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Miss America


MarkSH

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Hello all,

 

Hope this is OK to include in the GB

 

I know that during the P51 STGB first edition @Jb65rams did a fine representation of P51-D unlimited air racer 'Miss America', however, she's one of those aircraft I've always fancied adding to my collection.

 

It wasn't a project I was initially considering doing for the GB but after reviewing the work carried out so far and my reference images I thought I'd like to continue with, and include it alongside my other build.

 

The donor kit; Airfix boxing of the original Otaki mould is not bad for profile and indeed has some very nice fine surface detail, but it is plagued with sink marks (the fuselage in particular) and dubious fit throughout so an ideal candidate for some surgery, and as I only paid £4 for it, nothing to lose!

 

49209863471_a9d27eb0f7_b.jpg

So hopefully turn this into.....

 

....this.....I intend to do the model 'in flight' hopefully with a suitably stars and stripy helmet adorned pilot figure. The markings will be home created and printed decals for some and masks for others.

49209380338_c5c76f7b1c_b.jpg

 

Some surgery has already taken place.....

49210087682_165b49422b_b.jpg

Wing span reduced and card replacements added (the finlets will be added at a later stage) also I had started replacing the undercarriage doors as the kit parts wouldn't even come close to fitting and the underwing pylons have been removed.

 

Same exercise for the tailplanes...

49209863596_606c4f6dda_b.jpg

 

The mainplane wing tips have been sanded to shape.

49209380518_77e4e40a94_b.jpg

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

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  • 2 weeks later...

How are you doing with your racer? That would be an exciting variation of the STGB topic. I built an Otaki P-51D in 1993 (364th FG). The kit is a bit off-dimension around the main gear housing and the horizontal tail. It also appears to be a fraction narrower along the fuselage and has a poor exhaust representation. But it's easy to build with a generally good fit. I need to upgrade it one day - it would be worth it. A hail to those vintage kits! They were the only ones we had 3 decades earlier.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Evening everyone,

 

spent a little time getting Miss America looking more decent!

 

But first she needs a pilot I guess that'll be....Captain America:

49415775123_353c525ff6_b.jpg

 

And in the office with the cool fighter pilot shades:

49416462232_a5117dcaf4_b.jpg

I haven't expended a great deal of effort on the cockpit although I have added the rear seat, for me Miss America is all about the outfit....I mean the paintwork of course

49416251691_dc44daea09_b.jpg

But the Cap's helmet is quite prominent so worth a bit of effort.

 

And this is how I intend to mount..Miss....America......this post isn't going the way I envisaged!

49416462032_80a3ac809a_b.jpg

 

49416251371_2bc9dac216_b.jpg

The canopy is only placed in position for effect and I'll put a twist in the brass so I can get her at a better angle....of bank!

 

Time to sign off I think.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

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Evening all,

 

Flitting between four builds at the moment so sporadic progress only on all of them.

 

I have added the wingtip finlets and filled and sanded to shape:

49435634747_2359034529_b.jpg

 

49434941403_a042bc172e_b.jpg

Pretty symmetrical in the end but it was a slow process as they are quite delicate. I have also fabricated one of the two large blade aerials that Miss America carries and looking at my reference I need to add two whip aerials to the vertical tail as well.

 

I have also started to replace the amorphous blobs they supplied for exhausts:

49434941208_220646dd59_b.jpg

The length of brass tube for each exhaust needs to be adjusted to get a better distribution, my drilling was a little off and the angles could be better as well but its all way better than the kit effort.

 

All in all not far off getting some primer on Miss America and seeing where she needs some smoothing.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

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This is developing very nicely. Why the effort with the brass tubes? There are good aftermarket exhausts. But the work is certainly commendable and looks very realistic.

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2 hours ago, Toryu said:

Why the effort with the brass tubes? There are good aftermarket exhausts. But the work is certainly commendable and looks very realistic.

Well, not every kit has to be loaded with AM to improve it I haven't used any yet with this one. I think its more enjoyable to see what you can fashion yourself now and again.

