P-51D Cripes A'Mighty

[milenio3]

I just received the P-51D Mustang Cripes A'Mighty from ModelArt. This is a good looking 'stang, let me tell you. The blue and red colors are beautiful.

Let's build this baby, shall we?

[milenio3]

This is the presentation of the Mustang.

[cgutzmer]

<drools> looks great and cant wait til ya get started!
Chris

[Clashster]

Looks pretty cool, Gerardo! Looking forward to the progress!

[Lex]

Another Mustang? Looking forward to the pics......

[John Bowden]

Working on this one myself...............

So far it's right up there with all the other ModelArt releases.

But I look forward to seeing someone build this one............. not just butcher it like me:rolleyes:

Mine will be wheels up, paper canopy, no cockpit. I need to get back into the building habit.

john

[rlwhitt]

Very nice colors. Looking forward to seeing this, Gerardo!

[milenio3]

Thanks guys. I hope I don't disappoint anybody on this.

John, I'm going to build the canopy as the other one, with the included template for the canopy made with transparency paper (clear acetate). I also wait for you to post pics of your P-51. It is not too complicated.

More to come.

[Golden Bear]

Yes, nice choice Ger. We can never have too many Mustang kits and models.

[GreMir]

Maybe next one will be from the Pacific......

[shrike]

Air Commando C model p'raps?

[Stev0]

Maybe next one will be from the Pacific......

Any links to these Celebrity Aircraft?

[GreMir]

My personal favorite
http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/165/3/18/30
And a little info on the pilot, William Shomo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_A._Shomo

[dansls1]

Cool story - thanks for sharing.

[milenio3]

In the case of the Cripes A'Mighty P-51, flown by Geroge Preddy, I found the story here:

http://www.afa.org/magazine/valor/1287valor.asp

And the configuration:

http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/165/3/14/21

[milenio3]

At last some progress...

Cockpit area. The instructions miss how exactly the cockpit is built, so you have to make 2 or 3 tries. And when you already know how to insert the cockpit in the fuselage, the aft part is a little unclear on its place in relation with the back of the seat. At the end, you end up with a nice fit.

[milenio3]

The whole cockpit area. For me the little swastikas were a good point of reference to put together these parts.

[milenio3]

What I really like the most about this model is the blue color on it. I hope I won't mess it up.

[Alcides]

Very nice Gerardo. I don't like the mustang very much but the build looks very clean.

¿Estas preparando una habitacion para poner todos estos modelos? ;)

[milenio3]

Thanks Alcides.
Luis is asking me if I will build a whole new room for my models. In fact is a... WHOLE NEW HOUSE!!! Really, God willing, in December. My better half is designing plastic boxes to be attached to a wall, kind of a galleria or something like that. (And she still waiting for her Currell's Titanic 150% size).

[dansls1]

Looking good so far!

[John Bowden]

No I did not do this................ but I thought someone might want a new wallpaper

[milenio3]

That would be me. Thanks a bunch, John!

[milenio3]

Ok, and now the nose is complete. I didn't have any issue with these parts. The only thing we have to take care of is that of the nose art.

Dr. Zarkov really excel on this model. I think his designs are getting better and better, not that the past models are not good, but after building 3 of his models, I can note the difference.

[Barry]

great looking seams there

[Clashster]

Looks great, Gerardo! Smooth and clean!

[GreMir]

This is tempting, this is very tempting (have to stay away from Moshe's page, don't go there more than once a day! <sigh> what's the point, just buy the darn plane! <sigh>) :D

[milenio3]

Thank you everyone!

Ok, and now... updates!

[milenio3]

This part of the fuselage aft has the trick of being curved, so the belly of the Mustang can get its familiar shape. Three cuts must be made and then rejoined again with a strip. By the way, the strip (17i) has 4 divisions -see photo- instead of the 3 we need here. So I just cut off the little one.

I managed to roll the piece of paper on my palm, with an aluminum cylinder, back to front, and side to side, and looking always for a good shape.

After "stuffing" the former on its place (at the back of the piece), I end up with an acceptable belly. Dr. Zarkov even provides a pattern to follow the shape of the belly, but the design is so smooth, I didn't need it to make it, but just to verify the shape.

[milenio3]

Then the tail wheel well. This box was, at first, hard to build, because has many sides. But you just have to picture it in the "mind's eye", and that's it.

After building the box of the wheel well, adjust its place in the undercarriage nicely.

[milenio3]

Preparation of the tail structure.

[milenio3]

I was tempted to separate the elevators, for a more professional look... but I thought "not this time". So I left the complete tail as is on the kit.

These are my two babies side by side.

[milenio3]

Exhaust pipes. Not a big deal, just roll up 12 of them... and have a good music to sing along while doing these, if you don't want to get bored.

