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Monogram Mustang - Mojo Mender


xmh53wrench

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AKA - Diving into the Alclad Pool.....I just hope the water is fine.....

 

A very very generous soul here wished me an early Merry Christmas here with a package that he said needed to belong to a good Mustang home.  I am very grateful and humbled.  The package contained a whole slew of bits and pieces from more than a few of the old silver Monogram Mustang.  In fact its so old its described as "3/8 INCH SCALE".

 

I had never seen this kit in the flesh, though in the stash are two of the Phantom Mustang versions.  Seems its the same kit minus the stand and electrical motor that goes in the engine to spin the prop....thats my guess anyway.  So after digging through all the bits and sorting them I discovered it would be real easy to take some of the parts and make a quick build style Mustang.  I believe there still may be enough left over to build a kit per the instructions with the working landing gear and bomb releases.

 

So my plans for this build is an in-flight, gear-up version.  I will build it sans engine as well, as the engine cowling and exhausts are already molded as part of the fuselage.  There are a few complications to fix and fill because of the omitted moving parts.  But the detail on the fuselage and flight surfaces seem pretty good to my eye.  I dont have scale drawings as of yet, so I cant be real specific on the kits shape problems, but I will point some of the more obvious ones as I go, and also hope to point out the kits pros as well compared to some of the other Mustangs in my stash.

 

The biggest goal of this build is a real attempt at using Alclad for its natural metal finish.  After seeing WillimaJ's "THIS IS IT!" I just have to give this a go.  Then take what Ive learned and transfer it to the rest of my in progress and future Mustang builds.  Its sink or swim time.....and I am pretty convinced my previous theories and attempts fall short of just bucking up and using Alclad for NMF as well as that great silver lacquer finish for the wings and rudder that WilliamJ displayed.  As much as I like the painting process it seems I always have issues, and I am hoping the Alclad will help with that part.

 

Here are a few pics to get this started.....

Box as received, little worse for wear, but abounds with personality and who knows, it may even be older than I....

IMAG2546_zps47c90bf7.jpg

 

The instructions cover page.....copyright 1962

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The instructions, most of which I am ignoring on this build.  But, I am impressed with the original kits engineering.

IMAG2545_zps77cb3d3c.jpg

 

A quick pic of the fuselage side and flight surfaces.

IMAG2549_zps18296894.jpg

 

A close up of some of the stuff I will have to deal with that was part of the kits movable components.

IMAG2551_zps8e7ec33f.jpg

 

I havent decided on its livery just yet, but I did just recently manage to purchase this nifty book from our very own ssculpter and maybe it will help me with a decision.

IMAG2552_zpse1d73d8f.jpg

 

I think I will be swapping in a HS Cuffed prop, certainly puttying the wings, I havent decided on exactly how much I will be doing to the cockpit, or the oil cooler exhaust duct area.   I have noticed so far that the formation lights are molded on the wrong wing. It also seems the gun ports , gun and ammo doors and underwing hardpoints are molded too far outboard, and that appears to be a placement issue that starts with the landing gear pivot access panel being too outboard as well.

 

Thanks for looking in and stay tuned for more....here we go....

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Guest Peterpools

Holy Cow, history is upon us and what a great project indeed. Looking forward to following each update and soaking in the build.

Keep 'em coming

'Peter

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Louie:

Now that brings back memories. That was the first large scale Mustang kit I built as a kid. Had to mow lawns in the neighborhood in order to afford the kit. Built it in a couple days and painted with Testors enamels in the little square bottles. Kept the plane until I went to college, and then it mysteriously disappeared (Mom threw it out with a lot of other stuff). I am going to enjoy this build. Andy

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If Peter's P-35 build is anything to go by, these old kits can still be turned into something impressive, just need a little (read a lot) more attention than your average modern tamiya kit. I'm keen to see where this one takes you!

 

Craig

 

Thats a pretty high bar to set there....I am not sure I am quite up to that.  But, I am really liking the overall idea of this little build, and after working on those big 1/24 Mustangs, and then seeing what folks are doing with the Tamiya Mustang, I realize how spoiled my hands and eyes truly are.  Thanks for the encouragement.

 

Holy Cow, history is upon us and what a great project indeed. Looking forward to following each update and soaking in the build.

Keep 'em coming

'Peter

Oooh Louie,

 

I just know THIS ONE will be an epic build if ever there was one!!! :yahoo:

 

I cannot wait for this journey as you know I LOVE MUSTANGS. :wub: And the more the better.

Apart from William's Super build which was outstanding I think you are up there with your detailed exact work on these beauties.

 

Good Luck ..the kit looks good .

 

I even like the box Art ...

Go for it Louie... :thumbsup:

 

 

Oh I also like your new Avatar thingy !

Peter and MARU, thanks for the votes of confidence, not sure if history or epic are quite apropos, at least this early in this thing.  Now, If in fact I get the result that I want from the Alclad, that certainly would be history for me, and if I can manage this little old kit and wrestle it into submission, to form a decent rendition of Mustang in flight, that might fall into the epic category for my time with building these Mustangs.

