realworkingsailor

If you look up “Lanz Bulldog”, the Wikipedia article gives a good insight into how that type of engine works. Plus there’s a lot of interesting YouTube videos of people starting and running them too. Very distinctive sounding engine. Andy

Nicely done Chris! Now you need your own desert P-40 to go with it! Andy

Doing some digging around, it would appear the chemical in question used in the Tamiya spray paints is 2-Butoxyethanol CAS no. 111-76-2 I believe this is used to forestall the drying process in acrylic paints. Vallejo used to have it in their airbrush thinner and flow improver. If I’m not mistaken Mr Surfacer is a lacquer paint and shouldn’t have 2-Butoxyethanol in it. Andy

Yesterday I was shopping online at a Canadian hobby store and noticed an announcement regarding Tamiya spray cans. To summarize: Effective September 24th the importation of all Tamiya spray cans has been banned. This includes all paints in the TS, PS and AS ranges and all forms of Tamiya spray primer, but does not concern any non-aerosol products. Retailers are permitted to sell their remaining stock, but all imports have been halted. Any stock held by distributors has had to be destroyed. There seems to be a lot of online hysteria regarding this ban, but it is NOT a political issue. There is a chemical component in Tamiya spray cans that has been banned in Canada since 2010, due to environmental and/or health concerns. This is likely a case of the government regulators finally getting around to evaluating Tamiya’s products. I would also strongly caution anyone trying to import Tamiya paint via a US or other foreign retailer. If Canada customs decides to inspect your parcel there’s a good chance the paint will be removed and destroyed, and likely you will have a struggle to get any form of refund. Andy

The irony is, I’m used to working in 1/87 scale with my model trains, so 1/72 is a bit of an upgrade in that respect! 😅

Good afternoon everyone (at least, it's afternoon where I am), thanks for all the likes and comment! A bit of progress to report! The cockpit and interior components went together well, and fitted into their proper locations without any issues. Big difference from my Skua build, no guessing, everything fits positively. After a bit of dry brushing with some silver to simulate worn paint, I added the rear bulkhead along with the pilot's seat as well as the instrument panel (with the rudder pedals). This was then followed by the radiator/oil cooler core in the chin. You can see the little alignment tab for the radiator core. The bulkhead slid into a slot on the cockpit side. As there is now a fair degree of resin parts in the cockpit, CA glue was needed to secure everything. I dry fit the other fuselage half to ensure everything dried in the correct position. A quick last look at the instrument panel before everything is buttoned up. I then took my first two deviations from the kit instructions. After assembling the fuselage (which fit wonderfully, and only needs a bit of fine sanding along the seams), the next step calls for the installation of the wing. The instructions would have you assemble the wing halves before adding them to the airplane. I attempted this in a dry-fit and found the things weren't going to work that way. I found it was easier to add the top of the wing to the fuselage first, then add the lower half of the wing after the upper has dried. Another testament to the improvements being made at SH, there are no gaps in the wing roots to speak of. The joint is obvious right not because of the overspray from earlier, but they should look better once there's a proper coat of paint on. Another deviation was how the propellor will eventually mount. SH seems to have a thing against spinning props for some reason. I, for one, prefer the spin-y bits to spin. a bit of 1/16" styrene rod, along with some 1/8" tubing (to act as a backing plate) and I should be able to mount the propellor to that to enable it to spin freely. The lower half of the wing was then added (don't forget to add the little clear part for the landing light!) It slotted in nicely and only a little tape was needed to secure it while the glue dried. There is a small gap at the leading edge of the wing (this is the first one I've found!): A little bit of filler and some sanding should have that nicely tidied up (there's another small gap on the other side in the same location). The intake for the chin fairing was added just before adding the wings. The last bit of work done to date was to add the rudder and horizontal stabilizers. These all fit nicely, in keeping with the kit quality experienced so far. There's not too much left to add before paint starts flying. Hopefully for my next update, there will be some colour! Andy

Rather than type up a long winded response, I'll let Greg handle it (he explains it better anyway): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGFsAOUdX7A Andy

An interesting explanation of the aerodynamic properties of the P-51: (Note: the presenter’s information is all sourced from primary source documents and test reports) Andy

I feel compelled to jump in, if you don’t mind, with a small factual (fun?) tidbit. The prototype photo you posted is in fact a P-51H model, not a P-51D. Aside from other design changes, it used an entirely different NACA wing profile than the “D” model, and can be most easily recognized by the straight leading edge. Andy