(Just 12 of them here... I can imagine when you guys do 12 cylinders for a radial engine... WOW!)

[milenio3]

And the cover for the exhaust pipes in place. I had to look for pictures of these thingies before placing them, I always found them kind of confusing. :o

[dansls1]

Exhaust pipes. Not a big deal, just roll up 12 of them... and have a good music to sing along while doing these, if you don't want to get bored.

(Just 12 of them here... I can imagine when you guys do 12 cylinders for a radial engine... WOW!)

I've got the P-61 in the build stack - two 18 cylinder radial engines, something like 12 or 13 parts per cylinder. That's going to be a couple builds just doing the engines, let alone the rest of the plane.

Your plane is still coming together nicely!

[milenio3]

No updates this morning. I worked late last night.

Thanks, Dan. This kit is easy, but nevertheless good looking.

That P-61 seems like a beast! 36 cylinders... good luck, and let us know about it.

[Johnny]

I just loves the P51's and you are doing a great job presenting this one Gerardo!!
I really like your section joints! They look flawless!!

[rlwhitt]

Fabulous work so far Gerardo! P-51's are awesome planes!

[milenio3]

Thank you very much for the words, Johnny and Rick. The design makes it easy to build.

[milenio3]

And now the wing structures. As you can see, they are placed to accept the wheels wells, so you don't have any issues at the time of placing the wings in the undercarriage.

[milenio3]

On pieces 23C and 23D, there is a little part that on both ModelArt Mustangs that I didn't use it. It suppose to grab the extreme of the wheel well, but I could not use it. If I leave it there, it won't fit.

No damage dome to the wings or the wells though.

[milenio3]

Now the wings have structure. They fit very well. They all fit exactly on the wing's lines.

[milenio3]

The wings are complete. A little glue here and there.

My problem with doing this stage of the process, is that both wings have to be aligned and no bumps are visible.

[milenio3]

Dry fit. Only the wing tips are missing. It seems that tonight we are done with the wings, after the fairings at the wing roots are placed.

[chapuzas100]

Hello Millenium, these are the photos that it looked for, those of like mounting the wings. JE… JE .......... I finish advancing steps

Hola Milenio, estas son las fotos que buscaba, las de como montar las alas. JE...JE.......... me acabo de adelantar unos pasos

Un saludo

[Alcides]

Very nice Gerardo. I like a lot how nice looks the color of the kit.

By the way, be careful the last pictures are a bit blurred. I think because the camera choose a very low shutter speed.

[milenio3]

More to come, Chapuzas.
Thanks Alcides, in fact I was very tired, and almost bed time. (Ya traía pulso de maraquero.)

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been on-call... one more day and I can continue.

[milenio3]

Updates updates.

After fairings were attached, I proceed with the canopy... oh, the canopy!

[milenio3]

BEGIN CANOPY

The template is printed in transparency paper.

Cut the openings to make the bubble form.

Paste each section with transparent good-old masking tape.

With the aid of tweezers, approach to the flame of the kitchen stove, at about 5 to 12 inches, and this for only 5 to 10 seconds.

. Repeat as necessary.

. IF your hands are burned in the process... don't blame me.

Once the canopy has the desired form, put the window frames.

Put the complete canopy on its place on the warbird.

END CANOPY

[milenio3]

Now the spinner... well, will spin!

I made the central axis from where the wire has to spin free. The wire won't be fixed to the cylinder, but will be pasted to the spinner formers.

[dansls1]

She looks great!
The only problem is now I want to order a few ModelArt models - but my wife is hassling me about using 'her ink' in the printer (and seems to prefer me buying pre-printed models).

[milenio3]

At the end, we have a nice P-51 D Mustang Cripes A'Migthy, 1/32.

[milenio3]

Well, Dan, I recomend you to go to a Kinkos or something like that. I guess is cheaper to print there than your home printer. At least, for me is. There are not many color pages, and the B&W you can print them in whatever printer (laser or ink).

The models are worth it.

[milenio3]

And for the Grand Finale... the video for you to see the spinner... well, spin!

CLICK HERE (http://youtube.com/watch?v=dD7bjNo-LbQ)

With Sound of real P-51.

[dansls1]

Well, Dan, I recomend you to go to a Kinkos or something like that. I guess is cheaper to print there than your home printer. At least, for me is. There are not many color pages, and the B&W you can print them in whatever printer (laser or ink).

The models are worth it.

That's an idea - I'll have to check it out.

And thanks for the new background pic on my work computer - the blue and silver matches my normal windows colors nicely :D

[member_3]

That's a beautiful job you did on that one! The video with sound was the icing on the cake!

[Barry]

glorious buld

[rlwhitt]

Great job all around Gerardo! That's an interesting technique on the "classic" canopy method, I wou;dn't have thought of that! The spinner video is great!

