P-51 Mustang Diary

Retrospective: The flaps

Tuesday, 27th January, 2015

With the power off, the flaps of a parked P-51 assume their characteristic drooped position as hydraulic pressure bleeds away, and very lovely and ‘Mustangish’...
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Retrospective: The elevators

Sunday, 11th January, 2015

One obvious difference between the Mustang’s rudder and its elevators is that the latter are metal covered; but, in modelling them (as photo 1 shows),...
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Retrospective: Rudder framework

Wednesday, 7th January, 2015

I described how I dressed the Mustang’s rudder with fabric in my diary entry dated May 2011, but because I began the model more than...
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Retrospective: Outer doors

Monday, 5th January, 2015

I have little to say about the rather more straightforward outer wheel bay doors, since the manner in which I built them was much like...
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Retrospective: Main doors

Sunday, 4th January, 2015

Viewed wheels-up, nothing could be simpler than a Mustang’s landing gear doors. The challenge comes in the built-up interior structure with its numerous three-dimensional contours...
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Retrospective: Wheelbay fittings

Friday, 3rd January, 2014

An enormous amount of work went into equipping the Mustang’s wheel bays, much of it relating to the aircraft’s hydraulic group. It was a task...
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Retrospective: Wheelbay structure

Wednesday, 1st January, 2014

Developing the structural architecture within the Mustang’s capacious wheel bays was an enjoyable and rewarding process, despite the considerable repetition required to make and install...
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Retrospective: Wheelbay basics

Sunday, 15th December, 2013

When I began this ‘diary’ in November 2009, I was well advanced with the model. Indeed, the first entry has a picture of the underside...
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Retrospective: More switch panels

Tuesday, 10th December, 2013

While the right switch panel (as described in my last posting) was cut and shaped from styrene sheet, this was the exception. All other control...
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Retrospective: Switch panel detail

Saturday, 7th December, 2013

Staying within the cockpit, I focus in this and in my next blog on the several switch panels that adorn the Mustang’s cockpit, starting with...
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