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Very well, I like that! You are a modeller after my heart. I'm using aftermarket items a lot but admittedly not all provide an improvement over the kit parts. Good scratch-building can achieve great results, too. The molded Otaki exhausts are clearly out of proportion. I kept them when I built this model in the nineties. It will need some restoration and your technique might inspire me to do it now.

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Evening all,

 

Miss America has been given quite a few coats (2 mist, 1 medium and 1 wet) of Halford's appliance gloss white and is now curing ready for masking:

 

49445908371_b5fa19d58d_b.jpg

 

49446131822_35aa0cc49f_b.jpg

The Halford's white should be hardy enough to cope with the extensive masking required for the blue and red gloss coats which, I hope, will go some way toward covering the multitude of sins now evident.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

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Evening all,

 

With the Halford's appliance white properly cured I can now get on with the masking required for the blue and red:

 

49465037173_996f65145b_b.jpg

 

The larger stars on the wings and the '11' numerals on both the wings and fuselage will be masked. Additionally I have bought a decal sheet of smaller white stars for the engine cowling.

 

The first of 16 stars for the wings:

49465529761_b76c14293c_b.jpg

 

And in place:

49465036873_146531c671_b.jpg

 

I also bought a small plinth to mount the model on, I went for a natural wood as the colour is more 'deserty':

49465037653_3a0f9deea8_b.jpg

 

The prop disc (I think the plastic may be a bit too thick...I need to find a thinner alternative) will be done in the same way I did my afterburners for my M.R.C.A prototype a while back, using overlaid transparent decals and I have prepared them along with the 'Miss America' decals and the A/C registration number, the colours aren't finalised yet as they need to match the paint when its been put down:

49465563291_54bf3b624c_b.jpg

Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

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Nice work so far Mark. Masking your stars, brave man, will be interesting to see if the smaller ones are just as easy.

I've never been a fan of the disks for in-flight builds but it's always good to see how others do it.

 

Stuart

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Those prop blur decals just might be the answer for in flight models.  Certainly look better than those horrible props that look like demented ladders (I can’t think how else to describe them- like thin props with curving branches sticking out the sides) that some people use.

 

AW

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17 hours ago, MarkSH said:

The prop disc (I think the plastic may be a bit too thick...I need to find a thinner alternative)

The prop blur looks very neat - great idea to print it! For the plastic disc you might consider the plastic case in which Eduard accessories are wrapped, or even a stiff sort of plastic bag like used for documents. They should be less thick.

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7 hours ago, Andwil said:

Those prop blur decals just might be the answer for in flight models.

 

Thanks,

Using the inkjet printed decals takes advantage of one of the failings of the inkjet printer in that colour is not very dense so they are transparent when printed on clear decal paper. To make the MRCA afterburners below, I created a bitmap 'painting' and overlaid three on each acrylic rod I didn't concern myself overly with alignment or getting them perfectly flat as it added to the texture of the thing.

30195246027_346e43fee4_c.jpg

 

44412428054_e1d1bb8faa_c.jpg

 

The prop disc for 'Miss America' will need to be treated a little more carefully to make sure it is relatively smooth, But I will overlay and offset the decals to try and get a sense of movement into it.

Fingers crossed it works out.

3 hours ago, Toryu said:

The prop blur looks very neat - great idea to print it! For the plastic disc you might consider the plastic case in which Eduard accessories are wrapped, or even a stiff sort of plastic bag like used for documents. They should be less thick.

Typically, I just threw out a load of vacformed heavy plastic packaging that would have been ideal!

 

Cheers,

Mark.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi all,

 

As I have alluded to in my other build thread Miss America has been put away out of my reach so  don't do anything regrettable. I was overall quite pleased with the build of the model but I let myself down whilst trying to paint the thing resulting in the need to strip all of the paint off, all in all an unholy mess, so unfortunately I am going to fail to get her done for the GB ah well, live and learn eh!

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

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