P-51C Mustang Tail Wheel

Time to tackle the tail wheel, which would be mostly hidden up inside the fuselage and is something most people wouldn't even look twice at if the model was sitting on a shelf. That isn't going to deter me from adding unnecessary features and details to it. Ok, I'll admit that I'm going to chest and use a movie set mindset. If it won't be seen, it shouldn't be built. The detail will be added to the lower part of the tail wheel because when the suspension pushes the wheel out of the aircraft, this detail will be seen. Yes, that's right, I said I was putting suspension on the tail wheel. Not only that, but the wheel itself will be fully castering. The real Mustang had two ways of operating the steering on the tail wheel. It could be locked so that movement in the rudder pedals would move the tail wheel of it could be unlocked and would faster freely on its own if the pilot tapped the brakes on the main gear. I could have made the wheel move with the rudder pedals, but I'm not that crazy. Fully castering is enough, I think.

I started by carefully separating the wheel axle from its mount and filing a nice clean hole that a 1/16" plastic rod would move freely inside.

 

I drilled a small hole in the top of the axle and in the center of the  new shaft so the two parts could be glued together with more than a flat on flat surface. The little connecting rod is only .020" but it provides enough extra "bite" on the parts so I don't have to worry about them separating. Make the 1/16" shaft extra long so you can cut it down to the proper size later. Once the glue has dried between the two parts, trim down the connecting rod and file the area smooth.

 

 

Glue the two kit pieces together with plastic cement. Make sure that all mating surfaces get glue. This will be very critical in the next step. Once the glue dries, carefully cut away the plastic piston rods and clean out the cooresponding holes. These will be replaced with 1/16" aluminum rod. I also cut away the top of the main strut so it can be replaced with a plastic tube. You can tell by the photo that the aluminum rod already makes the part look better.

 

 

I tackled the details next using several photographs of the real Mustang and the P-51D maintenance manual that I purchased online. The only details that would be visible are the steering arms and locking mechanism. Thankfully these parts aren't to hard to make. The kit provides a basic representation of these parts, but they can be improved. I used them as dimensional reference to make new parts. My first attempt at making the steering arm plate was pretty good until I realized that I missed a critical piece.

 

This picture shows the difference between the first part and the second part I made with the added platform needed to mount the locking mechanism. See even experienced modelers make mistakes. Gotta pay attention to the reference material.

 

 

To make the spring that would normally push up the locking mechanism, I dissected a small piece of wire and pulled out an individual thread, straightened it, then wrapped it around one of my application needles so it made a spring shape. You have to be careful with these really thin wires because you can unshape the shape with too much pressure.

The center post that fits inside the spring is a smaller diameter than the shaft. I chose .030" rod for this. After sizing the 1/16" shaft and cutting it to length, I center drilled it to .030" and glued in the smaller shaft. I cut it to length using the height of the spring as a guide. Leave some room for another ring that will set on top of the spring to hold it down.
 

 

More details later...