F-6H Mustang, the forgotten PR aircraft.....

[PR19_Kit]

While waiting for the two tons of filler to dry on my 777-900 I did some stuff on the Mustang.

It's now got a teeny weeny pressurisation scoop, a la Spitfire PRXIX, made from a smidgeon of sprue and filed to shape in situ, under the port exhaust stack and I've added the Obscureco bits, well sort of....

The bits are three tiny camera ports and a camera! No way was the camera going inside the Mustang, I'd already glued the fuse together, but I managed to cut out and smooth off the three resin ports, but just gripping them was difficult enough. Sure enough the smallest one was devoured by the Carpet Monster so I went to Plan B for that one. This involved drilling a small hole where the port should be then using a rat-tail file to open it a tad. This also raised a small lip around the hole that looked JUST like the Obscurco bit. Result! 

The larger side port was just dabbed in place with some superglue but the vertical port was s swine. On the real F-6s this port has a cover that's hinged to one side so the lens didn't get obscured by dirt during take-off so it has to be aligned correctly and not just glued where it fits. Twice the darn thing fell INSIDE the fuselage and had to be fiddled out, not easy, so I glued some sprue onto the back of it which kept it at the correct level relative to the underside, and fiddled it into place and secured with another dab of superglue. Results are shown below.

I've also primed and scribed the wing, but in the process snapped off one of the extended tips, grrrrrrrrrrr.....

[PR19_Kit]

I liked JCF's idea of using a metal canopy as the aircraft is pressurised, and that big blown bubble might not have stood the force with the 1944 technology of the time, so I've glued the canopy in place and added masks for where the window ports will go. I hope the pilot isn't claustrophobic...  

I've smoothed off all the add-on bits and now it's primered up, as are the wings, but like all Mustang kits I've ever come across, apart from the Academy ones, the wings slot into the gap above the radiator and fit where they touch, which isn't much! It's going to take a LOT of fiddling and PSRing to get it to look OK.

Here's the pre-primer view and the main assembly so far.

[Old Wombat]

Looks like she could be awesome, Kit.

[PR19_Kit]

With my previous lack of success with NM finishes we'll have to see about that. 

My NM models always look as if I painted them, which I did of course, but previous excursions into Bare Metal Foil and other systems have usually met with almost failure. I'm going to try a rattle can silver all over and then touch up different panels with other shades for this one and see how that goes.

Fingers crossed.

[rickshaw]

Don't use Future on it, Kit.  My experience with it and rattlecan silver is that it dissolves the paint and you end up with a surface that looks like its been brush painted.   If that is what you're after, thats OK but you won't get a "bare-metal" effect!

[PR19_Kit]

Thanks for the tip Brian! 

I would have done that normally too. I'll try a test piece to work out what gloss varnish to use before I decal it, and I have some rattle can clear somewhere, that might work.

[The Wooksta!]

Halfords Gloss Aluminium and then  seal the decals in with their clear lacquer.

IIRC, Mustangs had the wings painted but the fuselages were left in NM.  A mate is a Mustang fanatic.

[PR19_Kit]

Thanks for that too Lee, every little helps. (Where have I heard that before....?)

I may have some of that lacquer in stock, filed under 'Car Stuff'. Making the wings look painted should be NO problem with my track record with NM models! 

[PR19_Kit]

Halfords Gloss Aluminium and then  seal the decals in with their clear lacquer.

Lee,

I tested that technique on a piece of scrap styrene and used some of the spare decals I'd printed for the F-6H.

Works a TREAT and kooks great, thanks a lot for the tip. 

[Daryl J.]

The thing is, what you've done is so optically well balanced.   I love it and look forward to what's next.
,
Daryl J.

[PR19_Kit]

I glued the wings, fuselage and tail together last night. Sure enough that wing joint was a bitch! Took lots of filing to get both sides to fit anywhere the correct level and there's a huge gap, about 1.5 mm, in the starboard wing root. Some serious PSR needed before I can start to use the silver paint.

I'm sure it'll all be worth it in the end. 

[PR19_Kit]

Here's the asembled device, complete with wing 'joint'!

That's going to take a lot of filing and PSR before it's acceptable, laminar flow it ISN'T! But it does look much more like an aeroplane with the wings and tail in place.

[The Wooksta!]

Have you remembered the vent port/outlet scoop for the cockpit?  On the PR19 it's on the port side just behind the cockpit.  And some bleed valves for the wing fuel tanks would be an extra detail too.

[PR19_Kit]

There's a little port on the starboard side, just aft of the cockpit, that will serve as a vent, and the ex-gun link ports will serve for the tank vents I reckon.

That's if I can find them after the massive primer coating the wing has had, the whole undersurface had some ripples along the entire length, and that need some priming and sanding! 

[Pablo1965]

I can wait to see the scheme.