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Missouri Armada P-51D Mustang: documents and partial scratch from the Tamiya 1/48 kit


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Hello galfa, welcome on Britmodeller and on the thread. 

I first used the tip and the rounded part of my 15C blade, scraping over the lines, keeping just a very fine line. And then I sanded the panels to erase the scraping marks and to regularize the surfaces. OK?

 

N.B: I just saw that on the photo 129, some lines seem to be irregularly decreased. It is just the effect of the flash. In reality, the result is better than what the photo suggests... 

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Waooh! Thanks Antonio, I had never noticed this hole and this stain (contrasting much more than the exhaust one) while they are so obvious, especially on the 2nd pic above! It doesn't seem to exist on the left side...

This hole doesn't look perfectly round (unlike the one just up and right, reproduced in the Tamiya kit), looking more like if it had been created by a kind of defect between the panels (and by the need to evacuate the stain).  

Do you have a close view of that area, so that I can represent it as well as possible? (I know I ask a lot, and your pics are already great!)

Furthermore, I wonder if the small panel I had added on the left part of the vertical stabilizer (my post#514 on p. 21) exists. Studying our many docs, I would say no, it seems to be only on the left side. OK?

Do you see something else missing on the right side of the fuselage?

Anyway, thanks for this great observation!

 

Olivier

 

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36 minutes ago, Olivier de St Raph said:

looking more like if it had been created by a kind of defect between the panels

I quote myself to bring a correction. The hole is not between 2 panels but clearly inside one...

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Here is my first version of the hole Antonio showed above. The polystyrene is very thick and must be thinned as soon as you can see the sheet thickness. That is what I did, as when I had redone the perforated panel.

 

WLBaWj.jpg

 

kQ3Uef.jpg

 

N.B: the sheet thickness has been still decreased a bit after these photos, because imho, the photo 130 showed a thickness still too important. How thick was the alu sheet? On this matter, the first pic Antonio posted above (post#727) shows how the surface is not regular, the metal being stressed everywhere (except on the portion of wings covered by the Acme surfacer). Something that I won't represent (or just a few) at 1/48.

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You are absolutely right, Antonio, and these new pics are one more time absolutely great! Of course, I will do the correction. As you mention, there is a kind of ring that I will try to represent...

Thanks a lot one more time... ;)

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Great detail there, Olivier! That extra ring really helps complete it/make it look real.

 

What you're seeing there on the real airplane is the last bit of piping sticking out for the oil overflow - usually referred to as the oil breather. The biggest oil stains resulting from this breather pipe come after performing inverted maneuvers - and the more maneuvering and the more sustained inverted flight the larger the staining. Ground crews could typically tell when a Mustang got back to base, just how ferocious a combat engagement had been, based on the extent of the staining from the oil breather.

 

Post-WWII, during the USAF era, a Tech Order was issued that extended the length of the pipe, so that it stuck out several inches from the fuselage...so as to lessen the oil staining.

Edited by John Terrell
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Antonio, if you could find the equivalent right side of these pics, with clear rivets lines, it would be great, because there are many elements missing on the right side (for example the fuel cap) and so the rivets lines are necessary different... I have begun to do the rivets lines on the right side but I have doubts and I need more reference docs.

 

Gf0zEb.jpg

 

rDcL9C.jpg

 

 

Furthermore, on the pic you brought above, that I enlarged below, there are rivets lines that were missing on the Jolie Hélène, at least on the left side:

PNZQdz.png

 

I suppose I should represent them on the Missouri... 

Here too, difficult to have certainties...

 

Thanks in advance for your help

 

Olivier

 

P.S: of course, these questions are not only for Antonio, and everyone's contribution is welcome... 

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52 minutes ago, Olivier de St Raph said:

Antonio, if you could find the equivalent right side of these pics, with clear rivets lines, it would be great, because there are many elements missing on the right side (for example the fuel cap) and so the rivets lines are necessary different... I have begun to do the rivets lines on the right side but I have doubts and I need more reference docs.

Hi Olivier,

 

will those be helping?

