SPA Modeler

The restoration looks accurate to the original design of the brackets!

Well that kind of double-mirror setup you don't see every day (in a P-51D that is..)

- Kari

No you don't. I'll say this however, at least with that set up if one gets shot off you've still got another one to look out of.

speedgraflex wrote:

Stikpusher wrote:Now that is some excellent work on filling those gaps!

Yes, that fella was not messin’ around. That is some filling badassery and then some. Filling those gaps with sections of card is mighty cool. I do not remember if he wrote what he used as filler—looks a bit like Tamiya White, perhaps?



Nice job priming, too.

From memory and the photo it was Perfect Plastic Putty from Ultimate Products. It is a water based, acrylic putty that is very malleable but sets hard and can be sanded, but dry sanded only for if you wet sand it sends the putty back to its more liquid form. It may even be Vallejo acrylic putty as that is a similar product. I use PPP on my builds and really like it. You can use it directly from the tube, a little at a time ad work it into the seam. A wet finger can be used to remove excess, minimising clean up. I have also started using it with added water to get a more liquid consistency. I will add some photos when I set about my G-5 cockpit fix later in the week.

Regards,

Good morning/afternoon and/or evening, gents - depending on your time zone!

I did a little bit of internet searching before work today. These mirrors are Spitfire Type B made by H&S; black paint on brass sphere, round-headed screws, with a slot for a bracket mount. Adapting for a Mustang on the sides of the cockpit framing the bracket was a custom job; the shape seems fairly simple in profile, but I am not quite sure how the bracket was mounted. Maybe it was by using additional metal L-brackets tacked to it?

Photos of a restored Mustang in Cripes A’ Mighty markings - and the rear view mirror setup as well as the slotted Type B Spitfire mirror:



Thank you all for looking as well as your comments! I really appreciate your posts - please feel free to write; this invitation goes to everyone. Please write if the mood strikes.

Kahuna Kent, thanks for the intel on how the seams were filled.

Should be fairly easy to fabricate if you can find similarly shaped plastic balls and cutting them in half.

John! Good advice. I was thinking 2 of these 1/24 slot car mirrors might work. I have one spare already to use as a test. I was thinking about cutting off the existing bracket, making a slot and cutting a new bracket from a thin strip of Evergreen. The other issue that is solvable with a car part is the kit’s missing landing light. That look like a big old car headlight to me. Thoughts?

That's not a bad idea Bruce - it'll certainly give you a good starting point.

Car mirrors are an excellent alternative, as is the car headlight for a landing light. But another source for the round mirror shape is those little spare plastic nubs that we clip off of kit parts. I save many of them for just such purposes. They have varying shapes and sizes and are good starting points for small scratch built details like these mirrors.

Yeah, that's what I was going to mention too but I didn't know what to call them. Those little tab things are usually can-shaped but some have a spherical end.