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KP Models 1/72 P-51B Mustang 'Heller-bust'


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This is a subject I've been wanting to do for sometime! The 352nd FG were one of the leading FG's in the 8th AF based at Debden and gained the nickname 'The Blue Nose B'stards of Bodney'. Lt Edwin Heller was amongst the leading aces from that FG and scored more ground kills than any other pilot in the 352nd. He was one of the first in the FG to have the Malcolm hood fitted to his P-51B/C, due to him being quite tall. The kit is nicely detailed and has the all important wing leading edge kink about right which is the biggest error in some other P-51B/C kits. The kit was built oob, except for the Eduard seatbelts and KP's own resin drop tanks and wing racks and was painted with Vallejo paints. I dedicate the build to Jan Polc of AZ/KP Models, who has helped out with some things!

 

thanks

Mike 

 

 

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Edited by Mikemx
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1 hour ago, Doc72 said:

A very fine looking Mustang!

Are the dropped flaps part of the kit or your own modification? I think, they add a lot to the look of the model.

You can model them up or down. When it comes to flaps, Mustangs seem to be the opposite of Spitfires. Most pics of Mustangs I see on the ground have dropped flaps whereas Spitfire's flaps, should for the most part be modelled up.

 

thanks

Mike

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9 minutes ago, Mikemx said:

You can model them up or down. When it comes to flaps, Mustangs seem to be the opposite of Spitfires. Most pics of Mustangs I see on the ground have dropped flaps whereas Spitfire's flaps, should for the most part be modelled up.

 

thanks

Mike

As I understand it, not necessarily correctly, Spitfire flaps were kept raised to avoid interference with radiator airflow and Mustangs' plain flaps were lowered on the ground so as not to be walked on.

 

Very nice job indeed.

Edited by JosephLalor
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Nice model.  Great finishing..  I like the high deck, Malcolm hood version.

 

On the subject of flaps wasn't it something to do with hydraulic pressure?  I think the under carriage was raised hydraulically, on the ground with the engine stopped, the hydraulic pressure bled away and the inner undercarriage doors would tend to drop.  I assumed the same applied to the flaps - or is all this a popular urban myth I am perpetuating, not being a Mustang expert?

 

 

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36 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

Nice model.  Great finishing..  I like the high deck, Malcolm hood version.

 

On the subject of flaps wasn't it something to do with hydraulic pressure?  I think the under carriage was raised hydraulically, on the ground with the engine stopped, the hydraulic pressure bled away and the inner undercarriage doors would tend to drop.  I assumed the same applied to the flaps - or is all this a popular urban myth I am perpetuating, not being a Mustang expert?

 

 

 

Could well be. If you look at pics of Mustangs though the landing gear doors are usually more up than down if they were just sat there. Sometimes they would droop down in an uneven fashion, so one landing gear door would be further down than the other. I tend to have them fully up or fully down as it's easier, plus it's hard to say they were never like that.

 

thanks

Mike

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Lovely build Mike! Just one tiny thing - the 352 flew out of RAF Bodney in Norfolk (hence the name), about two miles from where I was born. Bodney was a pre-war RAF station that was taken over and improved by the USAAF. There's very little left of it now, as it has very largely reverted to agricultural land, although there is a memorial to the men of the 352 which can be visited by prior arrangement. 

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