Totally Mad Olivier Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 So, I tried to use the PE Eduard rail (in the set for Airfix). I made the first bending with my Master Tool bending machine. Up to there, no big problem. The challenge is to do the second bending, knowing that the top sheet is about 0,25 mm wide, and considering that the metal is very soft and fragile. I used a 0,25 mm thickness brass sheet (Albion Alloys) and prayed the Gods of model making. I used also a 0,2 mm Nickel silver rod (Albion Alloys too) and then cut with care the inside panel, to get a squarre section (fine diamond disc). And finally I removed the Ni-silver rod and injected in the central space a fine flowable dental LC resin. The result is acceptable but not to recommend to beginners at such a scale. And maybe I will wait the end of the fuselage painting job prior to bonding it in place... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garry c Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 Here is a smooth wing with some rivets showing. Crew Chief Of An Unidentified P-51D Mustang Assigned To The 45th FS 15th Fighter Group. The Army Air Corps Museum web page states that the 15th FG received P-51s in late 1944 and moved to Iwo Jima in Feb. 1945. They conducted long range escort and fighter sweeps over Japan. Loving your work, Garry c 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted January 31, 2018 Author Share Posted January 31, 2018 Thanks Garry for the photo and the kind comment! I got your post as I was doing this one... I have got the Eduard Brassin 108 gallon paper tanks set (ref. 648 350), and also the wheels (ref. 648 335) and the gunsight (ref. 648 361, 3 items provided), all provided for the Airfix kit, but I suppose they can be adapted to the Tamiya one... The tanks set is really impressive, with a decal sheet, a PE one, resin tanks - wear a protective mask when removing the supports with a disc - with 2 options (early or late) and instructions. Nice job from Eduard Brassin, for 6,5 €. But the 2 other sets are very nice too, all well packaged and very neatly presented. I am gonna begin the assembly. More soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted January 31, 2018 Author Share Posted January 31, 2018 But before beginning this tank assembly, a dry fit one of my left rail, for a critical and comparative analysis. I have put 2 tiny drops of white glue (Micro Metal Microscale) on 2 yellow buttons and let them dry a few minutes, before placing the fragile canopy rail on in order to do this photo, to compare with our docs (notice that I see differences between most of them). I have chosen the doc 92a for this comparison: Conclusion: considering the small scale, it is acceptable but: - the yellow posts are oversized, I have to change them for about 0,3 mm ones (instead of 0,6 see above) - the fourth set of 4 holes (from front), partially hidden by a small rectangle (see the doc just above) is missing on the Eduard rail. I will try to drill them and add the rectangle... More soon... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted January 31, 2018 Author Share Posted January 31, 2018 First debrief with the Eduard Brassin tanks: well, it is a disappointment, the central portion is narrower than the 2 bottoms, so you need to sand them to get the same diameter like on the doc. 94, post #291, great reference. Doing so, you lose the reliefs (wrong anyway) on these 2 bottoms. Finally, the Tamiya tanks are much better, the problem with the latter is to make disappear the cement joint without losing the excellent and very fine reliefs (to decrease a bit, however, see my post #293 and 294). But some details of this Eduard Brassin set could be useful on the Tamiya tanks (PE parts, decals...). Hope it helps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 That's really bad Olivier, I would consider sending them back to Eduard, or at least complaining. It seems a bit expensive to buy a whole set when you can only use a few of the parts, perhaps you could use the central parts of the Tamiya tanks and the front and rear parts from the Brassin set. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted January 31, 2018 Author Share Posted January 31, 2018 Hi John, I won't complain, it is just me, I suppose most of modelers will consider they are acceptable... I won't use the bottoms because the Tamiya ones are better. But the PE and decals should be useful... Now that I know I will keep my Tamiya tanks, I try to improve them by adding fine reliefs erased by sanding: I began with the front ones: I will probably use Alclad (white alu?) paint on these tanks after the reliefs operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted January 31, 2018 Author Share Posted January 31, 2018 I made a critical comparative analysis between the real tank and the Tamiya one I made, and the conclusion is that I was wrong adding 0,7 mm copper wire, the reliefs are really very subtle and the wire, even in 0,07 mm is too thick. I will remove it. Ideally, it would have been perfect to have tiny reliefs (about 0,03 mm) but I don't know how to represent them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted January 31, 2018 Author Share Posted January 31, 2018 Without wanting, I have fount out a way to recreate not so badly the tiny reliefs.As I said just above, I have removed my copper wires and the cyano left a small print that will be an acceptable solution to recreate reliefs where they had disappeared... I would never have got such a result by appying the cyano or anything else directly. The copper wire has finally been useful! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Thus proving the old English proverb " Necessity is the mother of invention." Well done. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted February 1, 2018 Author Share Posted February 1, 2018 If you follow this thread, you have noticed that I don't hide my numerous fruitless attempts. You learn more of your failures, it is famous. Today, I am sorry to say that finally, the "method" mentioned just above (using copper wires and cyano) is not to recommend. I have used another one, much better, to recreate the very thin reliefs. It consists in tracing first the erased lines with a very fine pencil (0,05 mm) and then use a round bottom blade, scraping around these lines. The result is quite convincing. More soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted February 1, 2018 Author Share Posted February 1, 2018 Eduard Brassin has provided sets for 2 108 gallon tanks versions, one early and one late, with small differences, without mentioning what they mean by "early" and "late". I suppose without being sure that I should consider on the Missouri, the late ones were mounted in the spring of 1945... