RZP

Can you give an example? If you're talking about the louvres, this is the point that Terry and I were trying to make. These louvres were applied to some of each of the four Merlin versions used by the RAF (B, C, D, and K), so they are not a feature that distinguishes the Mk. IVa version from the others. There are also many examples of the IVa without them. There are a good number of Mk.IVs (P-51Ds) that were delivered directly from maintenance units to squadrons with the louvres (for instance some with serving with 442 Squadron RCAF eg. KH647, KH659, KH668). And there were many Mustang IIIs with them, of both the B and C version. Movement of panels between aircraft would be an exception rather than the rule I think. Post edited to tone down late-night crankiness...

I suppose it could happen in theory but it wouldn't be a very widespread practice at all, certainly not enough to spread one particular cowling panel through three different sub-types and different squadrons, or theatres of war. Adam, you have to think about what would be going on in practice on a squadron at the ground crew level. For the most part crews would keep all the various parts and panels removed from an aircraft together so that they could reassemble them efficiently and quickly. They want to make sure that things fit without trouble. Technically, sure, one panel from a Mustang could fit on another but why would you do that if you didn't have to? If you look at American practice, sometimes they even labelled panels with the serial number of their aircraft so they wouldn't go walking. RAF crews wouldn't be much different. Especially in the RAF you would see a lot more mismatched paint patterns, or camo panels on NMF aircraft or vice-versa. Hope that didn't sound harsh, it's not meant to. There is just other evidence that makes more sense. Richard

Terry is correct, this was not something applied only to the Mk.IVa. The louvres were not a production addition, they appeared only on RAF aircraft and included Mustang IV, IVa and IIIs. There is not a lot of documentation regarding why and when they were added, but we do know that they were added after delivery to the RAF. Many of the Mk IV aircraft received them, one example being KH663 of 303 Squadron. They were seen on many Mk IVa aircraft but certainly not all. And they were also added to a number of Mustang IIIs. There was no panel swapping involved, as they were not an integral part of the cowl panels but were bolted/riveted on, There were a couple of versions, some more elegant than others and they were attached over the existing ram air intake. In the first photo below you can see the original intake holes behind the louvres. They were an RAF field modification but at this point no documentation has come to light describing the work required or where it was required to be done; Squadron level or maintenance unit, or pre-delivery to Squadrons. Since some of these ended up in the MTO perhaps it was done after acceptance but before sending on to Squadrons? My father, an engine fitter with a Polish Mustang squadron, suggested that they were intended to prevent moisture from entering the intake and freezing since many of their sorties were flown in less than ideal conditions over the North Sea. Polish Squadron Remembered Sid Bregman via my own collection This last one also shows the elusive anti-glare shield that was fitted to many RAF Mustangs at some point but quickly disappeared. Evidence of the fitting being removed can be seen often on camouflaged examples where the paint is discoloured. You can see this on the centre photo of the Mustang III (KH466/9G-Y of 441 Squadron RCAF) just above and behind the exhausts. Cheers, Richard

Good eye!! I didn't catch that, hopefully MPM will have that right in the kit. It is just the boxtop artwork though, and still pretty spectacular at that. Richard PS: Loved your PS comment too.