[cgutzmer]

awesome build! thanks for sharing it with us :D
Chris

[Clashster]

Cripes! What a beauty! wonderful job, Gerardo! Nice canopy - that technique may actually get me to do a bird again! Thanks!

[rowiac]

Gerardo,

Great job on the Mustang! How did you find a Merlin small enough to fit inside the model? :D

Roger

[milenio3]

Thank you very much, all you friends, for the kind words.

In fact is a good plane design.

Hey, Dan, I'm flattered that you could use one of my pics as your background, given the fact that you have a very nice GeeBee.

Yeah, Roger, it was difficult to build the Merlin, but I managed to do it :D:D:D

There is a little cough on the sound of the P-51, that coincidentally matched the movement on the video. Nice, eh?

[John Bowden]

Very good job on both Gerardo!

I noticed the synchronization!:D

OK............. What's next? No......... I'm not ever satisfied...........more air plane models please!

john

[Golden Bear]

::cough:: other people could build nice airplane thingeys too! ::cough:: And I am still going to get back to that Russian job any day now. Any day. Really. Soon.


Carl

[Willja67]

You know if I'm not too much mistaken your final build pics are being used on the sale pagfe for the model. http://www.papermodels.co.il/ It wouldn't let me link directly to the pic but it's easy enough to find.

Congrats on a nice build

[dansls1]

You know if I'm not too much mistaken your final build pics are being used on the sale pagfe for the model. http://www.papermodels.co.il/ It wouldn't let me link directly to the pic but it's easy enough to find.

Congrats on a nice build

The picture has on it 'Built by Gerardo Escobedo-Sainz, Mexico. Congrats again!

[John Bowden]

Congratulations Gerardo!

That is a milestone in model making!:D

john

[Gil]

Gerardo,

A very nice build. I liked the idea of going the extra distance with the video. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who, every once in a while during a build, picks the airplane up and makes airplane sounds and motions with it..., Very therapeutic...,

Ok, what's next?

+Gil

[Don Boose]

I thought the desire to pick up a partially built airplane model and make airplane sounds and motions with it was genetically hard-wired along with the basic desire to build models in the first place. As far as I know, ALL model builders do it.
And, I presume that at least some ship modelers are wont to nudge a waterline model warship along the workbench while making crashing wave sounds -- or at least humming the opening bars to "Victory at Sea."
Don B.

[whulsey]

Oh yeah, just like us car modelers go vrooomm-vrooomm as we push it around the bench, poppong a wheelie and getting it into a 4 wheel drift. I like that genetically hard-wired theory. LOL

[rickstef]

well i make rotor sounds when i am working on a helo

[Alcides]

Wow !!! Very , very nice Gerardo.

I have to switch to Spanish to found more words to say how good is this ;)

Hermoso. Realmente increible Gerardo. Muy buena la tecnica de la cabina tambien. Realmente te estas superando en cada modelo. Cuidado !!! Ya no mas modelos de NOBI para un maestro como Gerardo :D

Luis

[milenio3]

All friends, THANK YOU very much for all your words. I'm sure I don't deserve as much (there are still many masters I'm following in the forums), but I'm very glad you liked it. Besides, as I said, the model is a beauty.

I just saw today that Mr. Moshe from papermodels.co.il put my picture on the web site's gallery. Yes, that is an honor too. Just like Hemingway is on the Israel version of the Mustang. Wow.

It is not a secret anymore then, we all make sounds with our models! I myself put it very close to my eye, make-believe that is a real one, and I go... FRRRRR WRRRRRRRR.... Psychology calls it "the inner child" and it is very healthy.

[milenio3]

Luis, gracias por tus palabras. Qué bueno que te haya gustado el P-51. Y bueno, como mi esposa me dijo también, "ya estás en otro nivel".

Aunque de vez en vez haré algunos sencillos con mi hijo.

Gracias de nuevo Luis!

[Moshe]

I just saw today that Mr. Moshe from papermodels.co.il put my picture on the web site's gallery. Yes, that is an honor too. Just like Hemingway is on the Israel version of the Mustang. Wow.

Hi everyone,

There are still three openings :-) I still need pictures of the completed kits and the assembly process pictures of the following three kits: Do-17, Ju-88 and Bf-109.
Any volunteers for the challange?

I'll use this opportunity to thank all those who built the kits very beautifuly and sent in their pictures, (see also the customers' work page).

Thanks, Moshe

[emil_zarkov]

Hi Gerardo,
Great work!
That’s what appeared on my mind’s eye during the design of the kit now can be seen from everyone.
Is it possible to share few pictures of both p51d that you’ve build?
Best Regards,
Emil Zarkov, ModelArt

[GreMir]

Emil, Moshe
Since I have you both here :D
Maybe you would consider one more repaint of the P-51D, this time from the Pacific.
The Flying Undertaker flown by Will Shomo would be a nice subject :rolleyes:

[milenio3]

Dr. Zarkov. It is my honor to have you here. And an honor you liked the way Cripes A'Mighty came out.

