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Cavalier Turbo Mustang III - first update and a big one!


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Ok after a self-induced time away from GB’s I’m back feeling nice and fresh and ready to go hard or go home........something like that would make a great GB title/idea! :D

 

This is my first planned GB/STGB for the year out of probably 3 I’ll be doing this year....have too of other projects planned!

 

Ok for this build I plan to take one of the finest 1/32nd Mustang models ever released.....throw away most of it!!!!  😱  Then mix some of the best resin porn of the market   :wub:   to build this! (There are a few people here an in my local club to blame for this!  :fight:   )

 

Halberd Models Cavalier Turbo Mustang III!

 

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.....and yes it is resin porn taken to 11! I’ve built a lot of resin models and I can easily say this is some one the best resin cast models I’ve ever seen, I think equal to anything Fisher Model and Pattern did.

 

I’ve spent plenty of time fondling all these goodies, the fuselage is cast in two pieces that are the same thickness as the Tamiya ones!!!

 

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There is not a lot to the conversion kit but it’s all moulded perfectly.

 

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The instructions are nice an clear and easy to understand, just some basic decals, the actual aircraft had none other than these.

 

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Only one scheme and I really do like SEA camo schemes.

 

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Unfortunately the conversion kit requires an awesome donor model!!!!!

 

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Most of this will not be used, not to sure what I’ll do with the leftovers!

 

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Am looking forward to this build to get back into the groove....not that I haven’t been really busy......currently on the work bench,1/48th IDF RF-4E(S) “Peace Jack”, Su-27UB, RF-111C (with all the new correction bits), plus some other mystery builds.

 

Plus this lovely bit of resin porn finally arrived the other day....... JetMADS 1/32nd AJ-37 Viggen!

 

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Hi Rich, 

 

From me, too. Welcome!!!!! You build offers a great departure from the norm which, in my view, is always great! I'll be watchingclosely! :)

 

Martin

 

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This is going to be great Rich,those castings do look superb,I remember my little Observer's book of aircraft having the turbo mustang in it way back in

the seventies!

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IThanks, I did build one of these way back in the 2014 Mustang III STGB. For that on I used the Heritage Models 1/48th resin conversion set, was a bit basic and crude, but it came out quite nice, even used a Tamiya Mustang for that one!.

 

Interestingly as well Airfix in one of their Annual Magazines did a piece on doing a 1/24th scale beast!!! I have the article which includes scale drawing in 1/24th......... and no I won't be doing that even though I have an old 1/24th Airfix Mustang I built when it first came out.

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Ah this is great to see! Wonder how it stacks up with the Piper Enforcer? Look forward to the build, though I find it depressing you'll have to chop up that lovely Tamiya kit to do it 😢

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.....and off we go for the first GB/STGB of the year for me.....

 

I took this to my clubs “Bring & Build” day last Saturday.... and fondled all the resin bits for the hundredth time  :wub:    ........then tried to figure were they all will go....then made a mess chopping off all the moulding plugs! :whistle:

 

Then started to assembled the control surfaces, found out they’re all moveable with tiny PE & metal rod hinges!!!!

 

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That was all I got done on Saturday, yesterday quite a bit of progress............ in no particular order.

 

The main gear and gun bays were assembled and painted. First colour was a dark green then the correct Yellow Green layered over it, this gave me some nice simple depth, I did this for everything else this colour.

 

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The cockpit base is resin from the conversion.

 

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Next the kit side panels were attached to the new resin fuselage. The resin fuselage is the same thickness as the kit fuselage and just as well detailed......it has to be the best casted I’ve ever seen!

 

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The undercarriage main bits are assembled, all have metal rods glued inside.

 

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Next the first scary bits, chopping off the top of the rudder and wing tips. Lots of careful measuring and checking was done before the cutting........

 

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.......and that paid off the fit is perfect, I don’t think any filling will be required on these joins. The tips of the tip tanks where cast separately and needed a tiny bit of filler to finish them off.

 

With everything just taped together I just wanted to see how it’ll all look and how much work was going to be required with these joins.

