Leroy Gardner

T.F. kit built 1/5 scale P 51 Mustang gold kit. I think the mustang is one of the beauties of WW 11, no other plane matches the out line of this plane, almost most sexy looking. I spent 6 yr's. building mine , air retracts, finished cockpit, sliding canopy and a polished paint job,custom static prop and rivets and panel lines.

I have many picts. of this build and it's all hand crafted not purchased. If interested I'll post more.

eric_monster

That is one GREAT looking bird! I have been working on mine on and off since 2008. Hopefully one day i'll get to fly it.

Marinep51

I can only say "beautiful".  That is some of the best craftsmanship I have seen in a long time.  Fill free to send me via PM all the pictures you have of the build.  I have one waiting to be finished.  Great work!

karolh

Absolutely beautiful model and immaculate craftsmanship. Sure looks and sounds like it was a labour of love, and hopefully she will provide you with many moments of extreme enjoyment. Very nice pictures too and best of luck on the maiden flight, and do share the video of the occasion with us .... you are going to take one

edwarda10pilot

My Feedback: (3)

Very nicely done model. What are you using for power, what brand muffler and how much does the plane weigh?

Thanks,
Ed

Leroy Gardner

First of all you offer some very nice comments, thank you all.

Eric, just keep at it and the day will come, it is a large plane and can be finished several ways and still be great looking. I just didn't know when to stop on mine.

Marine51, I have many picts and it would take a week to PM them, I will post more, it's ok to get specific if you care to.

Karolh, yes I hope a video when the time comes, the engine isn't even broke in yet, the day will come.

edward10pilot, engine is a DLE 55cc and muffler is JTEC and its made for this plane, completely in cowl as you can see, I could never cut up that cowl. Expected weight will come in at around 26 lbs.

Here is a few more picts.

Leroy Gardner

Many of you who view this will be surprised to find out this is my first war bird and only the second kit I built in over 50 years, the other one is a Eagle 11. While my background played a roll it goes to show what can be done with kits if you have a mind to do it. RCU has so much info on finishing and general building that someone with some building experience can do this kind of work. I have over 500 hours in my build and yes it is a labor of love and worth every hour spent on it.

Canopy, exhaust and gun shrouds, gear doors, and cowling are all from the kit. Cockpit interior is hand made but I started with a TF cockpit kit and used floor,walls and seat, made the rest of it. Much of this is not that hard to do and a lot cheaper than buying it. Scale static prop is even not hard to build. I spent 7 mo. working out the scribing method for panel lines and rivets, there is no burning rivets on the plane and results are great. Paint is base coat clear coat automotive paint and has been buffed, the silver is custom muted silver metallic, I can explain if anyone wants to know.

While building is on the decline it seams there are still a good number doing it but it would be nice to see more fellas getting into it, I'm nearly 73 yrs. now and have bad hands so I will not be building another one like the Mustang, my last winter build is a major bash of the Tiger 60 with a 20cc gas engine, yet to fly but could happen by August.

karolh

Very nice pictures of your build showing your attention to detail. Hopefully hidden somewhere in the picture of the engine install is a support bracket for the Pitts style muffler.

Leroy Gardner

Karolh there is no support needed, muffler is not heavy and mounts very solid and used a lot on these engine. I did make a baffle for it to direct the heat directly out the bottom, done right and there will be no over heating. Installing these mufflers use red high temp RV sealant and lock washers on bolts with thread locker and tighten till washer is compressed and an added 1/4 turn. This way it cant work loose from a shrinking gasket. Those air intakes in cowl create a low pressure area that pull lower hot air out and aid in cooling.

Will post picts later, they are not going at this time ( error)

Lifer

My Feedback: (1)

Nice work contouring the cowl around the engine and exhaust!

WhiteRook

My Feedback: (38)

that prop is a work of art

apalsson

My Feedback: (1)

Leroy,

This plane is an absolute work of art and a credit to you. It shows well what can be accomplished with patience and dedication.
I look immensely forward to seeing a flight video or photos

Ari

Leroy Gardner

Thank you WhiteRock, It was a lot of fun building it and it's really not that hard. To buy it , $125 and you have to provide the spinner, mine $60 finished. I looked at the cockpit kits, sliding canopy, scale props, exhaust kit's and gear doors all for more than $500 total but decided to use everything in the kit and build my own. I have tried to inspire others to do the same thing I did and pocket the money instead of giving it to mfg's. for something that is not as good as what you can build yourself.