It's been a long wait for a 1/32 kit of this aircraft!! I am so excited that this is being released, it's always been one of my favourite aircraft. Such a rugged brute but still very sleek. I think they will be two separate kits. On a Czech modelling forum Alfred Reidel of MPM gave these markings as the choices for the decal sheet; all Tempest Vs: "I chose these: SH32049 description camo A Camo Hawker Tempest Mk.V, NV969/SA-A, No.486 (NZ) Sqn. RAF base Fassberg, Germany, April 1945. NV969 was the personal aircraft of the Squadron Commander, New Zealander Sqn. Ldr. Warren "Smokey" Schrader, DFC and Bar. The pilot scored 7 and ½ victories from 10 April 1945 to 1 May1945 in the cockpit of NV969. Became the second most successful Tempest pilot (after Sqn. Ldr. Fairbainks). 12 victories overall. B Camo Hawker Tempest Mk.V, JN862/JF-Z, No.3 Sqn. RAF, Royal Air Force Station Newchurch, Kent, England, August 1944. JN862 was flown by F / Lt. Remy van Lierde, DFC and Bar, a Belgian flying in the RAF. With six previous victories in other types of fighters R. van Lierde joined 3 Sqn on Tempests and scored 44 victories against V-1s (35 +9 in collaboration). Tempest JN862, in addition to invasion stripes, had the spinner adorned in Belgian tricolor stripes. JN862 had older type wheels fitted with smaller disks. In August 1944, after damage repair was returned to No.3 Sqn and flew with the codes JF-Q. C Camo Hawker Tempest Mk.V, EJ705/W2-X, No.80 Sqn. RAF base B80 Volkel, The Netherlands, winter 1944/45. Machine flown by Plt. Off. F.A. Lang (RAAF). On 22nd January 1945 Lang destroyed 2 gliders on the ground and the next day shared in downing a Bf109. EJ705 with an ornate kangaroo emblem was heavily damaged by fire on 11th March 1945. D camo Hawker Tempest Mk.V, SN165/ZD-V, No.222 Sqn. RAF base B91 Kluis (Malden), The Netherlands, April 1945. In an attack on Fassberg airfield 11th April 1945 SN165 was hit by flak which smashed the canopy and damaged the armored headrest and horizontal stabilizer. Sqn. Ldr. Emanuel Barnett Lyons, DFC was wounded in the head but still flew this "convertible" over 200 miles back to base. SN165 was originally coded ZD-H, repainting caused the rectangles of fresh paint. Vertical tail rudder was replaced and its camoflauge did not match the rest of the aircraft. "

  Fundekal products are very meticulously researched and of excellent quality. You can't go wrong with their decals. One of their decal sheets covers a Polish-American from the Bronx who flew Spitfires with the RCAF in N.W. Europe...that covers a lot of bases!! If you've modified your request to Americans flying with the RAF then there are probably a number of choices. One that would be very interesting would be Squadron Leader David "Foob" Fairbanks who led 274 Squadron on Tempest Vs. Not sure if there are decals available but it would be relatively simple to come up with the codes: http://www.hawkertempest.se/fairbanks.htm Richard

I think he's thinking of Hasegawa's Typhoon maybe? Hasegawa has never done a Tempest in any scale, although I've dreamt of them doing one in 1/32... The Academy Tempest is very nice out of the box really, as FalkeEins model shows. I have read that there might be issues with the wing plan, but as Falke said "there's not much in it" for fixing it, I don't think the improvements made would be worth the effort and potential for making things worse. Build it OOB, it fits nicely and is a nice moulding...but I agree that you will need new aftermarket decals. There are much better decals available than the Academy kit decals, with all respect to Falke for making them work in this case! Cheers, Richard

I agree, not as many images as I thought. To be honest it took me a while to find photos of the starboard side at the right angle to see the wing undersides clearly! They were either in shadow or not low enough to see under the wing. I did find a few, and I can send you links if you like. Richard

The lights were not removed. They are visible in photos of RAF Mustangs where the underside of the starboard wing is clearly visible/better lit. Richard

Actually, judging from photos this model does depict how the aircraft likely looked. There is a very sharp colour Kodachrome image of this particular aircraft, and it clearly shows the latter style of 4th Fighter Group marking sweeping under the cowl in precisely the manner that Sean portrayed here. In fact he absolutely nailed where the "MY" and the loop of the "A" of Achin' crossed from the red nose to the natural metal panels. Moving the serial number forward onto the vertical stab was a common practice in the 4th and shows in many photos. Unfortunately the photo I have in front of me (in the book The Debden Warbirds by Speer, Schiffer Military History Publications, pg. 215) doesn't show enough of the aircraft to confirm that or the red wingtips. I will look at home to see if any other reference has a better shot. There also seems to be some confusion about what the serial number was, so perhaps "OLE-III" was not the same aircraft? I don't have all my references to hand, so I might do some digging tonight at home. Regardless, Sean's model is an absolutely stunning build. He's taken an excellent kit and built something that is perfectly finished and weathered. Amazing job! Richard