 

To say I was shocked is an understatement, with just tape holding bits together the wing/fuselage join is perfect, there is NO gaps at all!  :yikes:

 

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The underside which has the most changes almost the same. Though I did find the one issue which will take a wee bit of work to correct! The forward fairings on the wings have 2 bits of plastic that now stick out going nowhere. I am going to have to do some plastic carving and shaping to get them right, not a big just....just something that may have been forgotten when the conversion was created.

 

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All together she’s going to be a super impressive model!

 

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Thoughts so far..... I can see why there is the talk about Halberd Models, easily some of the best cast/models/conversions out there!!

 

The Tamiya P-51D, I thought their 1/48th Tomcats and Phantom were amazing, but the Mustang is sublime, in my opinion easily one of the finest models out there!

 

What a way to start the build year....am loving this one!

 

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  • trickyrich changed the title to Cavalier Turbo Mustang III - started
  • 3 weeks later...

AAARRRRRRRRRR I keep forgetting to update this thread.......have 3 full days worth of building to up date......guess had better pull my finger out!

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Aaaaarrrrrrr I really hate this model!!!!!!

 

I start to do a little bit, then I realize 6 hours has past and I’ve taken no photos.......then she lures me back again and the weekend is gone and still no photos......please someone save me from this plastic and resin Siren!!!!!  :blink2:

 

But it is a Siren of pure resin & plastic goodness!  :wub:   I can see a few more of these lovely Tamiya beasts showing up in the stash!

 

But yes I had completely forgotten to take photos of quite a bit that I have done, and yes 3 (or more) full days have been spent, so here’s where we’re at....in no particular order.

 

First up there was the issue with the nose of the model, with the fuselage pieces together the nose cap had a rather bad lip that over hung the fuselage section. In the picture below it is a bit hard to see but it’s there (I forgot to take an earlier photo). Sanding it back isn’t an option as the nose profile would change quite a bit getting the curves all correct.

 

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Careful measuring showed that the nose cap was properly round, but the front of the fuselage wasn’t, as can be seen above this is/was how I was going to correct it, a thin strip of plastic to help widen the fuselage. The basic result is below, looks much nicer and almost no reshaping required..

 

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There were some gaps to fill, but that was a simple job, results, almost perfect.

 

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Once the cap is glued on there’ll just be some simple smoothing to do.

 

That was the hardest part of the build, everything else is very simple.

 

The cockpit is all kit, no AM other than the front belts (which came from the Eduard P-40N, 

 

The basic painting here......

 

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......the kit IP is so nicely done.

 

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.....cockpit detail is great, I kept it nice an simple just painted.....with lots of additional dust everywhere!!

 

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.......and already to closeup, the second seat will be fitted later.

 

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The fuselage was joined in stages starting from the rear, it went together without too many dramas at all.

 

There is/was a gap where the upper fuselage plus goes, plastic strip fixed that.

 

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The underside was a bit tricky and of course didn’t glue where I wanted it to.....common issue with resin and CA cement!! The good thing is it’s easy to correct and being underneath means any loss of that fine detail won’t be as noticeable.

 

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The front of the fuselage wasn’t glued at this stage as I needed to do the correction with the nose.....lots of clamps, plastic strips and CA cement accelerator required.

 

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Ok the stuff I forgot...wings, they basically fell together.

 

One thing I did find and I find out hard that it appears to be missing in the conversion kit, the lower forward section of the wing where it meats the fuselage. These are the kit ones that will meet up nicely with the fuselage at this point, however they don’t with the new resin fuselage.

 

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Instead, I need to remove a section from these inserts so that they fit the new profile of the fuselage. Quite odd that they appear to have been forgotten about, just a tiny bit of extra work needed.

 

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I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything else....if so next update, so this is how she looks.....

 

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...wow what an impressive looking model! A lot of the fuselage cleaning up is done and have re-instated some of the lost detailing, there wasn’t much.

 

All the major work should be completed tomorrow, then the final tiding up before painting......that’s if she doesn’t lurer me into an alnight session!

 

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  • trickyrich changed the title to Cavalier Turbo Mustang III - first update and a big one!
  • 4 weeks later...

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