Reviewing the Allison mustang

[Don Boose]

I think the Allison-engine Mustangs in sand-and-spinach colors were the beautifullest ones of all the Mustangs.

Don

[kahoody]

Originally Posted by GreMir

Glen,
Grab the updated cockpit from the Downloads section.

Thank you, Michael.

[kahoody]

Sorry, Glen. Good, clean work on the model, too! Awesome!

[birder]

No troubles kahoody I'm calling the cockpit finished

[paperengineer]

very good on the cockpit birder! A lot of detail and time must have went into it!

[birder]

thanks paperengineer, not too bad with time but some effort, although I think are still some errors, but unless one built this plane with an open canopy, a challenging task due to the way they opened, much of this will not be readily visable...
Don-glad you are such a fan of this plane, did not know you liked the Allison mustang so much, they have a different look to them, rather long and narrow appearing, one could see how it could be mistaken for a 109, accentuated by the straight carburator scoop and the mid gear doors typically up position when parked, should be interesting if I can get it to look right....
update on weekend work was mostly trying to get the canopy looking acceptable, took a few attempts to get what is shown, molded a canopy with a sculpy mold and turned out more challenging than I thought, put in a plate inside the canopy similar to the P-47 of the same vintage, I think is ok

[Michael Mash]

Hello Glen,
The canopy really looks good.
What material do you use to produce a clear canopy?
Thanks,
Mike

[birder]

Hi Mike, nice of you to drop in on this
I started making canopies for FG planes with the flat surfaced types initially, like the me 109, but when curved canopies needed like P-51, including this one, needed a different strategy. For my present method, I find some heat molded clear packaging (usually have something suitable laying about somewhere), use sculpy to form a canopy shape going from a constucted paper canopy copy to get the right shape, cook and sand smooth the sculpy mold, then heat some plastic packaging over a candle usually and when soft push the mold into the plastic. I usually don't get good results the first go, and keep at it until I have 3 or so to choose from. Some packaging plastic has different properties, which can be a holdup. With small canopies this works well, so in this case used one peice of formed plastic for the forward part, and a second for the rear half.

[Michael Mash]

Thanks for the details Glen.
Clever procedure. I wondered if the plastic
would have a tendency to fog up as it is heated and cooled.
But your canopy is crystal clear.
Mike

[milenio3]

Very well done!

The pilot's office looks really neat!