453rd BG Museum Build - P-51D Mustang - East Wretham (Green Nosed) 370th FS "CisCo" (using the Tamiya 1/48 kit)

[The Spadgent]

Fantastic work on the pony Terry. As for the trip I think we could have made a few more days of the drinking, talking, laughing, oh and aeroplanes. 🤣. I had a great time with excellent company. 😇🤩

back to the stang though, that office is superb. A really nice detailed and subtle weather you have going on there. And you know what I think about those wells. 👌

 

Congrats on one more grandchild. Almost a football team. 🫶

Telford is looking unlikely for me at the moment. A few things have cropped up that are putting various spanners in the works but another meet up with the boys (and Mrs T obvs)  would be fun for sure. 😇😍🤗

 

 Johnny

 

[marvinneko]

Amazing work and sounds like a wonderful trip... models, hobby shops, beer, museums and friends.  

[Terry1954]

23 hours ago, perdu said:

I will see you at the weekend, not competing I hope to enjoy it better than last year, which was great.

 

Thanks for the praise on the much discussed wheel bay. Yes, very much looking forward to catching up again at the weekend. Wessex matters are very much on my mind having ordered some of Henie's bits (can I say that?). I'll keep my pencil sharpened for the copious notes I intend to make! A shame that your very worthy subjects won't be in the comp this year but I can understand your rationale - too stressful!

 

13 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Fantastic work on the pony Terry. As for the trip I think we could have made a few more days of the drinking, talking, laughing, oh and aeroplanes. 🤣. I had a great time with excellent company. 😇🤩

back to the stang though, that office is superb. A really nice detailed and subtle weather you have going on there. And you know what I think about those wells. 👌

 

Congrats on one more grandchild. Almost a football team. 🫶

Telford is looking unlikely for me at the moment. A few things have cropped up that are putting various spanners in the works but another meet up with the boys (and Mrs T obvs)  would be fun for sure. 😇😍🤗

 

 Johnny

 

 

Thank you Johnny. As for the trip, I'm sure we could have gone on for days, and we must surely repeat such an event again. As Steve suggested, we just need an excuse to repeat, and with Jim's willingness to re-supply us with subjects, that shouldn't be difficult! There are also plenty of aviation museums down in this part of the world for other such jollies.

The grandchild was a bit of a surprise as he came a bit early, but all doing well. This particular daughter-in-law is Japanese, and her father is a superb modeller, living in Shizuoka, the Japanese equivalent of modellers heaven, so the little chap has both Grandad's to encourage him into the hobby 🥳

A real shame if you can't make Telford, but if not, I'm sure we'll meet again soon.

 

5 hours ago, marvinneko said:

Amazing work and sounds like a wonderful trip... models, hobby shops, beer, museums and friends.  

 

Thanks David. That combination of components does make for happy times!

 

More on the P-51 after Telford, but I may bring it along with me at the weekend, for anyone who wants to see it so far. I'll keep it hidden under the table, to be brought out by giving the password of "Green Nose" 

 

T 

[81-er]

57 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

More on the P-51 after Telford, but I may bring it along with me at the weekend, for anyone who wants to see it so far. I'll keep it hidden under the table, to be brought out by giving the password of "Green Nose" 

The red fox trots quietly at midnight

 

James

[perdu]

But, the mome rath...

[Terry1954]

No Mustang updates at the moment as some sadness has befallen the family. My older sister Carol (the "middle" sister of three, plus a brother, all older than me) passed away peacefully last friday after a long struggle with Dementia. She was 84. Although we had all expected her departure for a while, it has still come as somewhat of a shock and a challenge to deal with.

 

I only mention it here, as the last time I visited her was on the return from our Norfolk venture. The care home is about midway on the journey. I'm so glad I took the time out to spend an afternoon with her during that very enjoyable trip, and I can associate seeing her with the fantastic time Karen and I had in Norfolk, including the great social event with the BM gang @perdu, @The Spadgent, @giemme, @Fritag and @CedB during that visit.

 

I'm a great believer in moving on with life, so onwards I shall plod, and I think it's fitting that this build will now also be dedicated to my big sister, who was one of a number of older siblings that got me into this hobby by buying me Airfix kits for birthdays and christmas, so many times. 🥲

 

T

 

 

 

[giemme]

Condolences, Terry. She is at peace now, at least.

 

(BTW, the "like" to your post is for your spirit and attitude)

 

Ciao

[81-er]

I'm so sorry for your loss, Terry, my sincere condolences to you and your family

 

James

[perdu]

I can only offer my condolences and give you a big shout for going in to see her, well done our friend

 

[Hamden]

 

Condolences on your loss Terry

 

  Stay safe          Roger

[Brandy]

My condolences also Terry. She is most certainly in a better place now.

 

Ian

[Heather Kay]

Condolences, too, from this corner of Kent, Terry.

[Zephyr91]

And from here too.  No matter how prepared one thinks one is, these things still hit harder than expected.  You have my sympathies.

 

As Giemme said, my "like" to your post was for your fortitude and positive thoughts.  

 

The Mustang will be a fitting tribute.