 

Louie:

Now that brings back memories. That was the first large scale Mustang kit I built as a kid. Had to mow lawns in the neighborhood in order to afford the kit. Built it in a couple days and painted with Testors enamels in the little square bottles. Kept the plane until I went to college, and then it mysteriously disappeared (Mom threw it out with a lot of other stuff). I am going to enjoy this build. Andy

Andy, thanks for looking in, I think its great the nostalgia that this kit manages to bring out.  I am a huge fan of the box art and as I said earlier, the kit built OOB for its day, heck, even for today is quite a feet of styrene engineering.  BTW, those Testors square bottles are still a staple on my modeling bench.....that is in fact part of the nostalgia of my model building, I still use that stuff.  Sorry about your kits demise.....oh to have back some of the old models we once had....

 

I am still in the planning stages, dug out all my references, and my decal stash to see what I could pull from that.  I am leaning towards something very simple.  Just a shade over an as delivered from the factory Mustang as far as squadron colors and markings go.  And I am hoping to spend my money on more Alclad and not decals, so trying to get creative within the stash.  If it ends up being a WIF, I still want it to be as accurate as I can possibly make it regarding, block, tail number, squadron colors and markings ect.  I am hoping for a pre D-Day Mustang, spinner and nose band, maybe some color on the tail, and heck I may even throw all caution to the wind and see if I can get the elevators to look like fabric and remove the tail fillet.  Hoping Little Friends will be a huge help as usual.  I am really wanting to enjoy this build as well.  I will be bouncing around a few winter projects around the casa in between paint coats, but I am trying real hard to remain focused and yet keeping this fun.  This model, maybe not epic, I feel like it has the potential for a turning point in my modeling....might be "the one" :D

 

Thanks for tagging along....

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Thanks MARU and Geoff!

Geoff, dont hesitate to point out deficiencies with what you are seeing.  (ie:  hey, could you measure that gun placement, they should be at ?" from the wing root at 1/32, where are they on this kit?)  and you and I could compare notes if you wish.  I notice that it seems it has a wing profile something similar to the 1/24 Bandai Mustang, so I am curious if this is a bit of a shape issue as well.

 

With the Tamiya kit out there now, its pretty hard to justify reworking any old kit out there now.....but because these were gifts to me makes me look forward to it even more.  I am not one to shell out the big bucks for the Tamiya or ZM Mustang kits just yet, still just having too much fun with the old Revellstangs and now these Monogram kits have peaked my interest.  Either OOB or doing something completely different with them as I am doing now or as D Bellis did with his amazing Phantom Mustang these kits may have a new place in modeling.

 

I noticed, now that I am really digging into planning this thing out, that this kit was also released with no engine at all, including the cradle and firewall.  It is also completely sans the flooring behind the seat that holds the fuselage tank and air cylinders, which are also not included in the kit.  I will be using some of the parts from the Phantom offering as templates to make my own.  Seems I will also be scratch building a seat as well, and currently digging through all my stash to see what I have for drop tanks.

 

Modeling on.....

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Just to ramp up the Nostalgia factor on this thread/build

 

IMAG2554_zpscdf40c2e.jpg

 

IMAG2555_zps3e8cba40.jpg

 

 

IMAG2556_zps5d81fbec.jpg

 

Even though this isnt a Phantom Mustang build, I thought this was interesting since the kits share the basic airframe.  Also in light of the re-release of the Phantom kit.  This Catalog was included in the kit I was just gifted.

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Well it seems after scouring the internet and my personal references for hours, I think I have come up with my models livery.

 

P-51D-5-NA, 44-13708, B7-I, 8th Air Force, 361st Fighter Group, 374th Fighter Squadron, Bottisham.

 

"Duchess of Manhattan"

Capt. Henry B Lederer,  Bridgeport CT,  92 Missions,  305 Combat Hours

 

 

B7-I.jpg

 

It seems this poor Mustang's worst enemy was its own airfield, as my research has turned up 3 incidents while landing or taxiing.  So it seemed to have been transferred once, repaired at least twice.  Its last incident on 02OCT1944 was a ground loop, so who knows if it was repaired after that, making it 3 repairs.

 

Going to do it pretty clean, I have not decided on D-Day striping and sans fillet.

 

I think this will compliment my growing collection well with her yellow squadron colors.

 

Am I incorrect in thinking thats a photo recon camera port or cover just below the insignia....this is the only Mustang, in this early of a photo, that I have seen that on???

 

.

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Oh the memories.......

Oftentimes the old Monogram kits were cut up or cannibalized for parts to better the Hasegawa or Revell kits. I thought they weren't bad in their own right. But I do have a question: When I was a kid, one of our neighbors passed away, and his heirs tipped most of his belongings into a huge dumpster, including a huge stash of plastic kits. I pulled out a virtually mint 32nd Monogram Mustang kit. It was the 70s boxing, but here's the rub: The surface detail was recessed, rather like the Revell Japan 32nd kits, or more recent issues by other mfrs. But it had Monogram logos on the inside of the fuselage. Anyone have any ideas?

