lancfan

There is plenty of room for weight against the bulkhead behind the cockpit LR, it is still ahead of the main wheels and will keep the model off it's tail. David.

The cuffs on the Hamilton standard propeller were made of hard, moulded rubber (dug one up from a crash site once). David.

Jason, can I just suggest changing the pilot for a modern jet jockey figure as the BBMF pilots wear modern flying suits and bone domes in black. David.

The two P-51 D airframes- one in black primer and the other in black with the wings and tailplanes in silver. David.

'spare parts' has been sprayed overall in matt black and the areas of the wing that were painted silver on the full-size have also been done so on the model, the next stage will be to paint the various panels to represent a natural metal finish, in this case a bright, clean almost (and possibly even) polished finish. David.

The airframe for 'Spare Parts' complete and ready for primer, all three wings have now been assembled, the flaps for this model were removed and refitted in the down position using plastic strip to form the missing leading edge, the elevators have also been separated and new mass balances have been fitted using plastic card and refitted in the normal down position. David.

Hi Rick, Yes, I have got scale drawings of K5054 with full panel line details. pm your email addy and I'll send a scan to you. David

Could be interesting to me as this includes Korea which used a lot of ex.WW2 kit. David.

Looking good Don, after looking at the pictures of different examples of these 'hack' conversions such as the one you chose I think I may have found another occasional theme to build to. David.

All three fuselages ready to be cleaned up although as both Airfix and Revell kits are of very good quality and are almost the same style this is a simple matter. David.

I am building two of these in the USAAF GB and have seen them for the first time has anyone spotted this fault- The picture below shows at the top a Revell P-51B tailplane showing the mass balance near the tip as it should be, the tailplane below that is the new airfix P-51D and it is only half done, the tool isn't even finished. true this is an easily corrected fault but one that has to be corrected everytime you wish to build this kit and is not a minor issue the elevator mass balance is a primary part of the airframe and is present on all drawings of the Mustang and has been correctly represented on every Mustang kit I have ever built (even Starfix) so just how did they miss this? David.

All three Mustang cockpits finished. The cockpit for 'spare Parts' is in the foreground with the two fighters behind. David.

That's right the fuselage was unmodified unlike the official conversions which had the upper fuselage cut back for the second cockpit. David.

Detail painting is ongoing and more pictures will follow later today but I have to share this as I don't think it has been spotted yet- I have checked out the parts on the new tool Airfix Mustang as I have been working on the models and I was forced to almost do a double take, the elevator mass balances are only partly engraved and in effect the tool is not finished. Has anyone else seen this, have Airfix? I have emailed them of this. Both tailplanes together with the Revell at the top. Image Lost David.

How about a 1/72 scale tandem cockpit to make a similar aircraft at half the size? David.

Rick, That looks just great. David.

Although I do have other GBs to finish off its time to make a start, here are fuselage sides from both Airfix and Revell kits showing the marked similarity to each other, they are obviously tooled by different hands but each being quite masterful renditions of the same aircraft and detailed to the same standard in similar style they will display with each other perfectly well. Whilst the initial pre-painting for all three P-51s is drying I am making a start on the cockpit for 'Spare Parts'- much of this is guesswork, I have simply put myself in the shoes of the engineer doing this conversion and asked myself 'how would I do this?' With the fuselage fuel tank and the armour plate removed I have mounted a cut-down P-51 seat on a steel tube frame fitted to the fuselage primary structure for the passenger, in order to allow entry and egress the pilots seat has also been cut down in a similar manner and mounted on a tubular frame, the seat pivots on the lower tube for passenger access and the upper tube locks into place using locking pins for the pilot to climb into the aircraft. I have modelled the pilots seat in the forward position to demonstrate this, both seats are cut down from Novo P-51 seats dug out of the spares box, the fuel tank has been cut away and thin plastic card has been glued in its place, the radio has been placed behind the passenger seat. I have not fitted a bulkhead to this model as being an unnoficial conversion I did not think it correct as they may have found the need to re convert her back to stock should they have met disapproval for the conversion. David.

This site shows the 1983 catalogue and the box style, if you follow this you should not pick any non-MB kits thrown in by Revell later. http://www.matchboxkits.org/product_info.p...products_id=477 David.

My second Airfix Sherman, an early production M4A1 complete with decals, stowage and a commander peering at the desert horizon. David.

In 1/72nd scale I would like to see new tools of - Defiant - Blenheim (multi-nose mk1-5 kit) - Beaufighter - Halifax (to show Revell how it really should be done) - Battle - Hudson (w. different engines & a Lifeboat) - Stirling. David.

Aas I picked up my other two Mustangs today here is the boxshot of all three Mustangs and a Spitfire. I have decided to finish one P-51D in kit markings as a Tuskegee Airmen aircraft of the 100th FS in Italy. The other 'D' will still be 'Big Beautiful Doll' based at Duxford with the 8th AF. Because all three Mustangs will be in the same basic NMF/painted alluminium finish I will build them as a batch up to basic painting and then finish each one separatly. David.

That sounds good, count me in. David.

Don't forget that Frog also kitted the P-61. David.

Thanks Mish, Darren. For my third model and inspired by the 'Tank Overhaul' series on the Yesterday channel I thought I would do something a little different... David.

whilst going through the available pictures of this I have been unable to work out just how the rear seat occupant got into the aircraft, there does not appear to be any structural alterations such as those made to the 'official' conversions so I can only assume that the armour plating was removed from this aircraft and some sort of modification to the pilots seat was made to allow it to tip forward to some degree, thus giving the passenger room to climb in over the front seat, how he would easily bale out in an emergency, I cannot imagine. David.