For years, many experimental aircraft builders have strived to re-create their favorite World War II fighters in miniature. For most, many hurdles had to be negotiated to get the right look, feel, sound and, of course, performance—all at the right cost of ownership. Until the advent of composite building techniques, forming all those compound curves of a fighter in metal just wasn’t within the means of your average builder. Then, getting the proper powerplant to look and sound like “the real thing” was next to impossible with the technology and funds at hand. Now with automotive/aviation V-8 conversions attaining a respectable degree of reliability, cost, and power coupled with these modern prepreg, composite techniques, the right combination has been reached. F.E.W.’s P-51D is a 67% scale version of the most famous fighter of World War II, and it looks the part, sounds the part and flies the part. The P-51D is stressed to ±6 G’s for aerobatics and is available in a dual-control version, the P-51TF.
F.E.W. “P-51D /TF”
Key Takeaways:
- Recreating miniature World War II fighter aircraft was historically challenging for experimental builders due to difficulties in forming complex metal curves and finding suitable, affordable powerplants.
- Modern composite building techniques have simplified the creation of intricate aircraft shapes, while reliable automotive/aviation V-8 engine conversions now provide appropriate power, sound, and cost-effectiveness.
- These advancements allow for the construction of highly accurate, high-performance scale replicas, such as F.E.W.'s 67% P-51D, which offers realistic aesthetics, sound, and flight characteristics, including aerobatic capability.
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