LDO

Not my pic:

AFAIK, no one makes any modern light/general purpose machine gun in 1/24. I have a 16lb sledge that would work on it.

Quite possibly the greatest rock & roll song ever. I listen to it all the time.

Or go to the "Wanted" section of this site and let people know you need some more "glass". I'll bet it works out. Lots of friendly builders here. Maybe someone bought one of those to get a cool engine for a street rod.

Candy brandywine over a gold base.

I love the color. edit: I just had to come back and say that is a beautiful shade of blue. I'm in here to get the URL and show someone else.

That Do-335 idea is going to happen. I know because I gave the guy a kit of it. It's getting a new, more aerodynamic nose and he'll be using my machine tools to make a new spinner. He's also moving the exhaust stacks up to represent a pair of Griffon engines. (the original DB engines are inverted V-12s) I can't wait to see what he comes up with for a paint job. Grrroovy, baby!

Forgive the silly question, but wouldn't polishing take care of the orange peel? It may be more work, but shouldn't be an insurmountable task. I could be completely wrong. Not trying to be a smart-aleck.

More work on smoothing out the P-51. Cockpit opening faired over. All the bumps and holes on the wing have been filled. For the gun ports I used stretch sprue. For shell ejection ports and bomb rack it was Evergreen styrene. Wing tips have been clipped, and yes, one got clipped a little bit too much so it got a thicker "end cap" of Evergreen. The grey stuff is Mr. Surfacer brushed on. I'll be making a small teardrop canopy + fairing like in Luke 57's post with the natural metal P-51.

Electric motor? Wow, that sounds cool. Too bad I already glued the fuselage together. I may have to build two entries. I'll go for a gear-up photo, but I'm thinking of a banking turn where gear will not be visible. (So I won't have to make the covers fit )

Hey Jairus- Something I just thought of: that gear up and gear down requirement will make things really tough. Most airplane kits are designed to display gear down only. It often takes a lot of work just to put the kit landing gear cover over the gear well. People will end up re-engineering a model to meet this requirement. It could end up in a lot of people not finishing their entry. Is there a limit on number of entries?

I agree 100% on supporting local hobby shops. I try to get everything from my LHS. If he carries it, I buy it there instead of mail ordering.

A cheap, but big workbench I got is a commercial door. It's 8 feet tall (long). Some guy had a bunch of them on Craigslist. I got 2 of them. one is for building models, one has my Sherline lathe & mill. The model bench has a glass door from a stereo cabinet. Glass is a great surface for a workbench because you can simply scrape off any spilled paint or glue. It's also flat; great for aligning chassis or setting down a full sheet of sandpaper and sanding something flat. I've gotten several glass doors from stereo cabinets that people are throwing away.

Woohoo! Offy-powered '29 Ford pickup!

My start: Monogram P-51D. Cheap plane; great for cutting up. I used a battery-powered Dremel to smooth out cockpit walls and then blocked it off with strip styrene. (I smoothed it out so I could glue in the first layer of strip, which is longer than the cockpit opening) The cockpit will be moved back and get a tiny "teardrop" canopy. The wing has been glued together with shell ejection ports and bomb mounting points filled in. The wing tips will get clipped a little. One wing has a removable panel so the builder can show the ammo feed chutes. That was glued shut and reinforced from behind. You can also see my basic idea for a paint scheme. I really like this build project. I'm building entirely from my stockpile. I already have the plane, and everything else is stuff that any car builder likely has; Evergreen styrene, putty, and paint.

For those who like something different, a couple of Yak-11 trainers have been converted to racers. Here's a Yak-11 in stock form, notice the small spinner, huge 2-seat cockpit, and the fabric-covered section near the tail (where ribs are visible under the skin). Compare those to the modified planes. "Mr. Awesome" got a T-33 (American jet trainer) tail, along with all her other mods: "Perestroika" (Later "Czech Mate". The plane was actually Czech-built under license) has a cowling from a French bomber...and no, I have no idea which French bomber. Notice the NACA scoop below the cockpit. I would imagine that is for an oil cooler. As Czech Mate: The only 1/48 Yak-11 that I know of is a resin kit by RVHP. It's hard to find and about 50 bucks, IIRC. There is a 1/72 Yak-11 in styrene. I saw one on Ebay for 23 bucks. Kinda pricey for 1/72, if you ask me. If you want to do this on a budget, you could get an ICM kit of a V-12 Yak and widen the fuselage. You'll need a 1/48 cowl from a radial engine plane, then make the two mate up. Sounds like a lot of work, but it's not really that difficult. All your "surgery" will get covered with bondo and smoothed out for a glossy finish. No need to worry about panel line detail. There are ICM Yaks on ebay for 7 bucks. You could also just build a Yak racer with a V-12

Turn that P-51 into a racer for the Race Plane CBP. That is an incredible score, btw. I was thinking "good deal" when I saw the first photo.

