It’s been a long time (PB fiasco) since I posted a WIP so I thought it’s about time for me to get back in the saddle and post one. With my very limited computer knowledge and transfer of pics from the wifes phone I’m going to give it the old school try. Sooooooo, here goes.
I have this commission build to do of a P-51B Mustang. I looked around at various builds and reviews and settled on the Tamiya 1/48 kit. The customer looked at some of my work and didn’t want a super detailed build. He decided to have me just spice it up a little. So, I picked up a little PE for the pit from Eduard (FE219). I’ll add a few of the scratchbuilt items that I usually add like brake lines, open canopy. Going to try to duplicate the one shown on the side of the box (339th Fighter Group, 504th Fighter Squadron). Will try to keep the pics coming.
I opened the box and started removing the parts for the pit and also the bombs and fuel tanks. They went together easily with a minimum of sanding on the seams. Pit started to go together easily. Had to remove a couple of those dreaded raised circles on the insides of the pit that just happen to be where they would interfere with the pit fitting flush where it is supposed to be mounted. It now fits fine. Masked off the areas inside the fuselage and wings that will show through openings and sprayed with Green Zinc Chromate.
I removed the box-like pedals from the bottom of the IP and replaced with scratch built pedals that look like the reference photo. Guess I’ll put a coat of primer on the fuel tanks and bombs tonight while waiting for all the Chromate to cure.
Nice to have you back Jim! It’s looking good. Try Shutterfly and add their app toyour phone. I take pictures with my I-phone and down load them right from my phone. I then just copy and paste. Very easy.
Thanks Lawdog. My wife doesn’t want any more apps on her phone. My phone is an old flip phone and it isn’t working well so my stepson is going to get me a new phone. I’ll give your suggestion a try when I get the new phone.
Some of these PE pieces that go on the left hand console are really fun to work with. If you believe that, I’ve got some swamp land to sell.[;)] I can just about see them with the Optivisor on let alone pick them up and put them in place. This will be interesting.
Welcome back, Jim! I’ll second Lawdog’s suggestion-it’s nice to be able to embed the images, instead of a link.
It’s interesting-I went to your Google photo account, to see what the Sharing functionality is like. Looks like it links to Facebook and Twitter, or lets you email a link (or the image?), or create a link. But the link doesn’t have the content for a webpage to read and present as an image to the viewer.
Hmm…that makes me wonder about creating a linked image, with the link Google Photos creates. Let’s see…
Got a little more work done on the pit, wheels, bombs and fuel tanks. The pit is just about finished with the exception of the seat belts. Hope that my hands will let me do them tomorrow. Those belts sure are small.
Going to put some wiring and piping in the wheel wells. Found a couple of good pics of the brake lines. Should be fairly easy to replicate down the legs.
If all goes well with the seat belts, I should be able to close the pit up between the fuselage halves. I did some dry fitting on it today and it looks like there will be only a slight amount of putty needed along the top half behind the pit. Removing that little bit of plastic on the inside near the seat really brought the halves together.
Took me about 6 hours to get them done and installed. I really have to hand it to all of you out there who work with PE all the time and do such excellent work with the stuff.[Y] [Y] [Y] I lost count of the number of times I had to fight the carpet monster. When I finished swearing like crazy and it got real quiet up here, the wife came up and when she saw me crawling around on the floor with a flashlight she said “UH-OH” and quietly retreated back down the stairs.
Going to start putting the pit in the fuselage tonight. Hope it goes well.
Tried a new method (for me) of closing up the fuselage. Instead of using tape and closing up the entire thing at one shot, I closed it up in increments of about 2 or 3 inches at a time using rubber bands and small C-clamps and Tamiya Extra thin cement. I’ve had these old Xacto C-Clamps for years. Used to use them on the stick and tissue planes. Never used them on plastic models because they slipped all over the place and could scratch up the plastic. Came up with the idea to mount felt on the connecting surfaces. It worked out pretty well.
The only place that may need just a little putty is under the oil cooler. I’ll work on cleaning up the seams tomorrow. I think that the pit looks pretty good.
Got the brake lines on and painted. Don’t know why the rubber hose goes through the scissors. Seems wrong but that’s the way it shows on the reference pic that I have.
Think it needs just a little more sanding without adding any putty.
Been looking for generic German, Italian, and Brittish decals for the Museum models I’m working on. Found one place that had just what I’m looking for but discovered that he’s out of business. I’ll keep on trying. That’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Got the wing and tail surfaces mounted last night. This is the first time that I have not needed to use any putty on them. The fit was perfect. Added the radiator rear shutter, landing flaps and ordinance mounts. Made card stock fillers for the wheel wells to mask for painting.
Started taping up the canopy. I usually do open canopies unless there’s not enough detail or room there to work with or I can’t get or make anything that suits me. I do one direction first then another. I have no luck with masks. I’ve bought some and cut some myself with no luck.
Made the base today also. It is gravel now, with maybe a little bit of small shrubbery (courtesy of model RR supplies) for contrast. This will be the first time I anchor the model to the base. I usually leave them loose so I can use them for any new model I build that will go with that type of base for shows. Going to use pieces of wire to attach the wheels to the base.
That’s it for now. Nothing on the calendar for tomorrow so it looks like I’ll have the whole day at the bench. Anyone want to make a bet on that?
Never got to spend that whole day at the bench. Did get a little done though. Got little bits of work done each day. She’s basicly all done except the decals, weathering and the canopy. Was going to put the 2 auxiliary fuel tanks on but customer wants bombs so that’s what I gave him.
Well, she’s finished. Delivered it to the guy who’s making the presentation. He loved it and thought that the receiver would also. He’s going to take pics of the presentation for me and I’ll post them when I get them.
Got a call last night from the recipiant. They made the presentation yesterday at a luncheon. It was a total surprise to him. He is very happy with it. He has started to save up the money for a ride in the real thing. It’s #2 on his bucket list. He said it’s going to cost $1700 for a 1/2 hour ride. Wouldn’t mind doing it too but I know that will never happen. They’re going to send me pics of the presentation. I’ll post them as soon as I get them.
