P-51C Mustang: Converting D to C

At long last, work on the Mustang is finally back on. For the past few months I have been finishing up school and studying long hours to get my Airframe and Power Plant license which I am proud to say I have achieved. Now the job search begins so I can get out of my tiny apartment and the job that has a tiny paycheck so I can have more space to build models and enough money to buy all the kits on my wish list lol. Isn't that the purpose of having a house and money: more room for bigger models :)

I have reached the point in my project where I have to make some big decisions. The biggest feature of this project was the converting of the D-model kit into the C-model Mustang. There are several major structural differences between these two aircraft which will require major modification of the fuselage and the wing as well as many subtle differences in the cockpit, landing gear, and gun arrangement. The only way to accomplish this modification is the start with a ton of research. Sometimes I think I spend more money on books about the aircraft than on the model itself. But if detail and accuracy is the goal then you have to be willing to pay the price of spending hours poring over black and white photographs, technical drawings, and google scouring for pictures of aircraft under restoration hoping to find the one view that tells you the key piece of information that allows you to take the next step. Anyone who has built a detailed model will tell you this is how it is. So if you're not willing to put in the time with research, then just follow the paint guide in the instructions and build it straight out of the box. Thankfully I have acquired several books and drawings on C and D model Mustangs over the years and I have the former shapes already drawn in AutoCAD from an earlier project. After gathering my sources I was ready to take the next step. 

When making a major modification such as this it's always best to figure out exactly how you're going to do it before doing anything. I wrote out my procedure and worked it all out in my head before I made any cuts to the model. I also needed to work out how the new structure would be built, what it would look like and how the details would be added. Basically the top of the D fuselage would be cut off along the top longeron panel line. The inside of the model would be smoothed of any reference to D structure in the cockpit since there are several differences. New formers will be made of plastic to create the C-model turtle deck. Plastic strips will be laid over the formers to form the support skin to give the fuselage it's shape. And then, in order to prevent having to cut in panel lines, on top of the plastic skin I will glue soda can aluminum in pieces to create accurate skin panels giving me instant panel lines. Plus this will give me scale skin thickness around the canopy. All of this will make sense in the upcoming blogs. 

Once I had all this figured out, I had to decide if I was going to actually do it, which was actually pretty hard. I could have left it as a D-model and used  the kit pieces. Converting to a C-model is gonna require several scratchbuilt components which will involve several headaches. But of course, there is no backing down from a goal. So here it goes. 

I started by trying a jeweler's saw to cut the top off the fuselage, but found it rather difficult to keep the cut straight. Instead I ran my X-Acto knife slowly down the existing panel line several times until I worked my way through the plastic. This resulted in a much nicer cut. 

Now there really is no turning back. The C-model is coming....