NNjWYJj.jpg

 

rMS1PL8.jpg

 

usjYyxN.jpg

 

Cheers,

 

Laurent

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My dream team (I apologize for the ones who are not in the regular team, but whose contribution is always welcome...):

 

qcyPBV.png

 

P.S: Sorry, I borrowed the logo of my soccer heart team, l'Olympique de Marseille, for this wink that is also a big thank you for all of you without whom nothing would be possible...

 

All the best

 

Olivier

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The reason why a lot of those "rivets" on the cowling panels don't always show up in photos is because most of them aren't rivets at all - they are actually spot welds. The surface area of each spot weld is a bit smaller than the surface area of a rivet, and the spot welds don't leave quite as much indentation in the metal as the locations of the rivets do. As a result, sometimes you can't see them in photos, while you can more easily see all of the rivets, and the rivet locations will show through a painted surface more than the spot welds will. It appears you already have all of the predominant rivets on the cowl panels added, so if you add anything else to the cowls, it will be depicting the spot welds (in Laurent's photo, you can also see a ring of spot welds around the oil breather location).

The locations of the vast majority of the rivets and spot welds is pretty much a mirror image from the left side to the right side, except for where there are deviations in access panels, exit ports, and within the panels on either side of the cockpit (due to differences in interior framework on either side within this region).

Edited by John Terrell
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Ok, John, thank you for these interesting precisions. I will represent all what I see but with much smaller marks for the spot welds, that maybe will nearly disappear after my painting and weathering job, while the rivets will be much more visible.

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xMT8C8.jpg

 

My next steps should be:

- the parts B16 and B17 (fins)

- the wheels wells (a new challenge to come...)

- the come-back to the left ad right cockpit panels...

 

As I ever said above, if you intend to do the same job on panels and rivets on the 2 half fuselages, you should do that before working on inside panels, to avoid damages on very fragile parts (I experienced that and I will have to redo partially the job, and that is why I left temporary my cockpit to focus on the outside surfaces...)

 

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Hi Olivier,

 

a couple of correction, if I may

 

O0kyv83.jpg

 

the small hatch on the left side of the fin must disappear, it is related to the installation of tail warning radar AN/APS-13, which was not present on Missouri Armada.

 

The right side of the tail cone is not a mirror image of the left side, an error often made by kit manufacturers

 

Bc808X5.jpg

 

Keep up the good work:yes:

 

Laurent

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Thank you so much Laurent for these very good observations.

I had ever removed the hatch using the combination cyano/ Magic Dust (see my post# 511 and 514 on p. 21 - following your suggestion, post#504 -) but, after removing the trial airbrushed paint with alcohol (to avoid an excess of thickness), the hatch seems to reappear. We can though see on the photo 119 that it will be completely invisible once the paintjob done.

On the other hand, I have to do the corrections you mention on the tail cone...

Again many thanks for your help, tu es un excellent milieu gauche pour notre équipe! ;)

 

Et merci pour les encouragements!

 

Olivier

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Hello Tourist (Christian?),

thanks for your compliments (I admit it is really a patience job, I am actually doing corrections on Antonio and Laurent's suggestions).

Some questions about your own ones:

1) you say the panels on the tails cone both side should be square. But the photo Laurent showed above (post#746) suggests that the kit's one, a bit more higher than wide, is imho not so bad and that this panel is not square. So? 

2) what do you mean by DFF? I referred to this doc:

 

xO9r8b.png

 

What seems wrong to your eyes on the DFF I did?

 

3) "Remove" what exactly? the "hole" or "spot" there? I see it on the pics Antonio brought above: post#727 photo 2, and post#732 photos 3 and 5. I see it too on the post#738 photo 2 (Laurent). So?

86xVDs.jpg

 

4) "Scribe in release handle"? Can you precise what you mean there, with a pic showing this area, if possible?

 

Thank you for your reply, and for your contribution

 

Olivier

 

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39 minutes ago, Olivier de St Raph said:

4) "Scribe in release handle"? Can you precise what you mean there, with a pic showing this area, if possible?

That's the red one, Olivier, the button is for opening the canopy from outside.

 

zCCzWxg.jpg

 

Edited by silberpferd
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