The hydraulic hand pump situated on the right side of the cockpit was put together by using parts found in the spares box, combined with stretched sprue.

The turnover truss, another feature specific to the early Mustangs

Test fit. Looks good!

Kapok filled backrest cushion version number 2. The first one would look better on a "D" model.

Aires made the map case too fat:


Its thickness was made accurate and a flight report holder was fabricated from aluminum sheet, it is temporarily fit:

Florin,
Most impressive adjustments to an Aires cockpit.
Joel

Yes, Joel, having a blast correcting the correction set... You pay extra cash for something that is supposed to be accurate and when you open the box surprise! More work for you!

I've had my concerns about some of the AM stuff out there, especially cockpits, seats, and ejection seats. On more then one occasion I felt that one seat looked too much like another seat for a different version or aircraft, especially some of the WW11 stuff.

Joel

The Aires render of the undercarriage control lever is nothing but a joke, bi-dimensional and wrong in shape. It was shaved off and will be replaced with this:

Another tiny part, this is the emergency canopy release lever, situated to the right front of the cockpit enclosure:

Hi Florin,
She certainly is taking shape,you are doing a wonderful job.
A quick question,do you know if,the cockpits of the B and Ds were the same?I was given a resin set years ago,side walls instrument panel,wood floor and seat and would like to put them into a P51B if possible.

Cheers

Chris

The B and D did share components, but the cockpit layouts were different, with various stuff added on the D version (like the AN/APS-13 tail warning radar), while things such as the hydraulic hand pump were removed. Throttle quadrant and gunsight for example are completely different.
Parts that might be used as they are would be the resin floor, rudder pedals and, if you want to build a P-51C-15, maybe the seat. The instrument panel requires minor alterations. Cockpit sides will also require some surgery, check your references.

The new throttle quadrant, temporarily fit

Final update of the day, a couple of leather items that were replicated with aluminum foil:

Florin,
Just an impressive build to date. Your updating the cockpit with custom scratch built parts rather then just bought resin really shows the level of your build.
Joel

Thank you so much for the kind words!
Wouldn't be fun for me to do it any other way, and the blog would be boring if the kit was just assembled from the box...

Detailing the cockpit floor

Test fit of the warm air tubing for the cockpit.

Hi Florin
Thanksfor the quick response to my question.
At the moment most of my references are on a PC at the family home,I had them on a micro Sd card for my tablet,which got corrupted and lost the lot,I'm now waiting on the ex to go back to work so I can reload them to a new card without her complaining.

Keep up the great work.


Chris

Thanks, will do!

Another, more accurate leather cover was made. How much of it will be visible in the end remains to be seen.

Need to build a new radio. These are the 1/32nd accurate shapes and sizes. Center is what will become the SCR-522 radio with the Dynamotor to its right. The Aires radio seen to the left is undersized (9 by 7 by 7 millimeters) when it should have measured 12.80 by 9.96 by 8.5 mm to be scale accurate. The Dynamotor should measure 9.88 by 6.47 by 4.06 millimeters.

Interesting that Aries got the battery so undersized. Here in the states car batteries actually vary is size by quite a fair amount. Could have Aries modeled a different size battery?
Joel

Nope, that's supposed to be the SCR-522-A radio set, they didn't even bother replicating the battery, it is completely missing.
Come to think of it "the radio" does look more like a car battery than anything else...

A more accurate cockpit floor

Now this is a decent SCR-522A radio and battery!