zaxos345 Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 Good morning gents, New project on the bench, this time a large one, tamiya's P-51D!!! It is not going to be an OOB build... i bought some aftermarkets before i make my mind on the profile i wanted to depict, so some stuff are not going to be used, for examlpe the excellent barracuda IP, it is not suitable for a D-5 model (that is why I bought the early quinda set), more discuss on that as well as on the details or differences for a D-5 later. At this point i want to thank Christian Alamy aka ''tourist'' for his valuable help on gathering all the required info regarding my build!!! The profile I want to depict is "Little Eva III", Capt. James "Sully" Varnell, 52nd Fighter Group, 2nd Fighter Squadron, Italy, 1944. James "Sully" Varnell was the MTO's third-ranking ace with 17 victories and ranked as number 10 among Mustang aces. This little-known ace scored all of his 17 victories within 67 days, making him one of the fastest-scoring aces ever. Tour expired, he's rotated home to train other pilots while Dalebroux & Jones became Lt. Hans Zachmann's men. Killed in a Flying Accident 9 April, 1945, near Pinellas Field, Florida. Varnell is the 10th ranked Mustang Ace of WW2. Opening the box and reviewing the sprues one thing that really got my attention (i have read a lot on this) was the large number of pin or sink marks especially in the wheel wells and on the inner side of the engine cowlings!! I dont know how tamiya managed to do it!! Anyway I will find a way with the wheel wells and i am not going to leave the engine exposed so i dont mind the cowlings!!!! Another one were the big screw fasteners on the cowlings which were raised (out of scale in my opinion) and not flush.... So i started the build with this correction. I used... ....first to mark down the fasteners and later I sanded them flush. Working my way with the fasteners i also corrected some other details not suitable for a D-5!! - There was no oil radiator drain added until P-51D-10-NA production, so along the bottom of the lower cowling panel, there is no oil drain access door. There was also yet to be a fuel strainer access door added to the lower cowling panel, until late D-model production. So only a single door (on the left) for the ground heater duct, Midway through the bottom cowling... this.... instead of this.. I filled them all with ca glue, sanded them and scribed the the ground heater duct acces door!! Next correction was on the upper cowling... - On early P-51D's, the oil filler access door on the rear top left cowling should have the same size as the aftercoolant door just in front of it. The oil access door would not be enlarged until P-51D-20-NA production, when a dip stick was provided, requiring additional room to be accessed. So before working on the fasteners, I resozed oil filler access door... And as i was dealling with the cowling i decided to replace the tamiya's carburettor intakes with the barracuda ones!! Thank you very much for watching, any extra info is very much welcome!!! More on her tommorow as i have already made some progress... John HB252, KUROK, Johnny Cloud and 23 others 25 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antonio Argudo Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 Fantastic subject John great attention to detail and accurate corrections to backdate to a D-5 model, looking forward this build, gotta love ponies! cheers Martinnfb and zaxos345 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaxos345 Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 2 minutes ago, Antonio Argudo said: Fantastic subject John great attention to detail and accurate corrections to backdate to a D-5 model, looking forward this build, gotta love ponies! cheers Thanks a lot Antonio...i have your build as a guide among others!!! John Antonio Argudo and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Eagle Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 Looks like you are coming along with this. The Montex masks for this work nicely. I did one using these masks. No real issues. Good luck Martinnfb and zaxos345 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaxos345 Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 49 minutes ago, Steve Eagle said: Looks like you are coming along with this. The Montex masks for this work nicely. I did one using these masks. No real issues. Good luck Thanks a lot Steve!! John Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaxos345 Posted May 18, 2023 Author Share Posted May 18, 2023 (edited) Good morning guys, before continuing to my previous post I would like to stress out that any advice, comment or help is more than welcome!! I would also like to point out that all the info i managed to gather was provided to me either by Christian or was found while searching on the net and especially here... https://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php/58164-History-and-Details-of-the-P-51D-5-NA-(A-Flight-Sim-Project) from a guy nicknamed ''Bomber_12th'' (John Terrell maybe? not sure!!) Now back to the build, having started with a bit unorthodox way i turned my attention to the cockpit area. While building or modifying small subjects inside the cockpit I will try to give you some info regarding the D-5 (early) differences, more on that on the above link!! - The instrument panel, was pure P-51B/C in design and layout. On P-51D-10-NA and later production, the instrument panel