Anyway, good luck with the build. These are really fun kits!

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Great job Lou! There really is nothing like a simple build to pick yourself up!

 

 

I just recently purchased one of the newly re-released versions of the PM to give as a white elephant gift at our IPMS Christmas gift exchange. Needless to say if you know how a white elephant exchange goes, the 32nd Phantom Mustang got picked by a guy at my table who builds Sci-Fi........................

 

Then was stolen by me since I wanted one to build as a simple OOB build.......................

 

Then was stolen by another member from the guy at my table, the VERY next turn......................

 

Then again by yet a different member three turns after that....................

 

Then was stolen from HIM two turns after that by me again.........................

 

Then finally, it was in turn stolen again from me by the original guy who picked it, and that was the 5th and final steal, as our group puts stickers on the gifts each time they get stolen, and 5 is the limit.

Needless to say, the almost 60 year old Phantom Mustang was the hit of the ball!  

 

I then of course went out the very next day and spent a $50 Amazon gift card on a Phantom Mustang that I can build and take to work!

Edited by Out2gtcha
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Needless to say, the almost 60 year old Phantom Mustang was the hit of the ball!  

 

I then of course went out the very next day and spent a $50 Amazon gift card on a Phantom Mustang that I can build and take to work!

I personally am not surprised by that one single bit....thats awesome!!!!

 

Too cool about your own personal purchase, I think its great.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

I hope to get some stuff done on it tonight, gonna start with making a wing spar, dig around and see if I can find some drop tanks, and start sanding on the wing.

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It was the 70s boxing, but here's the rub: The surface detail was recessed, rather like the Revell Japan 32nd kits, or more recent issues by other mfrs. But it had Monogram logos on the inside of the fuselage. Anyone have any ideas?

It didn't come from the factory that way. Maybe the original owner rescribed the parts in that kit?

 

The molds are still in use today with no changes since the original 1961 Phantom Mustang release. The silver version released in 1962 and later used the same parts from the same molds, but did not include all of the parts that were in the Phantom Mustang. Even the little knob used for manually retracting the landing gear on the silver kit can be found on the sprues of the Phantom Mustang kit.

 

As far as accuracy, there are some things to look at:

* The elevators at the root and the filler between them is out of whack. It looks like it was engineered that way for the slide-in horizontal stab assembly.

* The root of the flaps on the underside and the way the scoop blends into the fuselage/wing joint in that area is also out of whack.

* The landing gear is positioned too far outboard, thus throwing off everything else on the wing underside.

 

There are more issues, but honestly they're not worth the hassle of correcting on a nostalgia build. The only thing worth fixing, IMHO, would be to shorten the main landing gear oleos because the kit's are designed fully extended. Then add the oleo scissors which are missing completely.

 

Also, keep in mind that removing the fin fillet on this kit will make one heck of a big hole in that area because the kit's fillet is both thicker and wider than it should be. As you mentioned, leaving it alone might be the way to go, even if it isn't correct for the airplane you want to model.

 

If a full rescribe is deemed necessary, there will have to be some fudging done to get the new lines to mesh with the kit's inaccurate shapes. Or, the kit's panel lines can be followed verbatim during the rescribe to avoid the headaches. Silver plastic is pretty cool in this context because the raised panel lines remain visible in the plastic after they're sanded off.

 

My advice would be to have fun with building it without succumbing to "analysis paralysis", and fix only that which improves your build experience.

 

Lovely choice of markings, too! 

 

D :popcorn:

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D!  Thanks for chiming in!  That info is great.  Your correct in that some of this may and should be overlooked....I am certainly capable of that...especially since this is supposed to be about a bit of fun and learning. The gear on this build wont come into play as I am building it gear up.  I am actually really curious how the raised detail will look under the Alclad, so its staying as well, save the wings.  Thanks again and I too have become fond of the markings as well, simple, utilitarian, and clean.

 

Well heres tonights accomplishment.  Opened up the ejection ports with a bit more accuracy than what was molded into the wing.  Sanded the main wing to remove any rivet lines or seams in preparation for a few coats of primer.  I also filled those horrible holes in the bottom of the wing that are molded for the working parts of the OOB build.  I think I will leave that rectangle one in the fuel cell cover and use it in conjunction with a stand I have in my mind that will display the Duchess in a hard bank.  I did manage to scrounge a set of aluminum drop tanks from my Dragon D model kit, and made a new wing spar from card.  Still formulating a plan for the cockpit....So we are officially on our way....

 

IMAG2568_zpse1f1211f.jpg

 

IMAG2566_zpsb628a1ad.jpg

 

Thanks for looking in....

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I had tried this on my Airfix PR Mustang's rudder.  I think I will try the same treatment on the rudder and elevators on this build as well.   I masked off some stripes added a couple of coats of primer to resemble the tape lines, then top coated with silver...this rudder still needs a bit of dull coat or something to even out the sheen. Boy those 1/24 beasts sure have me spoiled....even this thing seems small, and really gives me an appreciation for all the fine detailing folks are doing on anything smaller than 1/24.

 

IMAG2318_zps1592513d.jpg

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