1/18 Scale P-51B 3D Print Build

[Iain]

Fabulous work - and on a project like this I'm surprised at the general *lack* of mistakes! 

 

Iain

[brahman104]

Absolutely top notch Jay!

 

Craig

[TAG]

Way to #fixthatshizz, Jay!

 

Safe travels, enjoy your time in Straya.

 

 

[JayW]

Just a quick post before I visit the land down unda'.

 

I Rhino-designed two important cockpit items over the last few days - the engine quadrant and the oxygen regulator.  They occupy similar regions right behind the instrument panel mounted to the upper longerons - the engine quadrant on the LH side; the O2 regulator on the RH side.  Pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

VERY TINY PARTS!  100% 3D printed.  It shows what a good modern 3D printer can do.  Also, for the umpteenth time, I am so thankful to Peter Castle for the decals.  Just amazing. 

 

I will bond these components on later, to keep them out of harm's way as I continue to populate the cockpit sidewalls with stuff over the coming weeks (months?).  Stick with me.

 

 

Edited March 4 by JayW

[Johnny Cloud]

Just fabulous, I don't know what else to say.

[ChuckD]

Are you going to be going for an FAA airworthiness certificate?

[GMK]

Nice work, Jay, as always. 
 

If you’re in Canberra at any point, drop me a line!

[chaos07]

I don't know how I missed this, but WOW.  I'm always in awe of anyone who can create such realistic scale models, whether in plastic or CAD to print - both are skills that require some real talent - and you sir, certainly have talent.  The end result will certainly be well worth your effort.  

 

 

[monthebiff]

Really incredible work Jay, those handles on the side consoles look amazing!

 

Regards. Andy 

[Kaeone57]

I just pooped myself! LoL

 

In other words.. Gorgeous Work Jay!

 

Alfonso

[Tolga ULGUR]

More than fantastic 

[PEYSSON Gilles]

Really fantastic job on the cockpit

 

Gilles

 

 

[Archimedes]

Thud! 

 

Let me just pick up my jaw off the floor. Wow, just wow!

 

Kind regards,

Paul

[airscale]

fantastic!

 

enjoy your time off Jay - can't wait to see what is next

 

Peter

[JayW]

Back from Straya as of a few days ago.  What a place!  And man am I jet lagged.  I want to sleep during the day, and I wake up about 3 AM ready to go!  Getting better though.

 

So I got the itch to make some more skin panels and see how they look and fit.  This would also make the existing panel assemblies a bit more robust and lessen the chance for breakage.  Here they are fresh out of the machine, and post cured:

 

   

 

Not sure why that side skin on the left looks so ratty, but it sanded out just fine.  The side planks printed up well, not so much for the crown skin panel.  It suffered a similar deformation I got on my first try with the prop spinner last year:

 

 

Hard to tell in that picture, but those slanted water lines are where the deformation is.  Wiggly contour.  That will not do so the part is scrap.  I re-oriented the part to print vertically instead of at an angle, and it turned out beautiful:

 

 

I wish I understood more what goes wrong with some of my prints.  Those parts took all day to print up.

 

It was then time to install the aft side planks, and the Sta 168 and 184 full frames.  I did this on the jig; here are the side panels after CA bonding, freed from the jig:

 

 

 

Yahoo!!  The crown skin panel is going to gather dust for quite a while as I further populate the insides of the cockpit, and fabricate the lower radio floor (with the fuselage tank), the upper radio rack, and the cockpit floor.  These items along with the side panels will make a good robust forward fuselage assembly one day not to too long from now.  Can't wait!

 

But I just had to check out the crown panel in the jig, along with the side panels:

 

 

 

Fit is OK not great - gonna require some massage.  Starting to look alot like a P-51B.  And with the hood:

 

 

I also dry fit the aft glass into the crown panel and got this:

 

 

 

That is a poor fit.  Both sides.  I checked a couple of dimensions on the clear parts and sure enough they are about .04 inch too short.    Reminds me of my Malcolm hood adventures.

 

Well, I was not that impressed by those parts anyway, so I think I am going to pull out my wallet again and have Shapeways make them.  That way I will get a better fit, and a better transparency. 

 

Next post you will see alot of radio equipment and bracketry for the RH side of cockpit.  The Rhino modeling is coming right along. 

 

And BTW - here are two questions for those who purport to be P-51 experts:

 

1.  Did the 8th AF in Europe use the IFF (identification friend or foe) radio equipment in fighters?  I have a source that says no, and if that is true there are a couple of items I will not have to make.  Already I am leaving out the Detrola radio (and the long aerial cable antenna), which I know the 8th AF didn't use in their fighters.  But IFF?

 

2.  P-51B/C aircraft had a busy little area right behind the canopy on the crown - a VHF antenna mast, an insulator, and a navigation light:

 

 

 

 

And the crown skin had penetration holes for all three:

 

 

All three of these items had to be removed for the Malcolm hood modification, to allow the hood to slide aft.  My question is does anyone have any pictures of how these holes were covered up?  I would like to include that once I skin the crown (if I live long enough!).  

 

Later alligators.  Thank you for looking in.

Edited March 24 by JayW