Next From Laminar Flow Design: 1/32 P-51B Conversion

[Steve C]

I've never seen the Rutman kit in person.  If you have a copy of the Charles Neely P-51 drawings, I would compare it with those.  I have his D drawings, but unfortunately not the B.  The P51SIG is no more so that is no longer a resource.  

Edited June 6, 2023 by Steve C

[CRAZY IVAN5]

7 hours ago, phasephantomphixer said:

Early Revell boxing as it has no tail fillet - one less thing to deal with. Unless the conversion includes that area...

Didn't some of the B/Cs have a dorsal fin ? Seems as though I saw a pic of one once[ I might've been hallucinating again].

[MikeC]

15 hours ago, Dennis7423 said:

From his Facebook replies, he's planning on new wing leading edges and rescribing required on the wings. So I assume new wing fronts for the two-gun wings, and we rescribe the gun and ammo panels?

 

I am optimistic, but I also realize that he may get in over his head with this one once he realizes how vastly different the B/C and the D were. I'll believe it all when I see it! I'llbe following along with cautious optimism.

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

 

14 hours ago, hworth18 said:

Most of the wing is different from the B to the D. This is a nice idea, but it might as well be a whole new kit.

 

My thoughts exactly.  Don't forget that later B/Cs had a fin fillet too, although not the same as that of the later Ds, I'd hope that would be included. But actually  this is starting to look like a candidate for a complete new kit. As others have said, there are so many changes it may as well be. 

But I'll reserve deciding whether to have one until it's out and we have a price.

Edited June 6, 2023 by MikeC

[Sabrejet]

12 hours ago, John1 said:

Yeah, I get it.   Amazing surface detail, spot-on accuracy, first rate instructions, a slew of optional parts, that incessant “Best plastic kit ever made” buzz.   It’s all a bit much.  
 

 

Another advert pretending to be a post. Amazing surface detail, spot-on accuracy etc are available on many other manufacturers' kits. And many of those are more of a pleasure to build. It's subjective. I can't stand Tamiya kits. They bore me to death. Having no resin parts doesn't help. But that's Me. My view.

[nmayhew]

17 hours ago, Dennis7423 said:

Folks-

While we await the release and review of the new Laminar Flow 1/32 Spitfire Mk.XIVe conversion (and the subsequent variants associated), our friend in Belgium has already announced his next project: A conversion of the Revell Germany P-51D kit to a P-51B. Based on what we've seen from the Spitfire conversion, this will be top-notch, but obviously much more expensive as the conversion will be much more involved. In a way, it will be a conversion of the Laminar Flow P-51B set using the Revell P-51D :-p

As per usual, I will post updates as they become available. I also think this will be his first crack at clear parts. We'll see how it all goes.

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

 

Hey Dennis,

Are you connected to him at all? Otherwise I would have thought his Facebook page is probably easiest / most direct way to provide feedback?

 

4 hours ago, LSP_Ray said:

Has anyone of the Mustang experts here taken a look at Jerry Rutman's resin P-51B/C kit? I have one but haven't ever heard of a good review of it. I know at the time it was considered the best B/C out there, including after the Trumpy kit came out.

 

Ray,

Is this with a view to...checking for accuracy, or actually using as base kit? This is from the dark days of 1/32...I have never seen one in person but from the images I have seen of Jerry's stuff they are "of the time"; whilst they may (or may not) be accurate in outline, I don't think the level of surface detail or sharpness of moulding is anything close to what is acceptable today; not a criticism of Jerry's pioneering work, just that times move on. Plus the fact that it's OOP and there must be maybe a handful out there?

 

1 hour ago, Sabrejet said:

 

 Amazing surface detail, spot-on accuracy etc are available on many other manufacturers' kits. 

 

Whilst what we like is indeed subjective, the above is rather 'elastic with the truth' in WWII 1/32. There's possibly one kit from HKM (A-20), one kit from GWH (P-40), one from Kotare (Spitfire), and then there's Tamiya. Lots of other "good" kits, but nothing else for me that is really tier one. To each his own!

