WWII Conversion

[John Howling Mouse]

Hey Barry, what ever happened to the Japanese Mustang-like job?

 

You must be psychic or something.  Just this morning, I had to move the box that it's in and thought, I've got to get working on that one again.

[John Howling Mouse]

Another close up of those scratchbuilt elevators:



Some other shots of the old bird:





You just want to see how many kitbashes I can juggle at one time, don't you?

 

[cthulhu77]

  Speechless in Arizona

[Tophe]

Dear JHM, do you plan to use a Ki-84 canopy or a P-51D one on your Hayastang ?  Anyway, it will be wonderful , I am sure.
But don't tell us those tailplanes are scratchbuilt: such perfection would be just impossible   (or I'd be badly jealous of your skills, confirmed... )

[retro_seventies]

very sweet tailplanes barry - is it wise to play with another kit? i look to you as the "anti-retro", the guy that ctually finishes something instead of starting and then scratching the old chin for a few years...lol...

she's looking good though, and will look stunning alongside the moose and the sentinel    

[John Howling Mouse]

Now that this has been resurrected, I'm seriously considering calling it the "Lacombe" and putting leafy roundels on it instead of the intended US WW2 markings!

All the detail painting for this is done now and today I scratchbuilt the two halves of the custom vertical tail:





Tophe: Believe it or not, the canopy I'm using for this is from an old AMT Gloster Meteor!

Had to recut the canopy opening then Dremel out a miniature gully all the way around but it now fits quite well.



While all my other projects are in a succession of putty-wait-sand-repeat, I'm getting some of these old skeletons from the closet on the go, too...

[retro_seventies]

that meatbox canopy looks GREAT on there....

let's hope that this lacombe is as much of a troublemaker in the air as the real one is around here!    

[Tophe]

Now that this has been resurrected, I'm seriously considering calling it the "Lacombe"!
Tophe: Believe it or not, the canopy I'm using for this is from an old AMT Gloster Meteor!

Have you paid to Ollie the Copyright he owns for using the Lacombe trademark?
Thanks for the side view, and for the incredible news about the canopy source...  Lord, a Ki-84/P-51/Meteor mix? JMNs   will judge this is more then enough to send JHM  ^_^ in jail...  

[Ollie]

I'm honoured that you would choose my name for this flying machine, but I would be ever more so if you'ld finish it!

     

[John Howling Mouse]

I'm honoured that you would choose my name for this flying machine, but I would be ever more so if you'ld finish it!

   

It's coming!  It's coming!

Probably be done before Christmas '06!

[John Howling Mouse]

The Lacombe made some good progress today.  Overall pic (tail's not really on just yet, that's just balanced in place at this point).



Close up of the little gap-filling block cut to fit just aft of the cockpit's rear deck:



Close up of the shaped chunk of styrene glued in place to fill the gap left by the removed tailfin.  This will give the new, scratchbuilt tailfin a base against which to be affixed.



I could not believe how small the original Japanese "Frank's" tailwheel was so I built in a piece of 20 thou styrene with a hole drilled in to accept the tailwheel from my P-47 SeaBolt™ which won't be needing a tailwheel anymore:

[John Howling Mouse]

The Lacombe gets first bit of Bondo's red glazing putty:

[Brian da Basher]

Way to go Man-Ho! This is looking better and better with each post! I can't wait to see the finished bird!

Brian da Basher

[Tophe]

The Lacombe gets first bit of Bondo's red glazing putty:

Taking shape nicely day after day (week after week?)...
While, uh... I knew it even before you started this built, Barry: Lacombe is great! ^_^    

[John Howling Mouse]

Might not look like it in the photos but the fuselage putty is all done.
I do believe the next step is to fit the dissimilar canopy to the fuselage using a metric tonne of Tamiya silver putty.

What, me nervous?