1/33 North American P-51D-10 Mustang Halinski 5-2005

I started a new project today. Hope everyone likes it.

Update

Starting tomorrow, I have a six week long trip, so this model update can only be paused. Before departure, I completed the left side bulkhead of the cockpit.

The trip is over, and when I get home, I will first finish processing the seat:

I just completed the detailed processing of the right inner wall of the cockpit.

I have already fixed the dashboard in the cockpit today

Continue with my progress:

Keep going

My current step is to progress from the tail to the waist, and finally close at the waist:

The last photo is that I just tested the compatibility between the canopy and the cockpit:

I have already assembled the fuselage

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Quote from Jan Hascher

I like your idea with adding the cockpit after closing the outer skin. Thats thinking outside of the box.

In fact, I have often used similar methods in previous projects, where the connection between each skin is easier to operate, making the surface smoother.

There are many complex intake and exhaust structures on the belly of the fuselage, which are more difficult than I expected. Fortunately, everything seems to be going smoothly. It should be better if I add some paint later:

My progress has been a bit slow these days. I just finished the frame of the wings and the main landing gear compartment.

I have already finished the main parts of the wings, and a friend of mine helped me test the 3D printed tires. I will paint them later, and then I can see the effect.

I just installed the cooling air intake.

I have completed the horizontal tail and elevator today, but attachments have not been made yet.

My update progress this weekend.

Today I installed a gunsight

Quote from Zaphod

Hello Ferrarifan,

a wonderful gunsight! Adds ver well to the fantastic cockpit.

Kind regards

Zaphod

Hi Zaphod, I appreciate your appreciation.

Another detail that gives me a headache is trying to pass the radio antenna through the canopy, which requires drilling a small hole in the canopy and keeping it in a straight line with the endpoint of the vertical tail antenna.

Continuing with my progress, first of all, I will abandon the original drop fuel tanks of the kit, which only provides 108-110 gallons of paper drop fuel tanks. However, based on my search of all historical photos, all photos of this aircraft display two 75 gallons metal tanks. The parts are taken from ModelArt 1/32 and reduced to 1/33. At present, it is only a preliminary form, and it will need to be painted in the later stage.

At the same time, I am improving the propeller spinner. Due to the sharp shape of the parts provided in the kit, there is a slight difference from the actual aircraft drawings. The replaced spinner still comes from ModelArt. Now it's still gypsum mold.

Quote from Johannes Gründling

Have you considered maybe using a Laser Level?

You could place the canopy on the model (obviously don't glue it yet) and adjust the Laser in such a way, that it touches both anchorpoints. Now you can either mark the vertical position of the hole, or even drill it in situ.

The horizontal position should be easier, as i assume that the canopy is symmetrical with the wire sitting in the middle. However using the same procedure would obviously also work for different angles/off center wires.

Hi Johannes, thank you for providing a great suggestion! but I have noticed that this difficulty may not be as complex as new clues suggest that they may not be entirely in the same straight line. This antenna is actually tightened by the springs at both ends and the pulley in the middle. So I think as long as it is within a certain range of error, it is acceptable, of course, it should try to follow the axis of the fuselage as much as possible and not deviate left or right:

Today I installed some small parts.

Today I made some small parts and spent most of my time on spray painting:

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I just installed two main landing gears.

Some of my small updates today

Today, I installed the fuel tanks and fixed the canopy in the open position. Although the open canopy may not fully reflect the smooth lines of the Mustang, almost all other people's works are currently closed, in order to highlight individuality.

I am still testing the production method of the propeller spinner, which may take a few days...

The progress of building this model so far is only the last part left. I tested the propeller spinner of this kit today, and although it looks very fast, but it is too far from reality. I also discovered the cause of this error. The designer of the model directly cloned this part from the kit P-51B, and this shape was correct when placed in P-51B. However, P-51D made modifications to this component, but the model kit did not make any change. In the coming period, I will replace it with my own developed part.

At present, everything is going smoothly in my testing process. Finally, this handmade part needs to be repainted again, and the entire project is about to be completed.