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INTRODUCTION;
The
North American P-82 twin Mustang was the last version in the evolution of the
Mustang design, and was developed to satisfy the requirement for a long range
escort fighter to accompany bombers to targets in Japan.
The design concept
began with the idea of mating two Mustangs fuselages to a constant chord wing
center section housing the six 0.50 in. machine gun armament, and a one piece
horizontal stabilizer, also a constant chord. The fuselages were from the
lightweight XP-51F design, lengthened 57 inches for greater directional
stability. the two XP-82 aircraft were equipped with standard P-51H tail
sections, but production aircraft featured a wider vertical stabilizer units and
enlarged dorsal fin fillets. The outer wing panels, with armament removed,
contained fuel tanks, as well did the center section . The main landing gear,
were located under each fuselage, retracting inwards, and was housed in the
center section. The tail wheels were standard P-51 units, retracting into the
aft fuselage.
The XP-82 was powered
by uprated Packard Merlin V-1650-11 and 21 engines driving opposite rotating
inward turning propellers, to counter torque. Both cockpits featured flight
controls, but only the left cockpit had full instrumentation.
The first flight of
the XP-82 took place on 15 April 1945, and test flight revealed a performance
equaling the P-51D, with a longer operational range.
An order was placed in
March 1944 for 500 a year before the first test flight took place, but with the
end of the war near the order was reduced to 20 that included 2 of the 4
prototypes, 18 P-82B and one each of the XP-82C and XP-82D.
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AIRCRAFT
DEPICTED;
IN
EARLY 1947 AIRCRAFT sn 465168 was
to achieve some measure of fame, it was fitted with extra internal fuel tanks in
each fuselage aft of the pilot's seats and four external drop tanks a total fuel
load of 2,215 U.S.gals/8,384 litres. On Feb.28, piloted by Lt. Col. Robert E
Thacker with copilot Lt John M Ard, it departed Hickam field, Hawaii, and flew
non stop 4968 miles to LaGuardia Field in New York, setting a World Distance
Record. The" Betty Joe" name was later corrected to" Betty
Jo" named for Thackers wife and now is on display at the National Air and
Space Museum in Washington,D.C.
CONSTRUCTION;
This kit was a nightmare, lots of filler, primer, scratch
building, minor add ons and a complete paint stripping and repainting the kit
canopies were replaced with squadrons crystal clear ones and masking tape
seatbelts were added to finish out the cockpits, this kit went back and forth on
the bench a few times before I said enough is enough and finished it, it kinda
grows on you after a while... I should
mention that this build started out as a group build with a few online buddys I
believe that I am the sole surviving F-82 builder with proof of
completion...Tom??...Jack??..Mandie?? (suckers)
PAINT
AND DECALS;
The cockpits were finished in the standard colors of flat black with
white and silver highlights, red and yellow knob controls and OD green seatpads.
The finish for the exterior was Alclad II, I had originally sprayed the plane
with SNJ but somehow it went bad and totally screwed up all the hard work that I
had invested in the preparation for a NMF so it was back to square one. The
decals on the other hand had given me some concerns because the carrier film did
not cover all the printing but I went ahead tried 'em anyway and guess what,
they worked!! a little Microset and that was it! I washed the panel lines with a
thin black enamel wash. The spinners were handpainted red white and blue with
model masters enamels.
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CONCLUSION;
I will say this after building this Modelcraft kit, I'm blessed to have
kept my sanity ! It has to be one of the most challenging kits out there. If you
want a F-82 in 1/48 scale its the only game in town but you gotta' play on their
field with their ball on their terms with their rules. So have fun!!
Greg
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