'd assumed the spine/fuselage was going to be the hardest part of this build. But it was the fit of new canopy that took the most work. Sorry about the crappy photos. Really need to buy a phone with a better camera. R Palimaka, dodgem37, LSP_Kevin and 15 others 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironman1945 Posted July 31, 2021 Author Share Posted July 31, 2021 Received the P-51B canopy set from Alistar/Aerocraft Models. A great piece of resin, but I'm not sure whether I will use it as it will involve still more cutting and fitting to what I've already done, and I dont know that I'm up to it. Also its the endless struggle of "Is it good enough?" Ah well... I've waited this long so I'll give it some more thought. In the meantime.... decals. I think I mentioned earlier, I wanted this to be James Howard's "Ding Hao". To that end I have both the decal sets from Zotz and CamDecals for these markings, and I was surprised to see that they vary in dimensions. National insignia, code letters, ID numbers, kill markings, even the lettering for "Ding Hao". Both sets say they represent Howard's 51B before the installation of the Malcom hood. I'm about to check references to see if I can "eyeball" the more accurate version, but was wondering if anybody had some thoughts on this anomaly? Cheers! Dave/Ironman1945 Sakai, Kais, Derek B and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 Great show, Dave. Love this conversion. The only thing I can suggest is to copy them, cut them out, put them in place, and compare to photographs. Sincerely, Mark Martinnfb, Sakai and MikeMaben 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmayer Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 (edited) Dave - Just doing a cursory, drive-by comparison with images of 36315 on a Google search, the Zotz rendition of the "Ding Hao!" looks much closer to the original article in letter size, stroke (width for each portion of the letters), and spacing among the characters. I think Mark's suggestion to cut paper scans as a mock up is a great idea to verify size/position/proportions on the model's nose, itself, etc. Also, the CAM national insignia are way off in proportion, whereas the Zotz national insignia are in textbook proportion. I would not use the CAM national insignia for any application. The CAM national insignia designers appear to have had a common difficulty interpreting the proportions of U.S. National Insignia, in that many profile illustrators, artists, and now decal manufacturers can't wrap their head around how the star sits on a disc, and the disc and bars together, have a proportioned surround. Too many illustrators try to make the star points "touch" the outside of the surround, and can't get the proportions correct by doing that...All the proportions are set by the radius of the central disc (and all five star points "touch" the edges of this inner disc). The white bars should be 1x radius long by 1/2 radius high; upper edge of the bar aligned with the horizontal points of the star (the radius of the blue disc encroaches on the white bar dimension, below the horizontal star points)...and there is a blue border 1/8 the disc radius, that encompasses the entire disc and bars...since the disc and border are both insignia blue, there isn't a defining outline to the border, and I think that's where many of these illustrators and designers run into problems. As a post-script, the red bar added to the insignia after January 14, 1947, has a measured proportion of 1/6 of the radius, effectively dividing the white bar into thirds, with the red bar in the middle. Regards, Chris Mayer Edited July 31, 2021 by cmayer Martinnfb, MikeMaben, MikeC and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironman1945 Posted August 14, 2021 Author Share Posted August 14, 2021 On 7/31/2021 at 11:08 AM, cmayer said: Dave - Just doing a cursory, drive-by comparison with images of 36315 on a Google search, the Zotz rendition of the "Ding Hao!" looks much closer to the original article in letter size, stroke (width for each portion of the letters), and spacing among the characters. I think Mark's suggestion to cut paper scans as a mock up is a great idea to verify size/position/proportions on the model's nose, itself, etc. Also, the CAM national insignia are way off in proportion, whereas the Zotz national insignia are in textbook proportion. I would not use the CAM national insignia for any application. The CAM national insignia designers appear to have had a common difficulty interpreting the proportions of U.S. National Insignia, in that many profile illustrators, artists, and now decal manufacturers can't wrap their head around how the star sits on a disc, and the disc and bars together, have a proportioned surround. Too many illustrators try to make the star points "touch" the outside of the surround, and can't get the proportions correct by doing that...All the proportions are set by the radius of the central disc (and all five star points "touch" the edges of this inner disc). The white bars should be 1x radius long by 1/2 radius high; upper edge of the bar aligned with the horizontal points of the star (the radius of the blue disc encroaches on the white bar dimension, below the horizontal star points)...and there is a blue border 1/8 the disc radius, that encompasses the entire disc and bars...since the disc and border are both insignia blue, there isn't a defining outline to the border, and I think that's where many of these illustrators and designers run into problems. As a post-script, the red bar added to the insignia after January 14, 1947, has a measured proportion of 1/6 of the radius, effectively dividing the white bar into thirds, with the red bar in the middle. Regards, Chris Mayer Chris Thanks for that analysis, I've done my own and reached the same conclusion. While I have seen variations amongst decal manufacturers with markings, I've never seen something with so many errors as I have the CAM set. Oh well. Glad I have the Zotz decals! Cheers! Dave/Ironman1945 Martinnfb and Sakai 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironman1945 Posted August 15, 2021 Author Share Posted August 15, 2021 Hey all. Been on holidays, finally got some time to get back to the bench on this one. Here are some photos of the various rear section canopy sections I've been working with. The resin replacement canopy from Alister/Aerocraft models is excellent, but being designed for the Trumpeter kit, as I suspected it would not fit this conversion. According to my measurements, the problem lies with the Trumpeter kit itself... I think the canopy area is too wide, too tall, and too "round" in shape. Not being happy with my first attempt I cut it out (its the painted section you see in the photos). I measured up the clear fuselage that comes in the Trumpeter kit, and determined that I could use part of it to make up a replacement that I could use. This would allow me to mask off the clear portions needed to form the rear quarter windows. Cheers, and stay safe! Dave/Ironman1945 themongoose, LSP_Kevin, Out2gtcha and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironman1945 Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 Been a few months since getting back to work on the Mustang. High School Football has started up again, after a 1 year COVID hiatus, the season is a go! So I've been busy back on the field. But I've managed to finally graft the rear quarter window section on, repaint, gloss cote, and on with the markings. Nearing the finish line! Hoping to be done in the next few weeks. Cheers, and hope everyone is staying safe! Dave/Ironman1945 dodgem37, MDuv, Citadelgrad and 19 others 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomg Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 Great work coach, and, THAT IS A BIG DUDE!! Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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