trent smith

Hello fellow scale warbird modellers. After following with much Interest other builds of the same kit I thought I would start a new thread of my own. When I first opened the very large box I was very Impressed with the quality of the kit, only one small depression damage to the surface of one of the flaps which was fixed easily. The lack of Instructions at first worried me but after finding Hello82 thread on rcsb I was confident to make a start( Matt if you read this you may see that I followed a lot of your Ideas).I have a 3W-80cc classic engine for power and locally built Custom Retracts cr-400 for mains and robart tail retract. The finished colour scheme is still unknown but I will be using the Alsa Killer Chrome for the metal look. At this point of starting the thread I have got quite a bit done, so I will start posting photos and get up to current speed.[img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img]

trent smith

Try again with photos.[img][/img]

trent smith

Here are a few more [img][/img]

trent smith

Guess what?

spitmad

Nice work Trent


The Comp Arf P51 is certainly better finished than my MD P51............can I get a horizontal stab profile from you ?........mine is way off the correct shape (leading edge is swept back too much) and I need to make a new one

cheers

Alan

trent smith

These are the photos I have at the moment. I can take another from the top if these dont help. Cheers

trent smith

Here are a few more pics, not in any real order. Also a pic of me and my building buddy. [img][/img]. I got a local engineer in the rc hobby to make up a 28mm prop extension to get the engine where i want it to sit without much sticking out of cowel. SWB 2" stand off were used onto a 5mm aluminium plate onto which the motor is bolted. I chose to add some carbon fiber weave and tow in select ares to add a bit more strength. Cheers Trent.

Canuck1

Trent
Looks good. you are progressing at a pretty good pace. I will start on mine next year, so between the two posts here at RCU, should be a great guide.
Did you have any issues with finding the hard points on the trailing edges for the control surfaces?
The instructions are very poor as you know, and I dont think it even states the locations for these.
Great build, look forward to seeing it progress.

Craig

trent smith

Hi, re the hinge locations I tried 2 tactics,one was to mark out where I thought the hinges should be located and spaced evenly the drill a small hole and feel for the timber blocks. This worked ok with only a couple of mosses which were pached easily and I was not overly worried given the locations of these extra holes. The other was to cut out your sevo access holes ( 2 per wing as I chose not to mount flap sevo in retract area) and then use mirror and torch to help locate timber blocks in T.E. Hope this helps, Cheers Trent.

ticketec

My Feedback: (2)

Hey trent, nice build so far.

Hey just a quick question, where abouts are you getting the alsa mirror chrome in Oz? pricey??

thanks

dave

trent smith

I found it in Melbourne through KMC Corporation. Type in Alsa Killer Chrome Paint into your search engine and see what you find. http://www.kmccorporation.com/produc...kc-chrome.html - Bout $75 bucks per can. Cheers Trent.

trent smith

The following photos show the use of Carbon Fiber plate 2mm thick which I used on the firewall. The 3w 80cc engine has a rear carb and I had to remove quite a lot of firewall quite close to the stand off mounting holes. Then I used carbon clothe to rienforce both sides of the firewall. I also used some thin aluminium adhesive tape and used for raised panels in certain areas. Cheers Guys

trent smith

The last photo I forgot was of the exhaust. The ones in the kit were of poor quality and missing some parts. These ones are from Tony Howard and are very good. Cheers

peter b-RCU

My Feedback: (119)

are you still building this p-51, because i just bought one and i am very interested in see biuld up post

peter

[email protected]

trent smith

Hello all, things have been progressing on my P-51 but I have not posted anything for a while. I got the tailwheel doors sorted out by using a electronic sequencer via a y lead with the retract servo controlling the UP-2 valve which should have the tailwheel doors working as req.... I hope.I have started painting the wings which have Invasion stripes on the underside. I also have painted different shades of grey and silver to random panel to simulate a wing with a few years of active service under its belt. The paint was then weathered with steel wool so show different angles and weathering. I will fine tune the weathering as the model nears completion until I am happy. Next is to start the fuz.

trent smith

I decided to paint the anti glare hood and side Invasion stripes first rather than paint over the chrome. I drew, then masked off req areas and then cleaned with acetone and then steel wooled prior to undercoat. Then proceeded to paint the areas req. The rest of the plane was then painted gloss black ready for prep for the chrome. That the next step.

trent smith

I taped off individual panels and steel wooled in different 90 degree angles to give the look of panels using all types of cuts of metal. This was quite time consuming but makes a big difference when finished. Then I sprayed the entire fuz with thw Alsa Killer Chrome which is like a dust, I had to be careful not to over do it as it turns dull if done so. Once dry I gave the chrome a coat of clear to seal it all before any more details were applied.

JET FX

Looking great Trent, very nice work. So how did the Alsa paint come up after the clear coat, which clear coat was used and did it dull the chrome down much?? I have some of the Alsa paint also and was planning on giving it a try on an F-15 and Mig-15 I have. In the past I've always used Flite Metal covering etc for metal finishes, although getting round some compound curves has made me consider trying the Alsa paints. The nice thing about finishing the P-51 in scale WW2 colours is that the laminer profiled wing including all rivets were smoothed over/filled then wings completely "painted" silver, so no need to try to achieve that difficult metal finish on wings.

Cheers- Marty

trent smith

Hi Marty, the paint came up looking no different to before application of the chrome. I used the clear from alsa, I bought 2 cans of paint and 1 clear. I chose to use hardware store gloss black enamel for the undercoat. I found it to be easy to use , but dont spray on too much as in this case, less is more. It is more of a dust and it just dulls out if too much is applied. I have done a bit more on the P-51 but mainly weathering and cutting lettering for the sides.

trent smith

Hello guys, I bolted it tegether for the first time since painting to see how everything looks. I am very happy so far. Put it on the scales and it weighed 14.7 kg(32.2lb) without batteries, reciever ,up-2 valve and switches. Still more detailing and weathering prior to a final coat of clear.

loucel-RCU

My Feedback: (57)

Trent,
Nice job!, did you use the Alsa Ghost Chrome? + Alsa clear?

It looks great

Roberto

trent smith

Hi Ioucel-RCU, the name is"Killer chrome" and I think it might be the only one in the pressure pack option.

loucel-RCU

My Feedback: (57)

Trent,
thanks for the input,

Best
Roberto