Have to say I love Mustangs in RCAF markings, but I'm very biased. Fabulous job Paul! Keep them coming. Hope you don't mind,a colour image from the period: Again, lovely build! Richard

I think the Luftwaffe stuff has been dealt with/will be dealt with by Revell Germany and others. The German kits Airfix has done are good choices for them to make some money...109E, 110, but there are so many RAF types that should be done/redone. Just off the top of my head, I would like to see: 1/72 Vampires!!! Tempest V Typhoon Ib (maybe a nice car-door) continue the Spitfires ... XII, XIV, Seafire 47, retool the V Mustang III Whirlwind Blenheim Stirling Halifax III 1/48 Vampires!!! Tempest V Sea Fury Spitfires/Seafires... Blenheim 1/24 Spitfire IX Tempest V Martin Baker MB.5 (OK, that's not likely to happen...) Post-war: Shackleton Lincoln Lightnings! Hunters Spey Phantoms Meteors Venom Britannia Hastings Beverley Richard

Same issue on all three of mine. Interesting that all three also have the bent landing gear leg as well. I've sent Airfix an email although not sure what can be altered in the moulding process to address this. None of issues are difficult to fix, although it might disappoint the novice building it straight from the box. I still rate this kit very highly, and will buy many more. Cheers, Richard

Just got mine from Hannants, less than a week from ordering to delivery to my door in Canada! I'm impressed. I'm also very impressed with the Airfix Mustang! First glance shows excellent shapes and nice fine details. The panel lines are a tad heavier than Tamiya's ( Hasegawa's are the nicest ) to my eye, but certainly a tremendous improvement over the Airfix Spitfire IX and Mk.I. To my mind it's not an issue. I'll try to post a comparison of the fuselages from Hasegawa, Tamiya and Airfix sometime this weekend. The Airfix kit is excellent, not perfect, but easily stands next to the other two in quality. And the price is simply outstanding. I'll be buying a few more of these, and the F-51D when it is released. I'd recommend this kit without reservation. There are a couple of niggles though that have already been mentioned, but just wanted to confirm what others have found: -the elevator balances are not represented except by a sort of smooth rivetted plate...should be an easy fix to replace with resin after-market or just scribe the lines in. Airfix should have caught that though, as Graham said it shouldn't have been necessary to fix that. -the port (I think) main landing gear strut is bent on the sprue, looks like an issue during the withdrawing of the trees from the mould. All three kits I bought have that fault. -the windscreen design is like Tamiya's, might be a bit of a pain to install and blend in. - the canopy bubble and skirts are separate, sometimes difficult to secure cleanly. Aftermarket might be a better choice. To offset that though they got so much right that other manufacturers haven't, as others have mentioned. The correct wheel wells, properly designed flaps so that you can pose them dropped correctly, great shapes, a decent cockpit out of the box, and it's nicely engineered altogether. The other test will be in the building, and I'm sure we'll see a few here shortly. I'm sure others will comment as they build. I'm very happy with what I see so far, and while it may not have quite the same finesse that the Tamiya kit does, the Airfix kit is a real winner. What issues it does have are going to be easy to deal with. Now if they could do this for a Mustang III that would make a lot of people happy. Cheers, Richard

Thanks Barney. I love the way the Mustang looks in those colours, and until someone presents a colour photo from the GY-coded era your interpretation is as valid and well-researched as it could be. I just came to a different conclusion with what I found and there was a good discussion. The post about the later dark blue stripes was more in response to sabre0's post. I just wanted to show that sometimes you get lucky and colour photos do exist! Again, great job on finishing after a bit of a roadblock. Great photography too, the sunlight really enhances it. Gorgeous model. All the best, Richard

