dai phan Posted March 12 Author Share Posted March 12 Hello all, This week I will receive the Kazan P-51D gear set. This looks really good and a MUST for the Eduard P-51D. The kit's landing gears have very sloppy fit of the struts so this is quite a welcome. Will let you all know how it turn out. Dai https://www.kazanmodeldynamics.com/the-kazan-blog/new-product-line-hybridcast-landing-gear-sets#/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dai phan Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 (edited) Howdy all, Added the anti glare panel tonight and did some touch ups. Dai Edited March 13 by dai phan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dai phan Posted March 14 Author Share Posted March 14 (edited) Greetings, I got both the Kazan (resin) and Eduard’ bronze landing gears. Much better than stock gears. The Kazan gears are designed to go into its resin wheel hubs rather than Eduard’s.Kazan connecting point to the hub is rectangular while the Eduard’s is round. Some minor mods will be needed should you want to use Kazan with Eduard’s wheels. I ended up using the Eduard’s brass version as the gears have the struts casted in. However the resin Kazan is more to scale. If you are building the Eduard’s kit, spend a little more and get these after market gears. Dai Kazan gears. The tire thread detai is very sharp. Eduard's Brassin set. The struts are already molded in and this is what I ended up using. Some minor sandings with sanding stick is needed so they can go into the wheel wells. The surface appears pebbly but looks OK after a coat of paint. SAC also makes a metal set and these are nothing more than sub-standard copy of the kit's parts. Stay away from those. Edited March 14 by dai phan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dai phan Posted March 15 Author Share Posted March 15 (edited) Helllo all, I simply cannot get the resin canopy to be polished. Polishing compounds only makes matter worse. Perhaps this type of clear resin is not meant to be polished and buffed? I have send email to Halberd about the issue. I am planning to duplicate a master then vacuum form it. That will give me a chance to correct the rear profile of the canopy too. Dai Edited March 15 by dai phan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dai phan Posted March 15 Author Share Posted March 15 (edited) Grreetings, Black Magik Resin has a TF-51D conversion kit for the Tamiya 1/48 kit. The canopy seems to be more accurate then the Halberd. However the resin parts do not have the IP that I could tell from the parts layout. I went ahead and ordered one just for the canopy. Dai Edited March 15 by dai phan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dai phan Posted March 15 Author Share Posted March 15 (edited) Howdy all, Just ordered this vacuum machine and I remember having used it before at my work place with great result. However this is likely to be cheap Chinese knock off version. I see it has good reviews on Amazon however. Dai Edited Monday at 01:50 AM by dai phan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dai phan Posted Saturday at 07:27 PM Author Share Posted Saturday at 07:27 PM Greetings Saturday everyone, I am hitting a road block here. I would like to use the Indiana ANG but the problem is matching the red paint to match the decals as they have an orange tint to it. I got it close enough but not happy. Suggestions are welcomed. Dai Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dai phan Posted Monday at 12:17 AM Author Share Posted Monday at 12:17 AM (edited) Hello all, I tried to match the red on the decal but still no go. I then decide to go for the West VA ANG but this bird has the retractable tail wheel which is not accurate for the conversion tooling. I will try to match the red again and this time, I will start with orange base then add the red. There is nothing worse than the red decals and the paint do not match. The photo shows I I added yellow to the red to get the orange hue to match the decal but still no go. It may look close here but after I painted the spinner the mismatch was still very evident. Dai Edited Monday at 03:28 AM by dai phan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dai phan Posted Monday at 01:42 AM Author Share Posted Monday at 01:42 AM (edited) Greetings, During my reserach I found something interesting. It was stated by the author who did the review of this kit on HyperScale that Bolivian scheme (included in the Latin America version) has taller tail and retractable tail gear. The West VA scheme in the US version in the restored plane (one of three flyable TF-51s) happens to serve in the Fuerza Aerea Boliviana in 1967 that carried the serial number of 510 as depicted on the decal sheet. The now restored plane in West VA scheme that used to serve in Bolivian S/N 510 has regular tail so while it served in Bolivia it was likely to sport short tail as well. Therefore it is very possible it did not have the taller tail as the author suggested. It had retractable tail wheel so the resin fuselage is not accurate as it is tooled for the fixed gear. But then again, when the plane was restored back in the US it was possible the taller tail was converted to shorter tail and the tail wheel converted to being retractable? Anyway, I really hope to get the paint match issue resolved as the Indiana ANG is the most accurate for the resin tooling. Dai Edited Monday at 02:45 AM by dai phan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dai phan Posted Monday at 03:30 AM Author Share Posted Monday at 03:30 AM Hi all, Does anyone have photo of the Bolivian TF-51D s/n 510? Thanks Dai Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bob Beary Posted Monday at 03:00 PM Share Posted Monday at 03:00 PM On 3/14/2025 at 9:46 PM, dai phan said: Howdy all, Just ordered this vacuum machine and I remember having used it before at my work place with great result. However this is likely to be cheap Chinese knock off version. I see it has good reviews on Amazon however. Dai Yeah, those Buffalo Dental vacu-formers are indestructible! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dai phan Posted Monday at 07:29 PM Author Share Posted Monday at 07:29 PM (edited) Hello all, I went to work and used the professional vacuum machine for fabrication of orthodontic retainers. I sealed all the sides of the master then pour the dental stone onto it to produce a master cast. Then I used the vacuum machine to produce canopies. When I get home tonight I will clean things up and see how that looks. Dai Edited Tuesday at 01:51 AM by dai phan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dai phan Posted Tuesday at 12:35 AM Author Share Posted Tuesday at 12:35 AM (edited) Hi all, Trimmed and painted the frame. Looks very good but not quite perfect as I hope. Will do couple more to see if they are any better. I took photos of the originial and the reproduction for comparision. Dai Edited Tuesday at 12:45 AM by dai phan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dai phan Posted Tuesday at 12:36 AM Author Share Posted Tuesday at 12:36 AM (edited) The two seater variant is taking shape. Dai Edited Tuesday at 12:48 AM by dai phan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
usmcski6502 Posted Tuesday at 01:38 AM Share Posted Tuesday at 01:38 AM Looking great! -Ski Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dai phan Posted yesterday at 10:41 AM Author Share Posted yesterday at 10:41 AM (edited) Hello all, Make sure you place the notch at the end of the canopy. This is to allow the canopy to slide back without striking the dorsal fin. Red and orange paints are coming in this week for me to do paint matching again. Dai Edited 23 hours ago by dai phan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dai phan Posted 1 hour ago Author Share Posted 1 hour ago (edited) Edited 58 minutes ago by dai phan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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