 

Rob

[Dave Slowbuild]

My condolences for your loss Terry.  
Try to keep plodding onwards, I’m sure you are right about that.

 

Dave

[Navy Bird]

Condolences from this side of the planet. I recently lost one of my best friends (he was 87) - it was expected but it hurts anyway. Remember the good times.

 

Bill

[Biggles87]

And from France Terry.

I’m sure it’s difficult at the moment but try to remember her for the good times.

 

John

[Cookenbacher]

So sorry to hear that Terry, condolences from Seattle.

I suppose we all owe her a debt of gratitude for helping get you into the hobby.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

So very sorry to read this Terry. Its an insidious illness and it devastates everyone attached to it. At least you have the cherished memories to carry forward and wont focus on the sad ones. 

[Terry1954]

Thanks to everyone for your very kind words of condolence. All are very much appreciated and helpful. We should find out on Tuesday regarding a funeral date, but that is now most likely after Christmas I would imagine. 

 

I have been able to make some further progress on CisCo over the last few weeks despite a still chaotic workspace due to the "almost complete" building work. When that is done, I move lock stock and barrel to my new dedicated hobby room, although it does also have to double up as overspill sleeping space for family in emergencies.

 

Next job up was to tackle the wing skin joins that were filled with putty of the prototype aircraft. I was able to use the information Giorgio @giemme provided on his excellent P-51D build of "Petie 2nd", here on BM.

 

First I marked those areas to be filled with a sharpie, to avoid getting carried away with filler and filling the wrong lines......

 

 

 

My first attempt was to use PPP, which in honesty is not a filler I enjoy using, but I thought it might work for this..........

 

Here we have port upper wing tip area after some good sanding and polishing, but the PPP had left gaps and didn't feel to my touch, that it had done a great job.

 

 

So next attempt was brushed on Mr Surfacer black, applied quite thickly, thus

 

 

 

After doing the top wing again and letting this stuff dry overnight, I gave both wings a good sand and polish over the joins

 

 

 

I was quite pleased with the result as my finger nails can easily feel the untreated joins, with a reassuring click, but the treated areas can barely be felt. I think this might work. 🤞

 

Other jobs were to clean and drill out the gun ports appropriately. I had considered using brass rod for these but decided to have a go at cleaning and drilling out the kit examples. If this doesn't work, I can resort to brass.

The inner one on each side look bigger, as the gun itself is recessed further in.

Stand by for the cruel macro shots.........

 

 

 

The fuselage got some attention also in the form of a little filler and plasticard here and there, and tidying up the internal joins inside the rear of the air scoop exit duct......

Some careful sanding will be needed inside that duct.

 

 

I also fitted the under nose intake, plus the top of the engine cowling before attaching and securing the wings, and taping them up to get the dihedral as near as correct that I could. 

 

 

Finally she looks like this at the moment, everything you see, is now cemented together.

 

 

And lastly a quick call out to Jim for supplying so much good reference material for this and the B-17 build (yet to be started).

Jim loaned me these two fine publications, the first being a very specific volume on the 359th Fighter Group, with the "green nosed" mustangs of which this build is one.

The second volume is a very detailed insight into all versions of the P-51 and includes some excellent plans for all the marks of Mustang, as well as hundreds of photos and numerous detailed drawings and sketches of various parts of the airframe.

 

 

 

 

The books are proving invaluable Jim, as well as very interesting.

I'll take good care of them until I return them when the completed Mustang comes back to Old Buckenham!

 

More soon.

 

Terry

 

[Courageous]

Nice to see some progress with this 'pony' and straight onto the lamina flow wings t'boot. PPP worked very well for me on my racers but if I need to do it again, I may go done the 'gloop' route. Carry on the good work Terry.

 

Stuart

[giemme]

Steady going there, Terry - top job on those wings!

 

I used PPP on mine because I didn't want to completely obliterate the panel lines, just giving a sense of "they are there, but they have been puttied" kind of thing...

In fact, when PPP dries, it tend to shrink a little bit  and I used that feature to my advantage

 

Ciao 

[81-er]

It's good to see this one getting some more love, Terry  I think you've done a fine job on the wings there and she's now looking even more Mustang-like with them attached to the fuselage. That plan from Jim's reference book looks fantastic too

 

James

[Brandy]

PPP is my go-to putty. Mainly because I can clean up with a cotton bud and eliminate sanding, but there are some jobs it's not really suited to.

Nice to see some more progress here though!

 

Ian

 

[Terry1954]

Thanks for your comments @Courageous, @giemme, @81-er and @Brandy. The advice on PPP is noted.

 

No updates for a while as Christmas prep has consumed the family, and tonight the house is full, leaving no room for me to sneak in some quick P-51 work ............ oh well...... the new hobby room is due to be finished mid January, after which progress on all modelling fronts will appear hypersonic, compared to work of late ........... yeah right 

 

All that remains before I slip off for some Christmas alcohol cheer is for me to wish all my BM colleagues a very happy Christmas, oh and look I think I found santa ....... https://planefinder.net/flight/SANTA23

 

Cheers!

 

T.

[81-er]

Have a great Christmas, Terry  

 

James