P-51D Mustang

[Model Maker]

Outline views glued to a  piece of 2"x4" pine from a Big Box store. Section profiles ready to be cut out from cardboard.  Views and sections were generated from a CAD program where I over traced the plans obtained from the Intranet. I find this approach allows me to verify the dimensions as some intranet 3 views can be distorted. In this case some of the section reference lines in the 3 view were not in the correct locations.

[lastvautour]

Looks very promising. Is this one 1/32 scale also?

Lou

[Model Maker]

Yes it will be 1/32 scale. I don't have the finesse yet to drop down to a smaller scale.

[Model Maker]

Fuselage, wings, horizontal and vertical stabilizers cut out. Fuselage has the stations marked to facilitate using the templates .

Although I like to use pine for the fuselage and wings (easy to carve and plane), my preference is to use a harder wood such as poplar or maple for both stabilizers. On the Spitfire I used maple, but on this model I am trying poplar. The maple is more difficult to work with. The poplar seems to be a good compromise.. I've also include a couple of pictures on how I cut out the horizontal and vertical stabilizers to allow them to interlock when they are assembled together

[lastvautour]

Excellent build photos. There are so many ways to make the models. It is interesting to see how others do it. Thanks for posting.

Lou

[Model Maker]

Progressing slowly.

First picture is of vertical and horizontal stabilizers shaped and rough sanded. Mortise cut in fuselage to lock in vertical stabilizer and to provide some additional gluing surface.
Second picture has the two stabilizers interlocked and the vertical stabilizer positioned (but not glued) in the mortise

Third picture is of a set of sanding blocks I made for the Spitfire build. They have a piece of hardwood on the bottom. Velcro is attached to the hardwood to accommodate the use of "hook and loop" sandpaper. They sure save time when sanding and quickly smooth out the surfaces. If folks are interested I can provide Lou with a copy of the plans in PDF format to post in the appropriate forum. They are simple and fun to build. As well they are comfortable and eliminate tired hands resulting from holding sandpaper to a sanding block.

[buccfan]

Great progress Ken, I would be interested to see your sanding block plans, they look very useful. Regards Paul J.

[lastvautour]

The Mustang looks very promising Ken. Send me the PDF and I will convert and post to the tool section at http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/SMF/index.php?board=25.0.

Lou

[Model Maker]

Wing being set up to use back stop to plane wing taper.

The first picture shows a standard bench hook along with the backstop. In order to use a plane I required a very low back stop to allow the plane to travel over the stop to create a smooth taper along the full length of the wing. After several iterations, I finally landed on recessing a 3/4" x 3/4" piece of hardwood into a corresponding groove in a 1-1/2"W x 5-1/2"T piece of wood of appropriate length. A couple of thin wooden shims are installed at the bottom of the groove to raise and lower the backstop as required, depending on the final thickness of the of the wing tip.

The second picture shows the backstop installed on top of the bench hook. The wing is ready for tapering using a block plane which seems to work well for 1/32 scale wings. I have a couple of block planes, but have found the Groz BP605 low angle block plane to be ideal for this work. It's a little narrower and lighter than many of the block planes which allows me  taper and also shape the profile of the wing after the tapering is complete. It's not an expensive block plane, but does seem to do the job provided you keep the blade sharp.

If folks are interested in the backstop jig, I can post the plans for it.

[Biggles]

Looking good!
Biggles

[Peter]

I be interested in seeing your plans. The more plans on the site the better.

Peter

[Model Maker]

Had some time tonight, so marked out and planed the wing taper using the block plane stop. The area at the root of the wing with the red squiggle will be used to create a tenon to attach the wing to the fuselage at a later point in the wing fabrication.

[lastvautour]

That will make quick work of tapering any part. Thanks for sharing.

Lou

[Model Maker]

Wings planed, filed and sanded to shape. Most of the material removal and shaping was accomplished with the block plane using the block plane stop.  The plane was set to take light cuts. But it's amazing how fast the material is removed. Leading edge of wing was shaped using rough and fine files. Rough sanding completed using sanding blocks with 80 and 120 grit sandpaper attached. I like to mark out the crest of the airfoil and then an area on either side as shown by the solid and dotted red lines down the length of the wing. This provides me with some references for the block plane. I then use the sanding blocks to then round out either side of the crown.

The wings will be attached to the fuselage using a mortise and tenon joint. The fuselage has been drilled to facilitate chiseling the mortise as the next step. The tenons are marked on the wings along with the material to be removed indicated by the squiggly lines.

In the background is another P-51D which is under construction at the same time.

[lastvautour]

Turning out to be a great Mustang project. Looking forward to more updates.

Lou