Here are the links of my web page for the process of building both P-51's. You can click HOME on them to go to the home page, where you can find more building processes.

Thank you very much for your efforts for the Paper Modeling Community.

http://paperjerry.googlepages.com/mustang1

http://paperjerry.googlepages.com/mustang16

[JustForFun]

Hi Gerardo-

Your beautiful build has inspired me to try this one as well. Thank you so very much for the build photo's as they have come in very handy. I do have a couple questions if you can help me with.

Specifically, when I attach the wings to the main fuselage, there is a gap between segment 10 (fuselage part in front of the cockpit part and the wing. Also, When I attempt to build the cooling air intake, I am assuming that part 37 and 37a go inside of part 36. They don't seem to fit in there very well and part 37b (the black piece) as well as 35C (the rear frame piece) seem to be too small.:confused: I was also a little confused as to how the gun sight went together. I saw the picture in your build but it was a little blurry.

Thank you so much in advance. I look forward to your next build. If I can get this one to look half as good as yours, I'm going to build the P-40 next :)


Best Regards,
Vinh Nguyen

[Golden Bear]

Gerardo, que bonito era! I love Mustang kits. This is just super clean and nice. Just a sweet little model.


Carl

[milenio3]

Thank you for the kind words, Vinh. Please, let me check when I arrive at home, and I'll post back to you with the answers.

Carl, muchas gracias!! I always admired your build reports, and I learned a lot from masters like you.

[JustForFun]

Thanks Gerardo-
I'm no master; just a amateaur compared to the modelers I see here. This is actually my first WW2 model. I usually go for the sci-fi models but this one really caught my eye.

[Lex]

Nice build Gerado! I like the way you make the canopy!

[milenio3]

My friends, thank you very much for your comments.

Vinh, this is my answer to your questions above. I hope they are still useful.

Parts 35, 36 make the air intake body. Then part 37 should be on the inside of the body, that to avoid the blank space on the intake. In my case - shame on me - I didn´t put it!! I don't know why. Then part 37b is the black part on the inside.

The gap between part 10 and the wings... well, that you have to work out better than me, because I have this gap on both P-51's from Dr. Zarkov. Maybe you can avoid that gap. If so, let me know.

See? Everybody here has something to learn from one another. And others see what escapes from your eyes.


http://fotos.miarroba.com/thumb/2047B9FE6227477964E922477964E4.jpg (http://album.miarroba.com/milenio-3/0/5/) http://fotos.miarroba.com/thumb/2247B9FD05304779638A2D47796387.jpg (http://album.miarroba.com/milenio-3/0/3/)

[JustForFun]

Thanks Gerrardo! That helps out quite a bit. I'll try that air intake one more time. As far as the gap goes, I think I'll just end up cutting out a small piece to attach to the fusalage section in front if it. Hopefully that should close the gap. The current build I'm doing is a skill builder excercise so hopefully I can post pictures when I attempt it the second time. BTW I made the canopy just like you did and it turned out fantastic! Great idea!!! Happy New Year!

[oklacnw]

you former USAF?

[milenio3]

The best of lucks, Vinh!!

[Willja67]

I bought this model about 5 months ago and have meaning to post about it (sorry no pics) but have been too preoccupied.

As far as sheer pleasure goes I have never built a model that rivaled this one. The fit is excellent and the presentation is very professional. For some reason though the canopy kicked my butt hard. I made so many mistakes on it I'm ashamed to even take pics of it. Since I have seen this model completed I must claim all responsibility for that.

There is a indefinable quality I'll call the "spirit" of the subject. A designer can be very accurate and not get the "spirit" right. I don't know much about the intricacies of the mustang so I can't comment as to the accuracy but Dr Zarkov sure nailed the spirit dead on. It just feels good.

But there are some things that I don't like. This is my own pet peeve but I think more effort could have been put into hiding seams in panel lines, there are several places where he intentionally did that so I know he knows how.

My second gripe with the model has to do with Dr Zarkovs design method, he models one side of the plane unrolls it then mirrors it to make the whole part. There are several places in this model where he did not remove the line down the middle of the part and that is irritating to me. I model the same way and one of the first things I do after creating a part is getting rid of that line.

But overall I really liked it and would highly recommend it.

[JustForFun]

I am really enjoing this one as well. Just having a time reworking the air scoop. I think I got the outside and inside pieces mixed up. I have the P-40 as well from Dr. Zarkov. I can reccommend that one if you like his P-51's.