Wow... Hard to believe it has been a little over 6 months since I have done anything to this build.
Having spent some quality time visiting my friends who restore full sized War Birds yesterday, and getting another close up look at a beautiful P-51, I knew that this had to change. It was very hot and humid yesterday... and I'm drenched with sweat !
My friend Jim Harley
@jimh
is also partially to thank for this, as he recently posted a very nice Mustang work in progress. PS Jim, here's how your old ride looks now. They have been very busy with her... she's in good hands.
Picking up where I left off at:
Tonight I did some work to the main wheels. A few days ago I had the "Iron Werks" fired up and running at full speed. I sprayed the new Barracuda Cast replacement resin wheels at this time. Having a set of proper tires for Major Preddy's plane, I went to work salvaging the wheel hub from the kit supplied wheels.
Out came the saw, and in a few minutes the incorrect tread pattern for this particular Mustang was history.
I ended up with something that looked like this.
I spent some quality time with the file, my old friend. Once I had trimmed the inner wheel down enough to where it would fit inside the new resin wheels, I gave them a quick spray using Model Master buffing Metalizer paint. I chose Aluminum Plate as the color. Here you can see the wheels after I polished them up with an old T shirt. The pictures really don't do this any justice. They are so reflective, they almost look white under the lights...
Here you can see the inner and outer wheel halves placed next to the two new resin tires.
A few seconds later it was done... I placed a little Tamiya glue to the inner part of the kit supplied wheels where they contact each other.
Presto ! and just like that the wheels are done other than adding some dirt and dust to them. Here you can see one of the kit supplied wheels that will be used on LOU IV, and the other will be for Major Preddy's "Cripes A Mighty" Mustang.
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1. Kit wheel for LOU IV
2. Replacement resin tire
This next photo shows another resin Mustang tire / wheel combo that was made by True Details. I picked this set up years ago and have plans to use it on another Mustang at a future date and time. The TD set is wider than the other too, and it just might be a bit too wide. I'm going to use them anyway, and since both tires will match, most people might not notice.
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1. True Details weighted resin tire
Here you can better see what I'm talking about. Notice the extra wide TD resin wheel. It is also a weighted tire, so it is bulged, possible a bit too much, so I carefully sanded it some to remove some of the excessive bulge from the sidewall before it was sprayed. The tread pattern is also a little different from the kit supplied parts.
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1. TD weighted tire
2. Barracuda Cast tire
3. Revell kit wheel and tire
I'm calling it a night, and as usual,
Comments are encouraged.
