I built this for my 19-month old daughter, who (wonderfully!) loves “uh-peens”. My dad had built her a paper DH Beaver on floats in about 1/24 scale, but it was becoming well-loved from her flying it around so much (while going “VVVVVvvvvvvvvvvv”), so it is being retired while it’s still in one piece. I started a 1/48 Revell Miss America P-51 to give her a toy that would be a little stronger (wing reinforced with brass rod, horizontal tails with piano wire). My wife came up with the idea of painting the Hokie Bird on it, since my daughter also responds well when she sees a “Ho-tey!”
So, following a trick recommended by someone here, I sprayed it in acrylic craft paint from Michael’s (heavily thinned), masking the race number, VT logo, writing on the wings, and the Hokie Bird outline with frisket film, traced with an X-acto while laid over patterns I sized and printed on the computer. Once things were mostly dry, I made carbon paper on the back of printouts of the Hokie Bird head, traced those patterns onto the space I’d masked, went over it with a fine-point permanent marker, then colored in between the lines.
The spinner is brush painted, and the prop blades are just sheet styrene cemented to styrene rod, white glued to the spinner so that when they break, they break cleanly and can be replaced quickly and easily. They come off a little too easily, though, so I think I’ll try wire for the next batch…
I did this all inside of two weeks, the first one pretty leisurely–less than an hour a day–and the second a little more urgent (at my wife’s suggestion so our daughter could have it for a trip this past weekend). There are plenty of flaws to be found, but since this is functioning as a custom-made toy, I don’t regret going for speed here. It was a nice break to not worry too much about precision and getting all the seams filled and sanded to perfection–and painting was a lot of fun!
That is a great build with an even better reason to build it. Love seeing these kind of builds. Thanks for sharing it with us. I am sure your daughter will have hours of fun vrooooommmming around with it.
That is one sa weet lookin Stang… AND most importantly, look at that priceless smile…!! Way to go Dad!! I also think there is even a plus in your wife’s book for you
Thanks to all for the kind words–glad there is so much support for these types of builds! I (and my wife) got a big kick out of the pink and purple Corsair, too–someday maybe my daughter will have one too! Hmmmm…Trumpeter, or Revell…!!!