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted February 1, 2018 Author Share Posted February 1, 2018 2 more docs about the 108 gallon paper tanks, showing (even if this is a restored aircraft) what had to be the connections and hoses. To compare with the PE Eduard Brassin parts. More soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 A good point for Eduard Brassin, unlike Tamiya, they did not forget to represent the inside front connector, with 2 small holes to allow the exit of the hoses. They are to add on the Tamiya tank. About the red strips, 2 comments: 1) I don't see the interest of using the red strips Eduard decals, as these strips were hidden once the mounting straps were in place, unless you want to represent the tanks out of the aircraft in a diorama. 2) Even in this case, I don't recommend to use the Eduard decals, poor quality, that do not cement correctly, even using MicroSol! The painting option is much better... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 A little abstract of the report to the Congress (by Eisenhower? Roosevelt?). Interesting anyway: So the first 108 gallon were used in 1943 on P-47. The early version Eduard mentions would be this one. Then, these tanks were adapted to fit in the P-51. The main difference in the Eduard Brassin set between both is the presence of 2 filler caps on the front bottom. I would like to find these 2 filler caps on pics to confirm. N.B: I have found a color version of the doc 95 above. It seems to concern the early version (only 1 filler cap and red strip on top) if I refer to the Eduard instruction sheet. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 This video will be commented in the next post. This new doc is interesting, showing the holes in which the tanks hoses come in the wings. I will have to drill them under the wings, as they are missing in the Tamiya kit: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 When I look at the video just above: 1) the round part inside the tank is on its lower part, unlike the PE5 Eduard part: 2) It doesn't seem to be mounting straps, the tank is just fixed to its support by screwing. Finally, the assumption of red strips as marks that would be then hidden by mounting straps was maybe wrong. Perhaps they were tanks with red strips and other ones with silver strips, as on the photos 107 and 108 above... Moreover, later in the video, we can see this: Even if the video is BW, we can imagine that the strips are probably red here. On the contrary, on the Missouri Armada, we have this silver look strips (same color than the rest of the tank): Conclusion: As I am building the Missouri, I forget the idea to represent any red portion on my tanks. But I still have doubts about the inside part. If I don't find any doc showing the Eduard PE5 part there, I will leave my Tamiya tanks as they are, just adding the PE7 missing (see the instruction sheet above, post#353). I hope all that sounds clear... Antonio, could you find a diagram of the 108 gallon system?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 Another point that has not been discussed is the fact that, if I refer to the Tamiya tanks, they were not symmetrical, both having their filler cap on the same side (left side). I suppose it was so on the real aircraft... This means that the filler cap was outside on the left wing, and inside on the right wing... A confirmation by an expert would be welcome, as I am gonna apply the decals on my tanks. About that, I have no choice and will have to use the Eduard decals, right but of quite poor quality. In this goal, I have applied a thin coat of clear varnish (X22 acrylic Tamiya airbrushed), only on areas on which decals will be applied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antonio argudo Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 (edited) Hi Olivier, check this links: http://www.feltondesignanddata.com/id19.html https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30000175 http://www.themodellingnews.com/2012/05/barracudacast-br32016-132-p-51d-mustang.html Edited February 2, 2018 by antonio argudo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 Thanks a lot, Antonio, great links and great pics, especially the third, that shows very well the construction and hoses wiring! Cheers P.S: I have applied the Eduard decals, not so poor finally (avoid however the red strips imho). The other ones look good and right, with no silvering on the clear portions. As they are missing in the Tamiya as in the Eagle cals sheets, I finally don’t regret to have bought this set. We shall see if the PE parts are good to use or not... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antonio argudo Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Hi Olivier, the red marks can be seen under the mounting straps in this magnifided image cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 Great enlargement, on which the red appears very subtly (but there is no more doubt about that question). At 1/48, however, such a subtle appearance would be totally invisible. This pic confirms me in my decision not to represent any red portion, thank you for that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 Been thinking to something: a kind of glossary, on the first post, page 1, each question about the Missouri P-51D would refer to the pics concerned. The top would be to do so for the posts concerned too, but if this would take me a lot of time and would slow down even more my build. Tell me what you think about it... I do it for the pics (the best ones, numbered, only for now)... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totally Mad Olivier Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 I add these great Antonio docs to the numbered ones: the 111 completes very usefully the 107 and 108 above. I would dream to see as well the other side of the tank (inside part)... I am not sure the flat Eduard PE parts will be OK to represent these round section hoses (always the same problem with PE...) The 112 proves that there was indeed a metal mounting strap and that the red strips were marks that disappeared nearly completely under the straps. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antonio argudo Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Thanks to you too Olivier for your outstanding build my friend, very enjoyable threat! another picture of it, it belongs to the best accurate restored Mustang, "happy jacks go buggy" the paper tanks are fiber carbon replicas made from an original molded one, also they are non functional , more info here: http://www.crazyhorseap.be/Mustangs/Mustangs/N74190HappyJack/N74190HappyJack.htm cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now