P-51 Mustang "Beguine" racer - Academy 1/72nd kit conversion

(Photos from the SDASM photostream)

 The completed model is here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/01/p-51-mustang-beguine-racer-modified.html

 (A second "Beguine" is being built in parallel using the Arma kit):

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/01/p-51-mustang-beguine-second-model-based.html

 

Racers make the hearts of certain race of modelers race.

I have built several pur-sang, designed as such, but also a number of converted post-war machines, here are just some:
https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2014/05/special-hobby-172-f2g-supercorsair.html

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2017/06/hawker-hart-racer-completed-arctic.html

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2022/02/hawker-hurricane-g-amau-racer-acdemy.html

My friend and nemesis David The Chili from Chicago challenged me to build a famous one, the P-51C Mustang "Beguine". He thought that the pilot was a musician, perhaps even Bach. Or Burt Bacharach, he is not sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCYGyg1H56s

So I decided to build two. His choice was the Arma Hobby release, while mine was the humble Academy rendition. He chose the Red Pegasus decals, while I selected the Draw Decals sheet.

Now, my friend David belongs to the unwashed masses that believe that kits build themselves with no real effort on part of the modeler -as themselves are incapable of frying an egg- but are convinced that a Michelin-star chef is an overrated burger cook that got it easy. He has not the faintest idea of what this kind of conversion entails, surgically extracting the belly radiator, reshaping the ravaged fuselage, chopping the wings, fabricating and installing new pod radiators on the wingtips, replacing the tailwheel, deleting any traces of its military use, partially re-doing the canopy, and other delights that involve inordinate amounts of time, patience, skill and much, much, much screaming in despair, looking at photos and reading references until your eyes are like big boiled ostrich eggs.

Blessed be the ignorant, for they will not tell apart a delicately built and superbly detailed model from a frigging xmas tree ornament.

Being the Modeling Monk I am, I took the torment (both of the build itself and of his utter indifference for modeling knowledge and skill) as atonement for my sins, which are many. And also because David is a very dear friend.

I decided to start with the Academy kit, as it was mine and I could flop it without guilt, as a way to learn the ropes for such conversion, hopefully acquiring the knowledge to be later applied to the -supposedly more demanding- Arma Hobby kit. 

For this conversion you will need the following tools:

Sledgehammer, jackhammer, chainsaw, steam press, thongs, anvil.

We recommend this vendor:

Spanish Inquisition & Co., Purveyors of Iniquity

We encourage the reading of this references:

-The complete works of the Marquis de Sade

-How I created my Evil Empire, by E. V. L. Zönke,  Death Ray Industries GMBH and Volkano Spa.

 

As the Academy kit is well known and has been extensively built and reviewed, no need to present it here. So we will go for the meat:

The belly radiator area is excised:

Dry fit to show the effect of the cuts:

The Academy kit presents the particularity of having its tail as separate parts; this is again how it looks when dry-fitted:

Parts separated and washed, all the bonga-bonga parts are now in the trash can:

These parts, belonging to the belly radiator, the prop and the taiwheel can't be used for the racer and will need substitutes:

The racer had the radiators on the wingtips as pods (the wings were clipped). Here a couple I concocted as an exercise with spare parts, but the kit's fuel tanks -once modified- look like they could be a nice match:

The aftermarket decal sheet, and the Yahu instrument panel and bits:

These Yahu products are very nicely detailed:

The racer had the aft windows deleted. Notice the little pip holders that will facilitate gluing the transparencies, now that's a nice touch on the manufacturer:

The windows are glued. No need to avoid fogging here, as they have to be puttied and painted over:

Photos reveal a very smooth wing surface, therefore all detail related to its original use should be deleted:

The tailwheel is separated from its mount:

A new wheel fork is added. Later a little circle of styrene will be made to resemble the much smaller wheel the racer used:

A preliminary coat of zinc chromate:

A little work on those pods:

The two tail halves are glued together (later in the build an extension has to be provided to the fin), the cockpit is assembled, the area of the blanked windows taped and puttied:

The upper wing halves are glued, and seat belts added from an aftermarket set. The home-made fin extension is prepared:

The guns and light are puttied over:

Notes: any work you do on the area immediately after the seat will be virtually invisible, so don't bother. The Academy kit has fair detail there, but the Arma kit has much more, in this case rendered useless as the aft windows are deleted and the seat structure hinders the view. It will save you some time. 

As you build, scrounge your spares bin for a prop that matches photos of the racer. Bear in mind that available photos show it before and after a bad landing. The painted canopy frame is the former, the metal canopy frame is the latter, which is most likely the version you want to build (there are other many small changes).

The aft windows are already blended with their surroundings:

The fuselage halves are joined:

The wing is added:

The fit of this Academy kit is superb, and I haven't built something like this in a long time. A welcome respite. So much so that I started to look at which war-birds from Academy I could convert to civil racers. They are good, affordable, and their engineering makes sense.

Primer on the wingtip pods to detect any flaws before adding them, and black as a base for the metal color on legs and hubs:

The void is capped with a pre-shaped piece of styrene, and the contours blended:

The wingtips are clipped, the pods are given their splitting vanes, and the horizontal tail added:

Pods and canopy on:

The small tail wheel is fabricated. Actually three of them to choose the best:

The fin fillet is added:

A coat of primer to detect possible blemishes. Notice the "kink" on the wing close to the root, less pronounced than in the Arma kit, but it's there:

After painting and masking the canopy frame (metal), the pods' lip (reddish), and the air intake (polished metal), the green paint is airbrushed:

Getting close to the finish line:

Who will win?

 Landing gear installation and decaling in progress:

The decals are going very well. One word of caution: there is an inaccurate indication for the "7" on the wing tips. The one on top actually has the flat part/head of the seven towards the fuselage (not as indicated in the instructions), whist the one under the wing is correctly depicted with the flat part of the seven towards the wingtip pod. This is easily corroborated looking at the photos of the plane.

The application continues with no problems whatsoever, just treat the decals carefully, as you would proceed with any thin (that is good quality) set. The set also allows you to address the earlier decoration, that varies a bit. 

The completed model post will be up soon.

To be continued....