Yes it is a work of art on my wall when it's not on the plane,

Leroy Gardner

Ari some of what you said is true but most of it is who I am and what I'm willing to settle for, it's a case of just do it, Sure I have a extensive back ground that helped me figure a lot of stuff out but I spent hours on RCU looking at how others did it, asking questions, getting some answers and put it all together and did it in my style of building. Many of you builders can do the same thing, truth is much of this stuff is not that hard to do but it takes time and a lot of it.

Many of the guys in our club knew I was building this mustang and said oh sure, you built a eagle 11 and you can't even fly yet, you know how to build that ? I said sure I have built real ones, this is just a toy. Anyway some couldn't believe their eyes when they seen it and have never seen any thing like it around here. I'm not bragging or anything like that, like I said , my plane is who I am and yes I am proud of what I accomplished and believe others stepping up can too.

Leroy Gardner

I thought I would add the canopy build, this is using the kit canopy. making the cuts in fuse. is very important first step. Put and hold canopy in the proper location making sure it's centered and draw a line around it, from the forward corner you need a line that follows the top of main top side panel 53/16" long and one from the top turtle deck straight down 1 1/4" and mark to forward line. that will be the material removed. I had put a lite ply doubler behind that area to stiffen it up down to radio deck and forward to instrument panel. You will need to build a canopy brace from 1/8" aircraft ply which goes right behind back of seat, allow a extra 1/4" to clear seat back. Also 1/16" ply was used to line inside frame of canopy. Make patterns of these things for nice fits, I used file folders patterns all over this plane and they save cutting up wood because of bad fits. There is a tapered balsa strip glued to forward sides flush to top for slide rail to set on, the rails must be perfectly parallel with other and level to prevent binding of I beam in the slide.

Rails are 1/4" styrene tube with a slot for I beam and the I beam has a 1/8"x 1/16" strip bonded to bottom as a filler.

I'm going to do this in two stages so I can better explain the pictures, guess I better go find them and post shortly, hang in there.

Leroy Gardner

I think this plane has been built so many times that there just isn't the intrest it once had. I will check back ever so often to see if there are any questions about my build, it's a great plane to build if you like war birds.

stevenmax50

My Feedback: (1)

I am a little perplexed at the seemingly lack of interest in the Mustang.  I am putting together the Top Flite GS Mustang arf.  I am a little embarressed to admit that.  But I got a very good deal on it.  What I would love to see from you is more pics of your radio, servo, air system installation.

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

Try the forum search engine, there are several huge threads on this model. Here's one of them....

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_11..._1/key_/tm.htm

JendaDH

Your build is looking great indeed. I have mine still in the box. Do I get it right that you have a square profile with the slot on the fuse and than I profile attached to the canopy that slides in that slot?

Leroy Gardner

JendaDH you can get all the info of the slides on this plane here.
www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1591724

Leroy Gardner

Steven mine is the kit and it is some what different than the ARF. Just follow the instructions that come with the Robart kit and you should be ok, you will need more tubing than the kit provides. I used Spectrum 72 oz servos, 721 I think but standard ones work on some surfaces, use manual for that info, it's all there

Thought you were building another Tiger 60 ?, you always have 3 or 4 on the table, as far as interest goes these mustangs have been built to death is part of the reason.

Regards, Leroy

Leroy Gardner

This past Saturday this feartured Mustang entered it's first public showing at Silver Hills R/C flyers club site in North Idaho, they also hoast one of the Scale Masters meets of the Northwest West and planes come from all over, it was held 3 weeks ago while I was flying with my own club and missed it. Not so this time, my mustang won best WW11 and Peoples Choice awards, I also had a !/4 scale Spacewalker entered which won the best Civillan award.

The Mustang is for sale Any intrested parties can PM me.

karolh

Two very nice looking models.... great job.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Leroy, master RTF manufacturer!

Leroy Gardner

Flyer you may not say much at times but what you said says alot.

Thank you,

Leroy