xmh53wrench Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 (edited) Well, I have several other builds going on, but I kinda have to strike while the iron is hot on this one. My subject... The gorgeous Reno Air Racer, "Precious Metal" The hot iron is that the pilot/owner has allowed me a bit of his time to answer questions, and has posted a 20 minute slideshow on Youtube with a bunch of photos of the aircraft since he has owned it. I am fairly new to modeling aircraft by most standards here, and even newer to the Reno air race scene. This aircraft has a bunch of history, and is what I consider one of the most highly modified aircraft to fly there. As I go, and as my research develops I will share some of the things that make this aircraft significant. The aircraft has been through a make-over in the past 2 years, and has had made huge strides in its propellor design (which were done by the owner) that has made it a real contender at Reno. (They say an extra 64 MPH gain on the Reno race course, with no other remarkable alterations or modifications, except the propellor) This racer is in fact a custom designed and scratch fabricated fuselage, mated to a P-51D wing, P-51 tall tail empanage, with a custom fabricated engine mount to accomodate a Griffon powerplant and an highly modified Shackleton counter rotating propellor. This is one gorgeous aircraft. I plan to do it as it appeared this year (2012) at the Reno Air Races. I have a feeling this will test my every skill.... Here is....."Precious Metal" Keith Breazeal photo Oh ya......."Go big or go home"......thats what I always say. ......the kit I have managed to collect some extra props, and am trying to gather a few extra 1/32 canopy back halves, and in the process of planning out the mods to the fuselage. As well as trying to come up with a few extra pics of a Griffon to make the kits Merlin look a bit more like a Griffon. Wish me luck... Edited December 3, 2012 by xmh53wrench Alburymodeler and radial 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick32 Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 Im in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark126804 Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 I wish it was 32 scale, That way Id take notes and watch very closely. However I will watch and take notes just in case I go home with a big one day. xmh53wrench, do good things with this build. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmh53wrench Posted December 2, 2012 Author Share Posted December 2, 2012 I am just giddy over this .....but in the mean time..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0grTTywOnso And when you catch your breath, here is where I am so far, still gathering info, and finessing my drawings. Nick32 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.Wolf Grant Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 NURSE!! He's out of bed again!! I didn't realise there were so many air racers Louie, you must be close to having a full set! - will watch with interest as always. Grant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmh53wrench Posted December 2, 2012 Author Share Posted December 2, 2012 NURSE!! He's out of bed again!! Grant. :rofl: ......anybody else secretly want a sponge bath by Nurse Ratched......oops that's for another forum..... Well I must be mad, this thing is loaded with mods, scratch building and oddities. Hence, I am putting her in flight, to remove all the extra work in the wheel wells, not to mention it has non standard main gear tires and wheels from a Beech Queen Air. So gear up and doors closed it will be. So I will need to do some work to the pilot and his helmet (I need to figure out how to make it look like a modern HGU-55 Helmet). Currently glueing up all the flight surfaces. Glued the gun/ammo doors in place. I have also cut the empennage away from the fuselage as it is basically stock, and I can easily assemble it as a unit, and attach it later. I have sanded all the rivit detail off the fuselage, but will leave the panel lines. I also cut away the lower engine cowling, and framework, in preparation for the new motormount and the reshaped nose. Dont even get me started on the engine and its placement in the aircraft. I am still working out those details, but they are many and quite substantial. ......oh and pow/snap whent the wings when I was trying to remove a bit of the reverse bow in them in preparation for a spar to correct the dihedral....such is life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.Wolf Grant Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Pow / Snap Batman! Good start Louie. Grant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Good luck on the build. Going to be fun to following along and watch her take shape. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmh53wrench Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 Thanks guys! Well a bit of a lull in the glue and plastic department, as I hash out that blasted engine and its placement. So, I thought I would spin my chair over to the sign making desktop, and work on the layout for the decals. Well the font file is horrible, I had to go in and fix overlapping and out of position nodes on every letter. But all the extra work has paid off so far. I think they are going to print out pretty good. Next up in this area are all the small sponsor decals. Anyhoo, here it is and I think I have the shape of the turtle deck and prop pretty well sorted out as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Nice progress Lou. What an ambitious project! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmh53wrench Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 Well I am spent....G'night folks, thanks for the comments, compliments and looking in. Back to the salt mine in the morn. Take care folks..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmh53wrench Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 Ok, well for tonight.... Anyone ever retwisted blades? I dont recomend it. But I had to do it for the counter rotating forward propellor. Ended up just warming them up with my hands and rubbing them then gently (sort-of) retwisting them with a couple of pairs of pliers. They didnt come out to bad. Then reshaped them and cut down the rear props to thier proper length. Sanding, filing, more sanding, now I have to figure out if I am going to mount them to hubs or just make holes in the spinner (which I have to modifiy in a number of ways) and plunk them in. And I am pretty sure I put a few years on my fingers tonight. Anyway, here is the result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajw1977 Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Hey Nice build I am watching with very keen interest, particularly the props. I have a very old and beat up Airfix P-51 and some splendid red baron decals all in 1/24, but the prop and canopy are holding me back. What are you using? or did you use on the Ghost (gorgeous build and aircraft!) Any more detail on the props? Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmh53wrench Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 Thanks Andy...the props are actuallly two Aeroproduct props from the updated P-51K boxing. They were the only ones that had enough chord to reshape. It took all 8 blades to come up with 6, because I'm a knucklehead. The spinner is going to take a bunch of reworking as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Beautiful aeroplane you're doing - gotta love those big-bore Reno racers! My user name is taken from another heavily-modified Mustang; in my case it was the Mustang mated to Learjet wings and horizontal tailplanes, hence "Learstang". Your model should look brilliant in 1/24th scale! Too bad you didn't have a 1/24th scale Shackleton to nick the propellers from (now wouldn't that be some kind of kit!). Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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