Wings of Intent: A-36 Apache (P-51A Mustang) racer conversion

(Photo from Alamy's website. I am not sure this will be the chosen one, as there are other A-36/P-51As, we'll see)

(the completed model can be seen here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/02/a-36-james-hannons-racer-1949-cleveland.html

(This was built in parallel with two other Mustangs:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/12/tom-maysons-1947-mustang-racer.html

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/12/anson-johnson-1949-mustang-racer-airfix.html

Given the previous multiple Mustang builds, this is starting to look as an experiment to find out how you can make a Mustang racer conversion using progressively poorer kits. Having done this type of conversion with the Arma, Airfix and Academy kits, now it seems to be the turn for the rather disappointing old Italeri boxing. Visibly below what the aforementioned kits have to offer, the Italeri kit presents just two graces: its low price and the fact that the military features of its wing are flashed over for the modeler to open if wanted, not necessitating all that tedious filling and sanding of chutes, anchoring points and so on. Now, on the other hand, the most visible flaw -known by many modelers- is its wing, which unfortunately depicts a later type, with the kink close to the fuselage, in sort of a “LERXy” style. Needless to say the fit is vague and the detail barely acceptable (no cockpit walls detail whatsoever, for example), hey, it’s an old product after all. Looking at this not-so-appealing kit that I found in a closet bottom condemned to oblivion, I asked myself, could all this be remedied? And the answer is yes, with not too much effort, actually, if you are not overly demanding. As I worked only on the wing at the beginning, to see if things would be viable, and realized they were, I started to look at candidates for racing early Mustangs and found a few that didn’t look bad. So I was all in, and continued to work on the rest of the kit, bearing in mind that the build would be more like an exercise in kit rescuing than anything else, as the starting point was far from being top of the line but hoping it could still render a model of some appeal, and, of course, and excuse to employ those fingers. Simple and basic as it is, once the most glaring flaw is dealt with, it’s not a horrible kit, but this should not be considered, by any means, as an endorsement, far from it. Nonetheless, given time and effort, anything can be built with enough motivation (and patience and a bit of skill, naturally).

Italeri´s blopper:

In treatment. Of course as you carve away at some point the plastic starts to show gaps as you grind through, these were filled using variously thick superglue zapped in place and putty:

Dry run to adjust the root on the fuselage side of the issue:

The other two Mustangs in the works in parallel:

Not a very noticeable washout on the prop blades, they will be sanded to a more realistic transition, as their thickness allows it:

Italeri provides inserts (the kit is ill-fitting overall) that need plugging for the racer:

Notable absence of any detail on the fuselage walls. This will be remedied with parts form a P.E. set. Not sure it's really worth it, as some of the kit issues can be redeemed, but perhaps not completely, still, modeling exercise! Two types of prop are being prepared, the kit's three-blade one, and a four-blade aftermarket option, depending on what plane will at the end be represented:

As mentioned at the beginning, not an ideal kit to use, lacking in many departments and suffering accuracy issues, and much better ones do exist, but this one was sobbing inconsolably at the bottom of the closet! And it's the Season! It had to be built!

Some interior detail is added to make up for the kit's scarcity. As we all know, barely anything will be seem:

And the build proceeded to the next stage:

More work will be needed, but it's getting there:

Preparing the line-up:

An unexpected boon: the transparency is... transparent, and the fit is good! Phew!

After the canopy is masked, it will be ready for the first coat of primer. As there are no masks available for this kit, I will try to adapt a set for the similar Brengun kit. Italeri designed the transparency as a single module encompassing the fuselage section including the curved aft windows , unlike other manufacturers. This may need some putty and sanding at the back seam to hide the joint. Again, two types of props are being prepared, as it is yet undecided which actual racer will be modeled from three options, NX4E, NX39502 racing number 2 or the same plane with racing number 44:

Masks on (the Brengun ones were not a great fit for the Italeri kit, and some little supplementing was in order). The kit's canopy lacks some of the framing, by the way. As explained, there are no aftermarket masks for the Italeri kit, but looking for them I found an article by Paul Boyer in Fine Scale, where he encountered exactly the same issues and went for the same solutions. He wrote (in 1998) about the kit shortcomings in a much kinder way (perhaps because Italeri advertised on the magazine). No conflict of interest there...or is it?:

https://finescale.com/product-info/kit-reviews/1998/12/italeri-1-72-scale-p-51-mustang-i

Coat of primer:

Arriving late to the games is what looks like a vintage Eduard set for the Italeri kit that I purchased more or less at the same time of the kit but took a bit to arrive. At the speed I usually build, it's now a bit late. It's very nice set, kind of hefty in gauge, with a lot of detail. I may use an external part or two, but the rest will have to wait until the next Mustang:

Not being able to secure a decal set already in the market, I settled for what I think is doable at home, NX39502 of Jimmy Hannon, race#2. I was able to find only one color photo of it, and concocted my own shade of green mixing Humbrol gloss 3 and 7 until I got a good match:

The idea in this case is something of a reverse-masking: paint the model gloss green and then mask the green areas (spinner, fuselage top nose, band around fuselage, wing tips and leading edges) and use the gloss green as the base for the metal color (Alclad aluminium). I will attempt either to mask the #2 on the fuselage sides or cut it from a previously-sprayed decal sheet, or with decals if they match the color. The regs are black, and have been already printed at home. There are two side stripes edging the green stripe on the fuselage that will be sprayed after more masking with Humbrol 7, a fair match to the color photo.

The Pitot is fabricated with two lengths of tube and a little piece of thin styrene:

The plane had the propeller blade tips clipped off:

And so the kit's prop is clipped too:

All these details are taken care of while the green paint dries and is ready for masking.

The masks for the race number are cut:

The areas to remain green are masked:

Aluminium paint applied:

Next will be to mask the whole model to paint the two bands adjacent to the masked green band across the fuselage, and give the (doped) rudder a more whitish aluminium to match photos.

Painting the other bands and the rudder and elevators: