A-36 James Hannon's racer - 1949 Cleveland - converted Italeri vintage 1/72nd kit

 

 

 (For more Mustang racers check in this blog:

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

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/03/mustang-beguine-racer-converted-arma.html 

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/08/hi-time-ii-mustang-reno-racer-academy.html

Continuing with the Speed Saga here is the plane flown by James Hannon in the 1949 Cleveland Air Races.

The old and not so venerable Italeri kit was used for this conversion. This necessarily implied a bit of surgery to make it more accurate and some add-ons to raise a bit the too basic level of it. Thought firstly as a fun project more than anything else, and secondly as a comparative build with the other Mustangs posted here that were based on the Arma, Academy and Airfix kits, it resulted nonetheless in a fairly credible model with its own appeal.

To follow the building process and read some notes, please look here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/12/a-36-apache-p-51a-mustang-racer.html

A few other A-36 / P51As were used as racers, but there are no decals at the moment for any of them that I am aware of, so I went for a home-made approach that can be consulted using the link above.

An old kit to depict an old Allison-powered variant of the Mustang that had the air intake above the nose, a shallower belly radiator with a blunt (not inclined) air intake lip, and lacked the characteristic “Lerxy” angled extensions at the wing leading edge roots. I am pleased with this little divertimento modifying and improving a kit that otherwise would have been destined to gather dust for eternity or to the indignity of the trash bin. If you have one of these old dogs in the deepest strata of you stash, think of having some fun tweaking it a little bit to obtain a nice model exercising those skills with little risk and less stress. It’s rewarding!