Fuselage Complete!

June 4, 2009 (the build part)

I had a VERY productive day today on the P-51. The remaining formers were glued in (required some trimming, but went in without issues otherwise). The nose bowl was glued on, screwed in through the back, and shaped using both the Dremel with a sanding bit, the belt sander, and finished it all off with the palm sander.

I noticed that the Gorilla glue is not as great of a filler as I had thought. I intentionally used excess glue on the nose to later sand down. It seems that when it was not used to bond parts, it is more spongy, if that is possible. I ended up picking out those areas and cleaning it out.

I forgot to mention that I've pretty much stopped going off the directions out of frustration. I've build a model airplane or twenty and it is similar in the building aspects. There are 3 pages of illustrations that somewhat show how things go together, and I'm now going from that, and from common sense.

Around noon I was completely done sanding and molding the nose, and it looked great! I notice that I had some deep scuffs and markings on the fuse, and I don't feel like priming and sanding it more than twice before the final paint, so I figured using Bondo on the whole thing would be a good idea. I had never used Bondo before, but it was not difficult to get the hang of. I applied it liberally to most of the surfaces and it sanded off well. I have applied it three times on the fuse (I kept noticing places that I had previously missed.)

One of the wings is completely done and ready for the first coat of sanding sealer. I have some things to do in the morning, but I hope to have all parts coated with at least one coat of sanding sealer tomorrow. There are a few pieces left to cut out of wood (Wing spacer, bell crank supports, and the landing gear parts) but I've held back on that until this is all completed.

I ordered the nose cone today from Zinger, and that should be in early next week, before the trip to Ohio (which I'm hoping to have it primed prior to departing). As long as my pay gets in, I'll order the remaining parts tomorrow and hopefully have those by the time I get back from Ohio, and have those one within a few days. It is not only looking like I'll have it done on time, but likely before the end of June! I again got the thumbs up to have the picture with DD2 from a higher-up at the museum, so hopefully my painting will go well! (I'll post pics from today later, my battery died in the camera)