Grossman's Squadron

[Grossman56]

The first installment:
Guess I should have done this in the first place, cool idea, old brain cells jsut don't catch o fast enough LOL!!
Anyway, some of My Little Gal II.
In color and this cool B&W shot. Have to try some more like that and post them here as well.

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Iron Ass in the pic was converted into My Little Gal I, an early picture, a sad ending, she was a very pretty bird. But, when I salvaged what I could out of her and bought new wings and fuse, I decided to Flite Metal it, so one way or the other, it was a step in the right direction!!

[CT]

I always like those blak and white photos, they add an instant vintage touch. Nice stang, Did you use Oracal ? 1 or 2 mil ?

[Grossman56]

I used some Oracal for the canopy, the speaker cover under the nose and air intake and the tail wheel doors, thanks to Wvrailfan who was nice enough to send me some. The rest is Flite Metal. Both are top quality products, but for the chrome look, Oracal is tops. Flite metal can be polished and brushed for what ever 'metal-like' result you want and it has a grain so alternating the direction gives it a panel-like look as well.
I'm going to have to get together with WV to find exactly the product (in other words, he'll have to put the dots closer together!!) because I really like the results you get with Oracal as well, time to plan another project!!

Grossman56

[CT]

I am also experimenting with Oracal at this time, I find that the metallic vinyl, Oracal #351 is excellent on flat or curves as long as it is not complex or compound as it does not stretch at all. Also this film can be steel wooled to the desired effect. On fuses and complex curves I use Oracal #651 vinyl in #090 in silver grey metallic which can be stretched flat on curves. The combination of these two renders a very realistic look. but am always looking for different methods. I purchase my Oracal from US Cutter.

[Grossman56]

Sounds great C, if you can copy and paste the page you go to for both of these, it would be greatly appreciated...

[OV10]

I see someone's AVG version being modded during this wintery layover :rolleyes:

[Alpha]

Grossman, subscribed! CT, I'm interested to see what your findings are with those different Oracal SKUs.

[Grossman56]

When they first suggested a 1400 mm P-40B, I seriously thought about doing this scheme. I love my Flying Tiger, so this idea is on the back burner for whenever I can afford to get another and the supplies, interesting scheme though, isn't it. Anyone who wants to give it a try, feel free!!

Grossman56

[Aros]

Very cool Grossman!!

[Grossman56]

As you may recall, we had a heck of a deal at the end of the Iron Ass run of the Freewing P-51. So, I bought one and it crashed, due to a faulty L/G sequencer. So, I stripped her out and bought a new set of wings, fuselage and tail feathers and rebuilt her. (Replaced the sequencer after testing it and finding out that when I deployed the gear, it blue screened my servo tester, hence the reason why I lost all connection with the original bird). I had thought about using Flite Metal on the first one, but didn't. This time, for sure. So here are some pics of the process. WVrailfan was so great as to send me a BIG piece of Oracal chrome film to try as well. The stuff is so awesome that I couldn't help but use it as well. Flite Metal is basically chrome duct tape, so I had to do some fancy cutting and working to get it to do some of the curves, Oracal film is like Ultra Coat, very thin and was absolutely ideal for working around the canopy frame, I also used it on the two speaker covers as well as the tail wheel landing gear doors. Also, I was trying for authenticity and used the book on the rebuild of 'Lil Margaret" as a guideline. Apparently, the wings were always painted due to the sanding that was done to get the laminar flow correct, so that's why I didn't cover the wings, just the ailerons and flaps. The result is just beautiful, as Captain Mike exclaims in Lon's video when he maidened her for me at NEFI. I just had waaay too much invested in her to fly it myself. The only thing I found was that to get the CG correct, I ended up having to put a 1300 3s battery up in front where I would normally put it in my other FW P-51 with the sound system, it needed that much weight. Eventually, I'll swap out the stock 580kv and install a 650kv with a Mantis 85A ESC, to match my other FW P-51 and that shuold help make up a little for the extra weight needed to get the CG right. At any rate, Mike loved her and said everything was spot on. She flew great.

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Thought I'd try out the picture settings for the new style forum, just cause...

[Grossman56]

so, from what I can see, you can only upload two pics as attachments...try again so it would seem that some folders give me the error message and some don't, curious..

Grossman56

[F106DeltaDart]

Looking good Grossman! Especially love the rivet work on the P-51 and great weathering on the P-40B :cool:.

[Grossman56]

My Little Gal I was the first riveting project, may she rest in peace(s)

[TiredIronGRB]

Nice squadron you got there Grossman ;)

[Grossman56]

Thanks TI, hoping to grow it a little soon.

Grossman56

[Aros]

Love this shot! Looks like full scale! Well done!

[Grossman56]

Thanks Aros, wish I was better at Photo shop. I'd add a hangar or something more in keeping.

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

Hey guys, surfing through You tube and lo and behold, I find the Mosquito I saw and sat in 30 some odd years ago, finally in the air at Abbotsford, my old air show stomping ground!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NycPILCT7Q

I'll have to see if I can find the pics of her when I last saw her. Always wondered what happened to her and here she is in all her glory. Too Cool!!!

Grossman56