Depot level maintenance, or what happens after you belly land a P-51

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
21

Theuns, LOL we had to keep our engine compartments as clean as possible so we could see where leaks were from and to reduce the risk of deck fires caused by FOD (foreign object damage) also you could see what you were working on easier when it was clean!! We had both zinc-chromate yellow and green ,used what we had on hand. I’m sure that’s the standard with all mechanics…unless you are so OCD that you keep a private stash of stuff and keep it all one color…waste of time if you ask me, we just kept them in the air as safely as possible…

22

Sorry so blurry (cup and string not tight yet) but a close shot of the Fuze. The skin is plumbers aluminum tape, rivets done with a razor saw and panel lines either creased with #11 blade or where the different pieces of tape came together…

Bit better look at the tail section. I think it looks better than silver paint…more work yet to do on it yet…

look, it’s the box I bought this kit with at Hobby Lobby for like $9 !!!

BTW the spool in the lower right of the picture is floral wire…nice and thin…and cheap!

Thats all for today

Thanks for looking

V/R

Dan

23

Dan that Mustprang is comming on nicely!

I am now a self employed light aircraft rebuilder (mostly fabric stuff) and I to have learned that painting stuff like the engine mount frame a light color helps allot to see cracks ect during anual inspections.

I have yet to see a Lycoming or Conti that does not leak atleas a little oil LOL!. During my time in the airforce as a loadmaster on the DC-4’s we had to “walk the props” (I’mm sure you are farmiliar with that) to clear any pooling oil in the bottom cylinders before startup.

Theuns

24

Walk the props! not many people even have a clue what that means…

I attended a few specialty schools along the way to lean more about battle damage assessment and repair (BDAR) also NDI testing…the list goes on.

ap me: thanks for the look and the reminder about the center-line …

25

Maybe my recolection of “walking the props” gives my age away, but then the SAAF did use DC-3/4’s up to 98 about, here in Africa we “run them till they can’t no more” LOL

Theuns

26

Theuns…we are all getting …wiser!

Anyway, I have been foiling and have the tail where I want it. starting now with the wings, I junked the attachment parts and the control column, and used some bondo to fill in low spots (trying something new) then will strip it down and foil it…I am loosing my mind!!!

[bnghead]

27

I am so in over my head here…

28

I have to say I know what walking the props means because I did it for the Collings B-24: once.

They called for a volunteer first flight of the day and I raised my hand. The pilot sent energy to the starters to humm up while I was doing it, which gave me a fright. But, I got to sit in the middle between her and her right seat for take off. It was pretty damn cool.

29

GMorrison is one lucky SOB …got to ride in my FAV aircraft…

30

The ages of BOTH pilots TOGETHER isn’t as old as the bird they are piloting!! Amazing. Must be a rush.

And yeah, you wouldn’t have caught me saying “What?” with that query for volunteers, and I learned early on, you don’t volunteer for anything. :slight_smile:

31

Sorry for the delay…I’ve been doing a little work (yes, bad punn) On the stang. Seat, armored back radiator, wheels…

sorry for the poor quality, my phone doesnt want to focus so close…

thanks for looking

V/R

Dan

32

I have been using plumbers aluminum foil tape to sheet this bird and I started playing around with it by doubling it up(Sticky side to sticky side) and started to make panels and formers, ducting etc. etc…

I will post some pictures soon, but I can tell you this;its just like using lead foil but not as expensive (plus, the adhesive side can be used to join parts together) It takes details easy, like rivets with a razor saw and needle score marks for re-enforcement lines and holes with punches.

try it and see its so simple to make your own boxes and stuff!!!

33

Update this morning…

War weary and now crashed. That is the HVAC foil tape. Rattle can OD then after it dries, a wooden stick cotton tip applicator with thinner to clean out the central area under the FUZE. I had scored the lines lightly with a sharp #11 blade and a 6" steel ruler. Rivets are done with a razor saw and needle in a pin vise. Large areas of paint flake done with blue masking (painters) tape (oops! [^o)] happy accident! I came back with a brush and softened the bright shiny better. Now it looks more like wear and tear I think

More rivet detail underneath, Flap access panel removed, and a black wash to pick up the rivets…also made the skin weathered nicely. Invasion stripes are 3/16 wide, masked and sprayed…few touch ups with a brush…just need to re-do the wheel wells …

Here is the tail…need to touch up the rivet details, finish the black stripe (invasion stripe) at the break and pick up the detail of the break. then ready for decals!

There it is

Thanks for looking

V/R

Dan

34

Very nice!

35

Thanks Allen109

36

Great job so far .

I wished they had a (like) button , Just like facebook

Great job

Rick G

37

Dan this looks great! Keep up the good work!

38

Thanks everyone for the kind words [t$t]

So like I said, I am scratch building the lower section of the Fuze and the parts of the air scoop underneath

As I mentioned, I am doing it with HVAC tape and the few kit parts for reference. I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures…Im working on that. I can say that the parts are now more to my liking in shape, size and realistic amounts of detail…the hard part will be smashing it up …

here is the oil cooler, scratched from miliput and foil, soft solder for hoses. I pressed the oil cooler against a 1/35 scale radiator from an APC and came away with perfect looking face louvers…black washed

here it is in the all HVAC tape ductwork…you are looking down from the pilots seat this is what you could see if you had x-ray eyes sorry so blurry

aft side of the oil cooler and duct work…oh and an actuator rod for the oil cooler vent flap…

aft view of the Radiator. This is a kit part that had no back so i folded the tape over on its self multiple times, cut it with a #11 and then CA glued into place. The front side i cut slits into the face of the detail with the knife and gave it a foil jacket all around…into a pair of pliers to crush it and then build the duct work.

I am so nuts now…I need a break for the night

Thanks for looking

V/R

Dan

39

Ok, sorry,

Here is what I have been up to lately

Here is just an idea of how I want to display it. I started on a hanger scene and laid everything out just to get a feel for it

Lots of small things here, like bricking the header above the door, the door is balsa, the poster is on plastic, the “I” beams are drilled out and rivet plates built

48 stars, on HVAC foil folded and wrinkled to give it a good “realistic” look

here are some of the wreckage parts i built, lower scoop area, a few lower engine panels, gear doors…

re-done seat…I didn’t like my first attempt at the spring and tensioning unit (to big for me) so I rebuilt it

These panels are made of soda can aluminium and then hit with a micro torch to scorch and melt…he he he he he

Thanks for looking…

More to come

V/R

Dan

40

For closeups on a camera it works better to stand about four feet away from what your shooting and use your zoom lens.