P 51 COCKPIT CRACKED

Williams came to the same conclusion, and since then two more engine choices have been developed. That photo mission highlighted one of the shortcomings of an airplane that was supposed to have the look and feel of a fighter. This was a task that challenged the cruise speed capabilities of the T-51 and the low-speed handling of the P-51. We went so far as to photograph both airplanes in formation. KITPLANES published a flight review in the June 2006 issue that compared it to the real Mustang.

Titan started selling kits at that show, and says that 183 kits have been sold and some 67 are flying.

He surmised that he would never be able to buy or fly a real one, so he designed, built and flew a replica to Oshkosh in 2002. John Williams, president of Titan Aircraft, had the same answer to that question. The P-51 is an iconic aircraft with legendary handling, arguably the finest piston fighter of WW-II, and maybe of all time. Now that the Mustang’s together, I need to clean up a few of the seam lines, throw some paint at the wings to make sure the seams are properly filled, and replace some of the brass gun tubes I accidentally knocked into the wings while sanding the filled seams.Ask 100 pilots this question: “If you could fly any airplane, which one would it be?” and the most common answer would almost certainly be the P-51 Mustang.

Tamiya’s Mustang is the epitome of great fit, and if you’re careful you can get it together with a minimum of fuss. Once the wings were taken care of, the P-51 literally flew together. Surfacer 500, then sanded it down with 400, 1000, and 1200 grit sandpaper. After taping off the gun doors and the few lines that had to remain, I dabbed the exposed lines with Mr. Most Mustang kits, the Tamiya included, retain the original panel lines. To that end, North American Aviation filled all of the flush rivets and panel lines on the forward sections of the wings right on the assembly line, and painted them over with aluminum lacquer. In order to wring the most efficiency out of the wing as possible, drag had to be minimized as far as possible. The Tamiya kit’s representation of the P-51’s gun tubes is rather poor, so I drilled them out and replaced them with telescoping brass tubing.Ī lot of the Mustang’s speed and range came from it’s cutting-edge laminar flow wing.

Once the cockpit was installed and the fuselage closed, I moved on to the wings. After painting and weathering, I used Airscale’s 1/48 instrument panel decals to punch up the gauges. Ultimately, my displeasure led me to steal the instrument panel from another Tamiya P-51 I have in the stash.

P 51 COCKPIT CRACKED

When I cracked open the P-51 box, I was hit by a slew of aftermarket accessories I’d ordered once upon a time: Ultracast gear doors, seat, prop and spinner, Squadron vac-form canopies, and an Eduard PE set.Īfter painting the cockpit areas with Lifecolor Interior Green, Vallejo black and Floquil weathered black, I opted to use the Eduard PE set in the cockpit, and was immediately unhappy with the quality of the instrument panel. However, with the failure of willpower that culminated in my pre-order of Tamiya’s forthcoming 1/32 Mustang, the 1/48 kit has taken on a new urgency as something of warm-up build for that kit, and a perfect platform to work on my natural metal techniques and masking the 352nd’s distinctive blue cowls. My original intention – to use Tamiya’s 1/48 P-51D as something of a decompression build between the Sopwith Pup and Spitfire Mk.VIII – has foundered somewhat on the twin rocks of advanced modeler’s syndrome and the sheer epicness of Tamiya’s big Spit.

P 51 cockpit