Mustang Cavalier-ish

[Gunbird]

Hi guys, haven't been around these parts for years, ever since me and my wife had twins modelling came to a dead stop, and with them turning 2 last weekend, I finally feel willing and able enough to get cracking again on bending my will on some unfortunate kits  (don't expect any speedy progress though!  )

Since my main focus is wargaming, and not modelling, I will dumb down this build by removing all breakable parts, skewering the poor thing with a plug for a flight stand and painting over the cockpit in shiney dark blue . There, you have been warned! This particular aircraft will be for a game called AK-47, in short wargaming in Afrika with a lot of political side effects which can be hilarious.

To motivate myself to get the airbrush out (having done nothing with for the past forever or so) I'm going to cobble together a Mustang Cavalier(ish) for my future (or not) AK-47 stuff. (though I might paint it by hand anyway)

A what? Mustang Cavalier. Post War private development of the P-51 into personal aircraft. Then turned back into a combat aircraft (and then again in the shape of the Piper Enforcer but that is beyond the scope of this build). And it looks like this:



Most visible changes are 3 hardpoints under each wing and the wingtiptanks. So that is all I will do.

In the last few weeks I've traded some of my own kits for parts needed for this build, and retrieved the most suitable P-51 kit I had from the attic. More importantly, I managed to refind my bag of wall plugs that are vital to my aircraft stand so now I can start converting aircraft again (oh yes, there will be more). Also, this is my first 0 eurobudget build of the year (ignoring postage costs which amounted to just under 5 euros for both trades)

The humble beginnings:


Academy P-51D (without the fillet in the tail...so be it), Hasegawa Aircraft Weapons Set 1 for bombs or rocket pods and the Academy A-37B Dragonfly purely for the wingtiptanks and the rocket pods/napalm bombs. I'm thinking Napalm on stations 3 and 4, and rocket pods for 2 and 5 stations, and possibly SUU-14A dispeners on the outer stations (clustermunitions) or small bombs, not sure yet. It's not supposed to be realistic anyway  :grin:

Tomorrow night I'll start the fuselage with the flight stand plug. Some Milliput will be involved to get it all to fit and stay in place. A magnet will be used for the nose  for the prop to spin freely (and come off the aircraft for transport)

[zenrat]

 

[Captain Canada]

Cool. Love the Cavalier Mustang, so this Ish version should be pretty cool !

[Librarian]

Look forward to the results. I always look at Mustangs and think somethings missing; then I see a CM and think "That's it!". Happy modelling. Twins.... .

[Gunbird]

Yes, twins. Love em to death, but always breathe a sigh of relief when they are sleeping in their beds, another day done (for them).

Wife decided we needed some quality time and so we hit an Italian tonight. Nice to have a chat without having to worry about the kids for once. She went to bed, and I went into the hobbyroom, so had to rush things a bit as my time is very limited. Installed the plug, trimmed the wings, fitted the tanks (keeping the winglets btw), magnetised the prop, closed the wheelbays.



(yes, my hobby room has purple walls. Don't ask, this used to be the wifes hobby room before we met and she likes vibrant colours)
Hardly any gaps to fill, so next week time for some fine sanding and adding milliput to strenghten and fix the plug in place, laminate the inside of the plug and add the magnet and fill in the wheelwells cause the covers sagged a bit inward. Install the hardpoints, let her dry and then she should be ready for primer.

[Captain Canada]

Very nice....looking the part already !

[Librarian]

and so we hit an Italian tonight.

I've felt like that a few times .

[Dizzyfugu]

Is it supposed to become "realistic", or just a whiffy conversion?
The Cavalier Mustangs had taller tail fins (from the late H model), BTW.

[Gunbird]

Just a Whiffy Wargames model, nothing special. Yup, I know about the tail fin, amongst others.

[Dizzyfugu]

  Looking forward to the results. Modernized P-51s are always cool...