P-51 Blueprints
A couple years ago a friend of mine from England was building a full scale P-51 cockpit to display at shows. He was, and still is scrounging as many original parts as he can, but needed the blueprints to build the actual airframe. While any part can be made from these drawings, originals are the most desired. Building the airframe, fortunately, isn't that complex, but to do it right you need the NA drawings. Once he completed his build he generously sent me a copy of the CDs knowing I wanted to make nose art panels. There are over 20,000 drawings that make up the Mustang series. I went through a lot of them looking for the most recognizable parts. I know it probably won't help in any model builds but it is a fun glimpse into the inner workings of a 'favorite' airplane. If anyone has a specific request, let me know...there is literally a drawing for everything...even the smallest stencil.
Jim
You are a very lucky man to have these, I go through so much trouble getting proper scale drawings for my scratch build projects, wow, it would be nice to do a scratch built project of a 1/18 scale Mustang... just dreaming, great post.
These are some excellent drawings ! (and a must have for any Mustang aficionado)...
Thanks for sharing these with us my friend.
"Liked"
Hey Jim, It is 6-1/3 years since you posted these, and that is one of the great things about iModeler. The “explore other articles” comes up with some gems every now and then. I was looking at the plans and the second one, M13, shows that the nose started sloping down just past the glycol tank. Now I really do not count rivets, and I am thankful for all the fine kits we have to choose from, but I am going to take a look at kit fuselage profiles and actual aircraft photos to confirm the slope. Has this ever caught your eye?
Hey Russel,
There is a definite slope once the cowling starts. You can see in the photos that the spinner is well below the cockpit line. I don't know how accurate the lofting lines are in the NA drawings. From the cockpit the forward visibility is really impressive...except on the ground of course. The second photo is just above eye level and you can see the slope in the cowling. The "D" is even better, the seat is a lot less reclined than the B.
Jim
3 attached images. Click to enlarge.