A Museum Model Mustang P-51D, (Part 2)

摘要

It is a giant leap from work on the model's wooden incarnation to the point at which the first exterior litho plate skin panels can be applied. It involves all interior metal skin and structural components, plus major installations such as the fuselage fuel tank and cockpit floor, followed by the planned and sequential addition of the very many sub-assemblies, fixtures and fittings. As I write this it seems preposterous to dismiss the labour of some two years in a single paragraph. Work in the cockpit ranged from building prominent features such as the instrument panel, the side-consol and pilot's seat. Then on to the intermediary components exemplified by the rudder pedals, control column and the numerous switch plates that line both sides of the cockpit, down to the minutiae of pipe and cable runs, data plates and hose clips. All of these items were constructed from the individually scaled-down NAA drawings; they called for a myriad of different materials and techniques and a great deal of time. Only when most of this was done and installed, albeit temporarily, was it practicable to begin on the exterior. I hope that the accompanying pictures will give at least some impression of the scope of the task, if not of the precise methodology.