[MikeMaben]

Hey Dennis, Mr. Jumpei Temma has some drawings that may be helpful.

http://soyuyo.main.jp/p51a/p51ae-1.html

 

 

 

The difference in the nose height is minimal, I would say almost imperceptible.

 

 

 

[Sabrejet]

4 hours ago, nmayhew said:

Whilst what we like is indeed subjective, the above is rather 'elastic with the truth' in WWII 1/32. There's possibly one kit from HKM (A-20), one kit from GWH (P-40), one from Kotare (Spitfire), and then there's Tamiya. Lots of other "good" kits, but nothing else for me that is really tier one. To each his own!

 

You forgot Halberd. If you stick to WW2 then you are missing real 'Tier One' kits like Silver Wings, Lukgraph, WnW (as was), JETMADS and many more.   

 

Accuracy: not sure Tamiya scores over many other manufacturers, especially since I've heard that Tamiya 'tweaks' its moulds so that a subject looks right rather than being 100% true to life. Detail: I've yet to see a styrene kit that exhibits the detail that is possible in resin. Ease of build? Possibly, but I don't buy kits because they're easy to build: often the opposite. So 'Tier One'? Not for me.

 

But the subject of the thread isn't about whingeing that [my favourite manufacturer] hasn't been used in this conversion set. Or shouldn't be.

Edited June 6, 2023 by Sabrejet

[John1]

6 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

 

Another advert pretending to be a post. Amazing surface detail, spot-on accuracy etc are available on many other manufacturers' kits. And many of those are more of a pleasure to build. It's subjective. I can't stand Tamiya kits. They bore me to death. Having no resin parts doesn't help. But that's Me. My view.

Thanks for sharing.

[Tony T]

Whoever makes what I most want to build is my favourite manufacturer. 

 

Tony 

[Steve Eagle]

This conversion could definitely lead to a good number of builds. I would use the Revell kit due to price. I have built several of the Revell kits, and honestly, once the paint is on, can’t tell much difference between this and the Tamiya. Even with add-ons, still cheaper than Tamiya

[Dennis7423]

6 hours ago, nmayhew said:

 

Hey Dennis,

Are you connected to him at all? Otherwise I would have thought his Facebook page is probably easiest / most direct way to provide feedback?

 

I am not directly connected to him, no, other than being a regular poster on his Facebook page. I have encouraged him to come here and see this thread, and I have been relaying our feedback to him. He assures me that this will be a lengthy process that will grow as he progresses and finds new things to include in the conversion. I'm a little concerned because he thinks this will be more or less similar to his Spitfire conversion, in terms of work and product, and I just don't see that being the case.

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

[BiggTim]

7 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

Hey Dennis, Mr. Jumpei Temma has some drawings that may be helpful.

http://soyuyo.main.jp/p51a/p51ae-1.html

 

 

 

The difference in the nose height is minimal, I would say almost imperceptible.

 

 

 

Wow!

[rigor]

I think the wings would be huge to  make this conv 

[D Bellis]

14 hours ago, LSP_Ray said:

Has anyone of the Mustang experts here taken a look at Jerry Rutman's resin P-51B/C kit? I have one but haven't ever heard of a good review of it. I know at the time it was considered the best B/C out there, including after the Trumpy kit came out.

I'm no Mustang expert, but I have one and actually tried to build it. I gave up the instant that ZM announced their forthcoming P-51B kit.

 

The Rutman P-51B kit is based on the Revell and Hasegawa hybrids that were being built that that time. As such, the fuselage is about 3/16" (5mm) too wide, the shapes of everything are out of whack everywhere, and it is cast in that stinky tan resin that was so popular 20 - 30 years ago.  

 

As far as this new conversion goes, I'll still patiently wait for the Zoukei Mura kit to be released. 

 

HTH,

D

[Rick Griewski]

“Shapes out of whack”?  The kit is a beast of sorts. Oh well   There are a number of builds on the net.  I could not find the one on our LSP site.  None finish as far as I can find.  Ernie Ling started one.  Includes comments. 
 

https://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/5527-jerry-rutman-p-51b-build/