Post by Beekster on Nov 19, 2023 11:49:46 GMT -6
As the Neptune grinds along, I am fiddling with something much smaller and requiring much less surgery. I recently bought a bunch of decals for a couple of firefighting water bombers and several air racers, the latter all former WW2 fighter planes. Air racing has been around as long as airplanes, and there was a very active period in the 1930s and again between 1946 and 1949 when the Bendix and Thompson Trophy races were run, along with others. Some were point to point distance runs and some were lap races, with the course layouts and distances varying from year to year. Organized air racing had a hiatus until 1964 when the modern Reno Air Races began. The last such race was held last September, sadly marred by the post-race fatal collision of two T-6 Texan aircraft. To tell the truth, death has always stalked modern air racing, particularly among the highly modified Unlimited machines.
In the wake of WW2, fighter planes were cheap: About $1500 for a Mustang, around $1250 for a Lightning, and $1000-$1100 for a P-63 Kingcobra or P-39 Airacobra. Many were bought by pilots who wanted to race, and they started by ditching all armament, armor, sometimes radios, and self-sealing fuel tanks (standard aluminum boxes weighed less, and long range wasn't necessary). For perspective, a decent house in 1946 cost about $5000. So while a fighter plane wasn't cheap, it wasn't comparatively more expensive than a high-end sports car for terrestrial racing.
Enter Clay Lacy's #64 Mustang, in which he took the Reno championship in 1970:
Lots of things to notice in these images grabbed from the internet. Of course, there's the bright orchid color with white landing gear; and an uncuffed prop with blades polished on the front and black on the back. The wing leading edge is smooth; the gun openings have been eliminated and so have the spent shell ports on the underside. There's a giant Snoopy in back of the pilot's seat, which means this plane has had the original radios and fuel tank deleted and a second seat installed. This is common for civil Mustangs; just watch Top Gun Maverick for some lovely footage of Tom Cruise's own airplane with this modification. There are several modern blade antennas in white, and barely visible under the tail a V-shaped VOR antenna. The instrument panel image reveals that some modern avionics are installed there, and the cockpit is painted light gray overall. There's some upholstery in maroon and pale gray, and a maroon map pocket on the right side. The floor looks to be well-lacquered plywood, with black scuff strips for the pilot's feet when he's not using the rudder pedals. I haven't located images of the back seat area, but presume that it has similar coloring to the front office. That's what I will go with
So this project seems pretty straightforward, as this airplane was never subject to radical modifications. This isn't Red Baron, Strega or Miss Ashley, with a Griffon engine, enlarged tail, and tiny cockpit bubble to reduce drag. I'm not ready to deal with that kind of radical surgery. Here are the basic elements for this project:
I confess that I have no idea what I bought that Model Master Panther Pink enamel for originally, but it matches the decal artwork and isn't far off the FS 17142 color of the real airplane. When the time comes I will decant some into another bottle and add drops of gloss black until I get something close to the color chip seen in the page from my IPMS FS 595a color set.
Since two seats are required, I ordered up a Quickboost seat with harnesses, shown here next to the kit seat which needs harnesses added. Both have had the head armor removed.
. I also ordered a pair of uncuffed propellers (a P-51B racer also needs one, eventually) from Quickboost.
The kit cockpit floor has a raised area aft of the pilot with the radio boxes molded in. At first I just sawed off the radios and filled the gap with sheet stock, but the second seat sat too high and would foul the canopy (Tamiya conveniently molds the lower frame as one part with the transparency and front frame a separate piece, so test-fitting is easy.) As seen here, I cut out the original raised floor and replaces it with sheet styrene stock at the same level as the front floor. The difference is only about .060", but that's over four scale inches and the seat will sit low enough for a passenger's head to clear the canopy.
The wing alterations are straightforward and already done. Gun muzzles and fairings removed, and spent shell ports filled in and sanded smooth.
Next up will be removing some of the detail on the instrument panel and adding strip stock to represent the modern pieces, as well as fitting out the passenger compartment.
In the wake of WW2, fighter planes were cheap: About $1500 for a Mustang, around $1250 for a Lightning, and $1000-$1100 for a P-63 Kingcobra or P-39 Airacobra. Many were bought by pilots who wanted to race, and they started by ditching all armament, armor, sometimes radios, and self-sealing fuel tanks (standard aluminum boxes weighed less, and long range wasn't necessary). For perspective, a decent house in 1946 cost about $5000. So while a fighter plane wasn't cheap, it wasn't comparatively more expensive than a high-end sports car for terrestrial racing.
Enter Clay Lacy's #64 Mustang, in which he took the Reno championship in 1970:
Lots of things to notice in these images grabbed from the internet. Of course, there's the bright orchid color with white landing gear; and an uncuffed prop with blades polished on the front and black on the back. The wing leading edge is smooth; the gun openings have been eliminated and so have the spent shell ports on the underside. There's a giant Snoopy in back of the pilot's seat, which means this plane has had the original radios and fuel tank deleted and a second seat installed. This is common for civil Mustangs; just watch Top Gun Maverick for some lovely footage of Tom Cruise's own airplane with this modification. There are several modern blade antennas in white, and barely visible under the tail a V-shaped VOR antenna. The instrument panel image reveals that some modern avionics are installed there, and the cockpit is painted light gray overall. There's some upholstery in maroon and pale gray, and a maroon map pocket on the right side. The floor looks to be well-lacquered plywood, with black scuff strips for the pilot's feet when he's not using the rudder pedals. I haven't located images of the back seat area, but presume that it has similar coloring to the front office. That's what I will go with
So this project seems pretty straightforward, as this airplane was never subject to radical modifications. This isn't Red Baron, Strega or Miss Ashley, with a Griffon engine, enlarged tail, and tiny cockpit bubble to reduce drag. I'm not ready to deal with that kind of radical surgery. Here are the basic elements for this project:
I confess that I have no idea what I bought that Model Master Panther Pink enamel for originally, but it matches the decal artwork and isn't far off the FS 17142 color of the real airplane. When the time comes I will decant some into another bottle and add drops of gloss black until I get something close to the color chip seen in the page from my IPMS FS 595a color set.
Since two seats are required, I ordered up a Quickboost seat with harnesses, shown here next to the kit seat which needs harnesses added. Both have had the head armor removed.
. I also ordered a pair of uncuffed propellers (a P-51B racer also needs one, eventually) from Quickboost.The kit cockpit floor has a raised area aft of the pilot with the radio boxes molded in. At first I just sawed off the radios and filled the gap with sheet stock, but the second seat sat too high and would foul the canopy (Tamiya conveniently molds the lower frame as one part with the transparency and front frame a separate piece, so test-fitting is easy.) As seen here, I cut out the original raised floor and replaces it with sheet styrene stock at the same level as the front floor. The difference is only about .060", but that's over four scale inches and the seat will sit low enough for a passenger's head to clear the canopy.
The wing alterations are straightforward and already done. Gun muzzles and fairings removed, and spent shell ports filled in and sanded smooth.
Next up will be removing some of the detail on the instrument panel and adding strip stock to represent the modern pieces, as well as fitting out the passenger compartment.
