I was directed here by a fellow member on Large Scale Planes (LSP). Ive long been an aerophile and an unabashed admirer of the Mustang. After building in various scales upon my recent return to modelling, I discovered 1/18nth scale, thanks to a friend, and was instantly hooked.
I watched JW (a friend on the P-51 SIG) rebuild a C-21 Mustang and was just bowled over by the possibilities 1/18nth provided. Hence, I looked through available airframes on ebay and found two for a total of $100.00 USD. One would be rebuilt, the other would be used as a parts bird should it be needed as such. Armed with a set of NAA Engineering Drawings, the EMM, the IPL and a set of drawings done by Charles Neely, long accepted as the best drawings of the Mustang available, the process of correcting and rebuilding began.
This project began months ago and progress has been made, but its slow going. Research, and making parts consumes a tremendous amount of time, effort and material. Never the less, the fuselage exterior is nearly complete. The empennage was a monumental task as it is mostly all new and has been converted to the earliest version of the Mustang. The spinner and prop blades are new, as is the entire front end. My goal in this effort is to produce a scale replica to the Mustangs engineering specs or as close as can I could get it.
PROP BLADES and SPINNER ASSEMBLY
While waiting for the air frame drawings to arrive from Charles Neely, work was begun on the prop blades and spinner assembly. Understandably, the BBI offering wasnt intended to be a scale representation. However, as such, it does provide a good set of bones upon which to add what is need to make it true to scale.
The spinner assembly was disassembled and checked for dimensional accuracy. The diameter was spot on, but the spinner cone was too short, and the backing assembly too long. This causes the split between the two to be misplaced. It was also slightly out of geometrical form and the prop shank apertures of incorrect shape.
To remedy the deficiencies, square ABS stock was added to the back end of the spinner cone and the back plate was reduced in height.
![Image](http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/qq112/ironwing_photo/spinnerinteriorbigbird.jpg)
New prop shank apertures were installed on the backing plate and the shank apertures were reshaped to match the "peanut" openings found on spinners when the Hamilton Standard Prop was used.
![Image](http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/qq112/ironwing_photo/spinnerbackplateshowingshankholdersbigbird.jpg)