layout was re-designed, and the instruments were front mounted instead of rear mounted Tamiya provides both early and late panels, but i dont like it's approach! I dont like those thick clear panels!!! That is why i turned to the beautiful Roy's 1/32 P-51D resin instrument panel, which i think is a masterpiece!! Unfortunately later on i discovered that it is not suitable for my build. I tried to find something suitable elsewhere, Yahu models provides a 1/32 early one for the revell kit but i didi not want to take my chances with it as i did not know how it would fit. So i turned to quinda studio....really nice detail and very accurate!!! So... (as you can see i have placed in position the Roy's PE for the rudder pedals) And i glued the quinda panels with AMMO's Ultra glue (very effective one), not too shabby dont you think? I have to put some minors details on it, some weathering maybe , later, i will see!!! I have also finished the rudeer pedals with some minor weathering... Next i prepared all the cockpit resin enhacements from Roy, shaved some details in order to place the quinda stuff and paid attention on the cockpit side panels! - Early D-models, including the D-5-NA, only featured a carburetor air control lever at the back of the trim pedestal. Later aircraft would have a carburetor hot air control lever added next to the carb air control lever. Roy provides both slots on his resin so i closed the bigger one... I have also assembled the resin Warren McArthur tubular-frame seat... The early seats Warren McArthu had no tubular frame on the top of the back to hold the seat belts but only two small ''ears''...so i cut this detail from the resin seat... I also added the small lock-unlock right handle from the kit... Thats all for now, see you on the next episode hehehe Thanks for watching John Edited May 19, 2023 by zaxos345 Martinnfb, Tolga ULGUR, HB252 and 13 others 15 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furie Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 Wow, great cockpit! But be careful because if your P51 has the AN/APS-13 antennas, I know someone who had the worst difficulties to place them on the vertical stab! Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaxos345 Posted May 18, 2023 Author Share Posted May 18, 2023 9 minutes ago, Furie said: Wow, great cockpit! But be careful because if your P51 has the AN/APS-13 antennas, I know someone who had the worst difficulties to place them on the vertical stab! Thanks a lot!! No worries on that!! John Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antonio Argudo Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 fantastic work, the quinta IP looks fantastic and also Barracudas goodies, one advice with the wiring from the SCR daio set, better to make your own, it is too thick and will interfere with the armour seat, here so reference, are you adding a cushion to the seat? cheers MikeC, Durangokid, scvrobeson and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaxos345 Posted May 18, 2023 Author Share Posted May 18, 2023 (edited) 13 minutes ago, Antonio Argudo said: fantastic work, the quinta IP looks fantastic and also Barracudas goodies, one advice with the wiring from the SCR daio set, better to make your own, it is too thick and will interfere with the armour seat, here so reference, are you adding a cushion to the seat? cheers Thanks a lot Antonio, i will check it out!! No i am not going to put any cushion to the seat!! I think i read somewhere that the early ones did not carried!! John P.S. If you have any more photoes from the radio set and battery area to see the wirings...more than welcome!!! Edited May 18, 2023 by zaxos345 Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 Fantastic work, John! 1 hour ago, zaxos345 said: Do those photo-etched canopy rails come with the Barracuda set? Kev Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 41 minutes ago, Furie said: Wow, great cockpit! But be careful because if your P51 has the AN/APS-13 antennas, I know someone who had the worst difficulties to place them on the vertical stab! At least John is starting with the kit that the antenna is designed to fit! And as long as he does so prior to assembling the tail section, he should be OK. He then just has to try not to bend or break them off for the rest of the build! Kev Martinnfb and Furie 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antonio Argudo Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 13 minutes ago, zaxos345 said: I think i read somewhere that the early ones did not carried!! I've never heard about that, all McArthur models had those 2 holes on the backrest to clip cushion seats, here is "Frenesi" a D-5 with a cushion seat, but up to you mate, cheers AlbertD and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furie Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 13 minutes ago, LSP_Kevin said: At least John is starting with the kit that the antenna is designed to fit! And as long as he does so prior to assembling the tail section, he should be OK. He then just has to try not to bend or break them off for the rest of the build! Kev All the problem is there: it is very difficult (at least for me) to have small elements fixed on the model and not to break them all along the work! For me and my two left hands it's mission impossible! MikeC, Martinnfb and LSP_Kevin 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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