Mike Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Here's what I've been working on quietly (some would disagree) on & off over the last few months (mostly off recently)... After WWII, Cavalier started decking out Mustangs for private customers to use as rather expensive fast private aircraft, adding an extra seat & all the timmings. The US Gov't wanted an interdictor for use in places like central America, so some bright spark at Cavalier decided to up-engine a Mustang with a Turbo-prop engine, as they're pretty torquey beasts & give a good climb rate, which is useful for climbing out of trouble after a straffing run. The end result was the Cavalier Mustang III, which Ian at Heritage makes in 1:48, but he keeps getting asked for a 1:72 version. Cue numpty here seeing the pictures & getting sucked into finding a kit of it (I think most people know I like odd stuff). Ian suggested that I have a go at mastering the kit in 1:72, and sent me a bunch of research (of which there is precious little in the public domain), and the 1:48 conversion kit. Off I went! I hacked the nose off one of the Academy P51-D kits Ian sent me, and inserted a piece of appropriately diametered & cut brass tube. In order to give some "key" to the smooth surface, I roughed it up with sandpaper & covered it in CA. Once this was cured, I built up the rough shape of the bulged cowling with Milliput, sanding, priming and sanding again until I was happy with the general shape. I'd got the thrust-line wrong though, so I snapped it off, re-positioned it & faired it back in. The centre of the cowl was made from the back end of an old pop-up pencil, which was stuffed into the first master with plasticene. I cast that up in resin, which you can see me doing here. i find it easier to work on resin copies after I've made some good progress, so that I can always re-cast as a fall-back measure if I screw it up! I added some styrene strip for the small instake on the top of the cowling, then cut & shaped some styrene tube for the exhaust. Using a second kit as sacrifice, I sorted the join with the kit parts to simplify installation, so that there's no fancy filling or rebuilding of panel lines to do. I need to map out the panel lines, add the small intakes/exhausts along the length of the cowling, and then re-cast. The prop boss was made from the end of a fuel tank, chucked into my Dremel & sanded to the correct shape. I also added the panel line around the back of the boss with a sharp knife used as a chisel. The tip-tanks were giving me a headache, as I had nothing suitable to make them from. In the end I cut a short length of brass tubing & glooped a load of Milliput onto it. 24 hours later, I chucked that into my Dremel & sanded it to shape, again adding some panel lines with a blade. I removed the brass tubing & filled the holes, then cast up a pair. Using my eye to set them level, I attached these to the wing-tips & will cast them up with a stub of the wing to make fitting them easier. The other parts include the new floor for the cockpit, as the big intake underneath has to be removed, the new two-seater cockpit (seats in the process of building), a new fail-tin tip, and those big paddle bladed props, which I adzed out of a block of styrene. I need to cast up a set of 4, athen drill the holes in the boss for mounting them. Not looking forward to that! The final thing to mention is a new canopy so that the back-seater doesn't have to crouch in his/her seat. I dawbed Milliput on the kit canopy, and began sanding that to the correct shape. It still needs a bit of work, but not too much before I can polish it. Ian uses female moulds for canopies now, so the part is actual size. Here's what's been done so far: Needless to say, the design was shown no enthusiasm by the Gov't, and was shelved. Piper bought the rights to the Mustang and the Cavalier Mustang, and began re-developing it with a US built engine (I think the original had a Mamba in it), and that became the P-38, which was STILL ignored by the powers that be. The P-38 is significantly different to the Cavalier version, with a slim nose, and the extra length added somewhere round in front of the cockpit. Sadly, most pics online are of that version, which looks a lot more Mustang-like than this puppy. Comments & criticisms greatfully received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary West Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 so this is what all those "secret" comments have been about. Interesting subject to get your teeth into, and by the looks of it, you've done a fine job too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted October 13, 2007 Author Share Posted October 13, 2007 so this is what all those "secret" comments have been about. Interesting subject to get your teeth into, and by the looks of it, you've done a fine job too Cheers Gary... those pics were taken a wickle while ago, and I've sorted the slightly odd profile of the exhaust, finessed & added the intake to the top of the cowl, and a few other odds & sods... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grant Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Scratch building a Master - that's cool! cheers Grant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted October 13, 2007 Author Share Posted October 13, 2007 Scratch building a Master - that's cool! Blinkin' scary is more like it! I just winged it in the end... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Bradshaw Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Very nice work Mike...that's pretty much the same way that I tackle my own master patterns. I'm sure that Ian shall be more than impressed with the final results. Regards Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdxtnt Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Very impressive Mike That must have been a mean looking aeroplane. Are you going to build one up for us now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted October 14, 2007 Author Share Posted October 14, 2007 Very impressive Mike That must have been a mean looking aeroplane. Are you going to build one up for us now? Cheers I've got one kit left that I'm hoping not to butcher, so once I've got all the parts done up to my satisfaction, I'll make one up to make sure it's actually buildable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airjiml2 Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Just to clear up two points...the Cavalier Mustang III had a Dart turboprop and the Piper project was the PA-48 Enforcer. The Enforcer was fitted with a Lycoming turboprop. Neat project! Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted October 14, 2007 Author Share Posted October 14, 2007 Just to clear up two points...the Cavalier Mustang III had a Dart turboprop and the Piper project was the PA-48 Enforcer. The Enforcer was fitted with a Lycoming turboprop.Neat project! Jim Woops! I was going from memory, and we all know what that's like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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