Royal navy P-51 G Sea horse

[chrisonord]

I  bought a  gift set airfix  P-51D quite some time ago with  ambition to  convert it  into either a  turbo prop  COIN  aircraft for the Honduras airforce  circa 1960's  or combine it somehow with a shorts  tucano and make a  two seat turbo prop mustang.  Anyhow, another idea just  bounced of my sawdust filled  swede and thought  about  a Korean  war Griffon engined P-51 mustang  on board  a carrier during said conflict.  The engine  transplant I  think has been done  before  so I rooted out the kit and looked to see if a spare contra prop I have would  fit.  As its not s Spitfire or Shackleton one  the nose cone was too small and the  propeller  blades were too long and  narrow. Everything else should work ok I should think.  A pair of 20 mm cannons in place of the .50 cal would  work too I should think.  Are aeroclub the  only company that did contra props for the Shackleton, or is there other aftermarket ones  or even  Spitfire  mk 22 propellers.
Chris

[perttime]

Put a Seafire 47 nose on it?

[kitnut617]

The Shackleton spinner is too big for a P-51 Chris, plus you need to find a prop of about 11'-0" diameter, Shackleton props are 12'-6". The difference between the Shack' spinner and P-51 spinner is 6". Likewise, the Spitfire/Seafire cowling is too small in cross-section to a P-51.

[The Wooksta!]

May be worth snaffling an AZ Spitfire F22 - it's got a contraprop in it spare.  Special Hobby's late Griffon spits also come with a contraprop, but the diameter is too short.

[chrisonord]

Cheers everyone, that has saved me  opening up one of the  shackleton kits I  was given.  A mark 22 Spitfire would  fall in to my build theme  too so one could be purchased  as a post war  aircraft
Cheers
Chris

[chrisonord]

May be worth snaffling an AZ Spitfire F22 - it's got a contraprop in it spare.  Special Hobby's late Griffon spits also come with a contraprop, but the diameter is too short.

Which  version of the AZ kit has the contra prop  spare in Lee as I  have  found  two, I  can  only find the in box  pictures of the  war time version, the post war version i can't  find anything of on scale mates
Cheers

[The Wooksta!]

The post war one is the newest boxing, so I doubt it's on scalemates yet - I can't check as it's one of the increasing number of sites that my Mac doesn't like.  Hannants should have it in.

These ones on ebay (BINs) should do the trick too.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AZ-Models-1-72-Supermarine-Spitfire-Mk-22-Special-Marking-AZ7353/372555103383?epid=2178771978&hash=item56be03bc97:g:Ak8AAOSwc3RbKiL0

This one would be my suggestion:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AZ-Models-1-72-Supermarine-Spitfire-F-Mk-21-AZS7203/323240190059?hash=item4b429de06b:g:oU0AAOSwdcZa7EC2

You get a new sprue for the F21 fuselage and resin tailplanes, so you've half a Spitfire left over.

They're limited run, but apart from a bit more clean up and some more sanding, they're not too bad.  I prefer them over the better fitting but shapewise dubious Special Hobby kits.

[chrisonord]

The kit in the top link doesn't have the  contra prop in it, as its the one I  looked at on scalemates, does the other one have a  contra prop in it do you  know Lee. Cheers
Chris

[NARSES2]

The Special Hobby Spitfire 21 has both types of prop Chris. I checked my one in the stash

[chrisonord]

The Special Hobby Spitfire 21 has both types of prop Chris. I checked my one in the stash

Thankyou  Chris, I have been  looking for  sprue shot of the  22 but the all have either 3 or 5 blade propellers, I will have a look for the special hobby version.
Cheers

[The Wooksta!]

I'll *guarantee* that Scalemates is wrong with regards to the foreign boxing of the F22 - ALL of the AZ/Legato/Admiral Spitfire F22/F24/Seafire 46 are the same plastic, just with different decals, the contraprop parts are definitely on the sprues.  AZ will give you extra parts for specific versions - the F21 being a case in point - but they're not so mean as to take the unused bits off the sprues.

The second one I linked to definitely has the bits in - I've just went looking for the foreign boxing but can't locate one without ripping the back room to bits and it's bad enough in there already, but I did locate that particular kit.

And the reason the sprue shots will have a three blade and a five blade prop is simple - you use five Griffon blades if you're doing a standard F22/F24, but only three PLUS the three blade prop if you're doing the contraprop.  Why mould an extra set of blades when you don't need to?  In any case, the bits are pirated from the Aeroteam Spitfire F21 (itself a copy of the CMR Spitfire F21 of 1996).  IIRC, the Special Hobby one has a similar setup but the blades are too short.

[kitnut617]

The Special Hobby Spitfire 21 has both types of prop Chris. I checked my one in the stash

Thankyou  Chris, I have been  looking for  sprue shot of the  22 but the all have either 3 or 5 blade propellers, I will have a look for the special hobby version.
Cheers

Chris, none of the Griffon engined Spitfires/Seafires had 3 blade single props, if you can see 3 blades, there's another set of three so you can make the contra-prop

[chrisonord]

Thankyou for  clearing that up for me  fellas.  I am  limited to using my phone at the moment  so  I don't always see what I need to.  I will have a  root round Ebay and see what I can find.
Cheers
Chris

[jcf]

The nose profile Red Baron in its Shackleton contra-prop Griffon incarnation has always reminded me of an Allison engined
P-51/P-51A/A-36. That may be something to look at rather than a Spitfire nose.

[jcf]

The "Learstang" Miss Ashley II had a more Spitfire-ish installation.