Greetings everyone! The autumn weather is now upon us, and it seems a little more appropriate to spend some time at the work bench building small things again! Over the last weeks I have begun picking away at my P-40 project. It took a little bit to get the momentum up after a summer off, but I think things are finally picking up a head of steam! First up, I did a little bit of work on the sprues fitting some of the aftermarket resin. The CMK cockpit sidewalls are a drop in fit that directly replace the kit parts. \ The detail level is much improved over the originals: Not that much will be seen anyway! After working through the first couple of steps in the instructions, most of the interior is now completed and painted. I have put my new spray booth and air compressor to work, and I am so happy to be able to use my airbrush again! Rather than make some custom mix, I simply sprayed Humbrol interior green #226. Seems to be reasonably close to some of the colour photos I've found online of P-40 cockpits. Some of the details were picked out in an appropriate colour. The next sept will be to adda little light weathering and some dry brushing with some silver paint to simulate a little wear and tear, but apparently I will have to do a little dusting first! The remainder of the interior components consist of the radiator/oil cooler assembly. The instructions say to simply paint it an aluminium colour, but I added a little gunmetal in the grills for visual interest. The instrument panel was a Yahu models replacement, I added this after sanding off the moulded details. The final bit is the armour plate and cockpit seat. The seat was another CMK resin product that came complete with moulded on seatbelts. A little weathering on these parts (and some more dusting) and they will be added to the fuselage. Yeesh, this macro photography business is going to drive me nuts! The remainder to the cockpit floor is moulded on to the top of the wing section. Again a little chipping and weathering (and dusting) is in order. Jumping ahead a little bit I've also installed and painted the interior of the wheel wells. Unlike my Blackburn Skua build, the wheel well frames don't require any sanding to allow both halves of the wing to fit together. The Skua wheel wells required considerable plastic removal before the wing halves could even get near each other. I must say, that so far I am thoroughly enjoying this kit! As one of Special Hobby's newer offerings, the fit of the parts is much more precise than in their earlier kits. There are locating pins and tabs to make sure parts end up in the right place, and a cursory dry fit of the fuselage and wings seems to suggest that only minor filling and sanding will be required (a precision on the level of some of the better Airfix kits!). Definitely a kit worth building! Andy

You would have to show me which line you are referring to, although I can see the fairlead. Open top fairleads would not be used to redirect lines from an upwards direction, but rather sideways or downwards. On modern ships, we use fairleads all the time to redirect mooring lines, and it’s far from a new concept, as is the practice of shifting a ship alongside a dock. While it doesn’t show in any photo posted in this topic, I’m fairly certain those fairleads are doubtless securely attached to the beams below. For what it’s worth, all the fairleads are open topped, which means ropes were meant to be passed through and then removed with regular frequency during their use. All this strongly suggests to me that they were most likely used as I suspect, for directing mooring ropes from ship side fairleads to a favourable run to a more distant capstan. Andy

John, think about the task of warping the ship alongside. The mooring lines would need to be led to either capstans or windlasses to be worked. While your diagram indicates one capstan on the bow, there appears to be two paired amidships and two aft. A forward spring line could be led aft to the midship capstan, while the headline would be worked via the bow capstan. The stern lines would be worked by one aft capstan and the stern springs by the opposite side stern capstan. Andy

I think the capstans in the well deck give a major clue! I’m just thinking it may be the fairleads are there to direct the inboard end of a mooring rope towards a central winch or capstan. After tensioning, the mooring rope would be stoppered up and made fast to a bit on the poop or fo’c’sle, adjacent to where it comes inboard. It would also come into use when warping (shifting) the ship along side the dock, using those same capstans. Andy

I had a quick look at your first post regarding the “duchess” and you mentioned she was involved in the grain trade. Early grain unloading legs used drag lines to move the grain from around the cargo hold towards the end of the leg. It’s possible that the fairlead in question was for running a drag line off one of the ship’s own winches. An example of the operation can be seen here: https://www.buffalohistorygazette.net/p/buffalo-grain-scoopers-photo-tribute.html?m=1 Andy

If I had to guess, it looks very much like a scene from the winter of 1919/1920, when the French were clearing up the mess left behind, and refugees were maybe returning to see what was left of their homes and farms. Steam engines were very dangerous near the trenches! The smoke would tend to draw artillery fire. A good book to check out is Tracks to the Trenches by David Guay. It’s about the trench railway systems that were built to supply troops. Andy