AofE P51B Kidd Hofer D-Day

[cjwalas]

That's Aces of Ecardmodels of course! :D
This is one of Dave's repaints and an upscale of the Marek kit. I'll also be adding one of Dave's original (did I get that right, Dave?) P-51 cockpit interiors.

The kit is four pages of parts and one of formers, plus one nifty cover and one page of diagram.:o
The interior is a separate kit and contains both 1:33 and 1:50 scale interiors with a full page of assembly photos as well as a front page with very helpful finished photos.
I decided to start with what I suspect may be the most difficult part, the bubble canopy. I photocopied the page from the kit and built up a working section;

I've used this to make a plug of polyclay. And because I think the bubble might benefit from being a little more... bubbly, I added additional polyclay to give it more form.
As that was underway, I started on the cockpit interior, specifically because I'm not all that certain how it fits in place. Dave's done a great job of creating a good looking interior. Here's the pilot's seat done;

While it's not much of a start, it is a start! I'm looking forward to this build. This one is D-Day markings and I'm a sucker for anything in invasion stripes.
Chris

[cgutzmer]

Sweet! looks like a great start to me! Gonna join up on teh IPMS site and show it off? That would be extra sweet
Chris

[cjwalas]

I went over and tried to sign up, but got confused and gave up. I need to give it another try!
Chris

[cgutzmer]

Really? What was confusing? aside from needing a member number and requireing admin approval its not any different - you can fill in anything for member number I think since its no longer required

[cjwalas]

I'll have another try soon, Chris.
This one is coming together rather nicely. The interior fits very well and is no big deal to retro fit, as Dave has supplied replacement formers and good diagrams;


I had a little bit of difficulty getting the air scoop frame and skin to match up. They didn't quite, the skin was too large. I trimmed it down slightly but still wound up with a slight gap on the bottom that I hope I can fix later with the finishing pieces.
The rest of the fuselage fits well;

You can see my form for the canopy in front of the model. I may have overdone it and made the bubble too bubbly, but I'm not sure of the fit anyway so I suspect I'll be doing a couple of test fits.
And despite my rather rushed building of it, the fuselage came out quite straight (although there seems to be some lens distortion in this photo)
;
This much has gone much easier than I expected and with none of the former fitting issues that are not uncommon with Marek's designs.
Chris

[alpinemike]

Nice! I'm working on a marek P-51 project. This build should be super helpful.

Looks great!

[cgutzmer]

I will need TWO canopies for my next project, if yours turn out well I might ask you to mail me a couple (at my expense) if you get it to work out
Chris

[Texman]

Originally Posted by cgutzmer

I will need TWO canopies for my next project, if yours turn out well I might ask you to mail me a couple (at my expense) if you get it to work out
Chris

Looking very nice Chris W!


@Chris G - Hmmm, edge coloring for RR paper, two of these canopies, I think I've got an idea of what your building (at least what airframe)!

[airdave]

wow Chris, this is fantastic!
its great to see a cockpit in progress like this...and I'm thrilled you had no serious issues.

the formers for this kit have received some slight mods, that I hope allow it to go together a little better.

no...Marek's kit is not the best...we have touched on its failings a number of times,
but I have built this Mustang at least three times so far,
plus at least 4 more partial fuselages,
and sometimes I get the underside seams and sections fitting really well
and other times with terrible gaps.

It seems as though the kit, while not fitting together perfectly, allows for some twist and tweak when you need it. I would say a little build exoerience is required to handle the imperfections in the kit.

I notice one serious misalignment in the fuselage, in front of the canopy section,
any thoughts on why or recommendations on how you dealt with that spot?

[cMags]

Looking good. I'll be starting one of Dave's AofE Mustangs soon and was planning to grab the interior kit as well. It looks great. I'll be watching with interest to see how this all goes together.