Some Interesting Whiffery In Th Hyperscale Forum

[philp]

Just a smattering of what is out there.

[Madoc]

Phil,

That Allison engined P-51D is an absolute gem!  That's a perfect What If.  I'd love to learn more details about it.  Nicely done all around.

Madoc

[Madoc]

Folks,

For those interested, here's more about that "A-36D":

Screwing with a legend for April Fools Day...

Ron Cline is the builder and he used an ICM P-51A for the Allison nose and Revell P-51D for the rest.  The radio call sign, crew roster, and serial number were all well thought through.  Nicely rendered!

Madoc

[Radish]

Brilliant!!  

[Captain Canada]

Awesome !

What came first ? the Harrier or the Egg ? I'm feeling a little Lt. H. Edid myself.......must be the beerwall dust, I mean drybeer, I mean drywall dust !

That Mustand is superb, and all too believable. And one nicely done kit to boot !

Now who doesn't wanna build one, just like that ?

 

[Damian2]

I looove that Mustang maybe do one with 20mm cannons? Hmmm...

[elmayerle]

I looove that Mustang maybe do one with 20mm cannons? Hmmm...

That thought had occurred to me, too; especially since the Mustang had a one-piece wing and swapping wings wouldn't be that difficult.  Biggest problem would be matching up the front wing root fairings as the P-51D/K main gear is raked slightly different from earlier versions, for better visibility on takeoff, and requires larger leading edge root fairings to cover it.

[Madoc]

Evan & all,

Interesting that Ron had to insert a wedge to "deepen the nose a bit" as that's reflective of the design changes North American did to simplify its production of the Merlin engined Mustang.  I believe it was you who first pointed it out here, Evan, that in order to run the plumbing for the Merlin's radiator and such back to their location below and behind the pilot, NA chose to deepen the fuselage a bit.  This allowed those systems to run across the top of that one piece wing as opposed to running through it.  A simple fix which no doubt saved a bunch of engineering and manufacturing effort on the wing.  I wonder how much more effort was required to do the fuselage deepening bit?

I guess then that in order to accurately depict an Allison engined "A-36D" you'd keep the original fuselage depth and simply hack off the turtle decking just like they did going from the P-51C to D.  That would make for a more "accurate" rendering, no?

Madoc

[elmayerle]

Evan & all,

Interesting that Ron had to insert a wedge to "deepen the nose a bit" as that's reflective of the design changes North American did to simplify its production of the Merlin engined Mustang.  I believe it was you who first pointed it out here, Evan, that in order to run the plumbing for the Merlin's radiator and such back to their location below and behind the pilot, NA chose to deepen the fuselage a bit.  This allowed those systems to run across the top of that one piece wing as opposed to running through it.  A simple fix which no doubt saved a bunch of engineering and manufacturing effort on the wing.  I wonder how much more effort was required to do the fuselage deepening bit?

I guess then that in order to accurately depict an Allison engined "A-36D" you'd keep the original fuselage depth and simply hack off the turtle decking just like they did going from the P-51C to D.  That would make for a more "accurate" rendering, no?

Madoc

The fuselage deepening was mainly over the wing, the rest being taken care of with the redesign of the radiator and scoop for the Merlin installation (generally making it more efficient aerodynamically).  If the Allison-engined variant had continued in production, I rather suspect they'd have made many of the same changes, anyway.  The redesign to run the coolant lines over rather than through the wing has the feel of a "design rationalization" effort done as part of a larger redesign.  I could see both Allison- and Merlin-powered variants being produced with the deeper fuselage and a modified cowling for the Allison installation, much as is depicted here.

Actually, in RL the difference in fuselage depth isn't that great, only some three inches, but it makes a visual difference and most definitely makes for easier production.  Of course, the re-routing of the coolant lines did require the addition of a plywood floor to the cockpit instead of just having the upper surface of the wing there.