The class these planes race in is commonly called "Unlimited Warbird". I don't know if that's an official name or not. They still race today. As far as modifications go, it really is pretty much unlimited. Tiny teardrop-shaped canopies, cockpits moved several feet aft, some have even eliminated radiators in the quest for better aerodynamics. The engine is still water cooled, but after the water leaves the engine, it just gets sprayed away. It does cut down on drag, but if you run out of water, you land NOW, Engine swaps are fine. There have been several P-51 Mustangs with Rolls-Royce Griffon engines. That one uses contra-rotating props to counteract the massive torque. (look up World Jet, Precious Metal, Red Baron RB-51, and Miss Ashley II.) Several Sea Furies and one Corsair have run with a 28cylinder R-4360 engine. (Look up Dreadnought Sea Fury, Furias Sea Fury, and All-Coast Super Corsair). There have even been a couple of wing swaps. Vendetta was a P-51 with Lear Jet flying surfaces. Many radial engine aircraft did not have a prop spinner in military service, but got one as a racer to clean up the aerodynamics. See Perestroika Yak, All-Coast Super Corsair, and Rare Bear F8F Bearcat. One thing that Jairus has stressed and I agree with 100%, a racing plane should be built to win races. They fly around a closed course at low altitude and make high-g turns. A 4-engine bomber would not win a race. It's not a long-distance marathon, it's several laps at a furious pace. Some of these engines are so highly modified that they have a 1-hour Time Between Overhaul rating.

I'm going for a single. I'm somewhat familiar with what blasts around Reno; I have no intentions of cleaning up a B-29 or shoehorning a Griffon into a Fairey Swordfish. I'm thinking of a flashy paint job for a lady pilot. Penelope Pyloncutter.

Mopar- PM your address and I'll send the engine. You gotta have it ready by Jairus's deadline!

Jairus- do you have any artwork of hot rod warbirds? Also- do you want in-progress photos?

AWESOME! I'll start cutting today. It will be a new project, not something I already have in progress. One guy in Chat was asking about using an F-82 Twin Mustang. First flew in May 1945 but did not enter service until after the war. Would that be allowed? For those who may not be that into warbirds but like the idea: Tamiya's F-51D (NOT P-51D) in the Korean War box art comes with uncuffed prop blades. Much smoother look. The prop blades are also separate pieces that get glued into the spinner. Makes it easy to do something like a natural metal/polished metal spinner and painted blades...or vice-versa. Special Hobby's F2G "Super Corsair" comes with a resin R-4360 radial engine, in case anyone wants to show off a power plant in their Corsair or Sea Fury. One box has decals for a real race plane, but that would be a box-stock buildup. Airfix's Seafire 46/47 is a contra-prop Griffon-powered bird. Big bumps to clear the valve covers on that monster engine plus a two-piece spinner with separate prop blades. Looks great on the front of a P-51. Which reminds me; the Revell/Monogram P-51D is ideal for cutting up. It's inexpensive and panel lines will likely get filled in/sanded smooth. No need to cut up a Tamiya when all you need is the basic shape. If anyone wants a 4360 for this contest, let me know. I'm not into displaying engines.

I don't speak for Jairus, but here's what he said in another thread: "I have had this idea for YEARS... and that is a build off/contest for "racing warbirds". No jets! But, any prop driven aircraft from WW2 can be built into a racing plane with cut down canopy, graphics, contra-rotating propellers, etc. I would pick 1/48th scale because of the wide range of available and affordable subject matter and then say that the sky is the limit regarding modifications. Some day we here on the MCM forum should do that..." So it sounds like the goal is to modify warbirds.

So do some people in Chat. It's somewhat off-topic, but still has everything a gearhead loves; crazy horsepower, crazier speeds, wild paint jobs, and lots of innovation in aerodynamics. Declare a start date and I'm in. Anyone else want to join in?

I also agree on keeping the engine. If not it will end up looking like Monogram's Miami Vice Ferrari Daytona; a model of a kit car. Roof scoop is cool. Maybe even two small scoops to feed those hungry turbos. The orange paint sounds cool...pearl orange like on the new Camaro sounds nice to me. I do love that orange.