Rebuild P 51 Mustang from Crashed Components

[Michael]

Panel lines; great idea!

[bweaver]

The magic of a grey/silver Sharpy on silver dollar store paint.  Press hard and you even get an indent in the foam too.

I should add that I didn't laminate the fuselage as originally considered.  Thus I added the panel lines.

As a fuselage strengthening alternative, I beefed up the  portion of the fuselage that only had a single sheet of foam in the area between the wing and the firewall reinforced plywood assembly.  I did this by brushing on a thin layer of Gorilla Glue. It expands and forms a really firm layer of hardened foam that is nearly industructible. I think this modification will add sufficient strength to reduce the possibility of failure in this area. (May also be the only area to survive a future crash.)

Micheal, we can do a P 51 fly-by.

[RogMason]

Hi Bruce,
An incredible project and a great build.  When you first mentioned rebuilding your P51D and retrieving wings from the garage, I had no idea that was all you had and that you'd build the rest from scratch!  It looks great. Well done!
Is rigid foam from the hardware store denser and heavier that Z foam that the original ARF was built from?  It certainly smooths out nicely and forms a cleaner surface than Z foam.

Great job Bruce.

[bweaver]

Roger Re - Is rigid foam from the hardware store denser and heavier that Z foam that the original ARF was built from?

The fuselage has been constructed of the blue construction foam we use for the warwings.  Due to the construction of the sides and top pieces being glued together, the fuselage appears to be very strong. 

Actual performance this coming season will determine its structural qualities.  I will report on its performance later after a number of flights.  I hope it lasts long enough that you will see it fly this season when you return.

PS - The DuraGrit files were the greatest things I used for shaping the fuselage.