Making a Silk Purse...

[soslipstream]

Hey All,

I have been working on a project for a friend lately. It began as a small P-39 ( 4.5" wingspan) from on top a trophy from sometime after WWII. It had long ago been broken off the top of the trophy leaving a garish protuberance on the belly and had a weak looking brass-ish finish. It was covered with many pits and scratches as well. There was no prop exisiting but there was a cavity with an uncentered prop shaft hole. The original request was for a prop that rotates. While surmizing the new prop design options, I took some metal polish to the slightly greenish areas to clean off some of the "oxodation". Low and behold, its chrome underneath and not brass. So on I went. I even cut off that ugly bud off the belly, ground it flush and polished it as well. The upshot was that the owner realized that the airplane now needs to be supported for display somehow. With that dull finish looking much better, could I make a vintage styled stand for it? The results based on some of Bell's own models is as shown in the following pictures. The wood base and chrome inset are all vintage pcs that I modified so that they might be assembled together. That long looping wire arm was per my fiend's request. Then the stand received new paint and the metal parts polished as well. The owner is now considering having markings added to represent an XP-39B.
BTW, I did eventually figure out how to have the prop and hub rotate while the cannon barrel stays fixed.

Wishing you all Have an enjoyable Weekend,
Tom

[soslipstream]

Here's some more... This time vintage P-38's. The first is an aluminum ID model that needed a a stern polishing and a period style stand. The second P-38 is from a friend. It needed props that spin and spin they do.

Regards, Tom

[grwebster]

nicely done