The latter 443 scheme was definitely dark blue. According to Jerry Vernon, who was the engineering officer at the time, the colour was the same as the blue in the roundel, from the same cans of paint. There are quite a few colour photo from the time, and apparently some colour film has surfaced showing that as well as the 442 red stripe. See the photos below. Barney's Mustang colours are based on a conversation we had on ARC, and I think his interpretation is interesting and very attractive. I have a different opinion of what the colour of the stripe was on the early 443 Squadron Mustangs, but without a colour photo Barney's ideas are just as valid. I've also correspnded with pilots in 443, and they only remember the later dark blue stripes, which would confirm Jerry Vernon's records. The stripes on the early GY-coded 443 Mustangs were definitely a much lighter colour. 443 was Hornet Squadron during wartime, and that legacy shows in the cartoon hornet in the crest. My original thoughts were that the stripe could be yellow (to go with the hornet theme). Jerry Vernon's initial reaction was "yech!". See the photos below, posted under fair use: 443 blue spinner and striping, hopefully the difference between the black anti-glare panel and the blue striping will come across on the monitor (much clearer on the original prints) : 442 Squadron red stripe, courtesy of Dave Koss at Leading Edge decals: Thread on ARC for those interested: 443 Squadron Mustang discussion on ARC Just shows the interesting different results that can happen from the best interpretation of black and white photos, and making an educated guess with the information you can gather. Until we find a colour photo, Barney's Mustang is possible. And if you prove to be right Barney, then I'll buy you a case of beer! I can post some more photos if people are interested, but I'll start another thread...I've already hijacked this one. Don't want to distract from Barney's gorgeous build. Cheers, Richard

Thanks gentlemen! I think I may go the route of having masks created, there is Ad Astra here in Canada that seems to have a good reputation. Maybe Xtradecals can be convinced to scale up some of their Seafire sheet to 1/32? Considering there are no kits available, probably not likely to happen. Cheers, Richard

I'm planning on converting a 1/32 Hasegawa Mk.V to a Seafire III using the Airwaves conversion and I'd like to do it in BPF markings. There is nothing produced specifically for the Seafire in 1/32, but would the size of markings for the Corsair or Hellcat work? I'm only just beginning to research the Pacific Fleet markings, and wondered if someone here might be more familiar with what is available? Thanks folks. Richard

I may be misinterpreting what your are saying, but I don't believe there were two different types of ram-air intake cover plates, one with 16 and another with 32. The louvres were attached over the existing plate of 32 holes, but four rows (of four holes) were hidden underneath the louvres. I've looked through dozens of photos, but unfortunately not many show what I am saying clearly enough. The best illustration is on a 316 Squadron Mustang III, and you can see the other rows of holes in the shadow...hopefully. And I'm not sure how well this scan will show, but on the original print you can see the other holes in behind. I will try to locate better close-ups if I can. Again, I apologize if I have misunderstood. Cheers, Richard

Thank you for all the kind comments folks, it was great to be involved, and everyone is so happy to see this particular airshow back on the schedule. Here are a few more, even some that don't have Mustangs in them...

Here are a few more of my photos. The B-29 shots were all taken at the airport in Buffalo, NY which is a short drive from Hamilton. The B-29 wasn't certified in Canada to carry passengers, so we had to take the media and photographers to her in the US. It all worked out well, and the weather could not have been better. As is typical for Americans, they were wonderful hosts and the aviation service center which hosted the B-29 at Buffalo put on a huge barbeque as a customer appreciation gesture but didn't discriminate. All were welcome to grab a burger or hot dog. A fun day, especially for those who got to go up in that beautiful sleek aircraft (sadly I wasn't one of them). It is as huge as you imagine!

The Hamilton Airshow took place over this last weekend in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. This was the 40th anniversary of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, and it was a great show. The airshow gods cooperated, and the weather was great although Sunday looked a little dodgy at first. The image of "Fifi" in the air with the Lancaster was something people won't soon forget. Watching Al Younkem tearing around in the sky in a Beech 18 was also astonishing. He did things you wouldn't imagine a vintage twin should be able to do in the air! The fighter flight was certainly unique too, Sabre, Spitfire, Mustang, P-40 and Corsair all in Canadian colours. I took a week off work and volunteered to help with the preparations for the show, and for tasks during the weekend itself. I quickly found out how much work is involved in planning and executing a huge show like this, and both paid staff and volunteers put in very long hours in the weeks before, but especially the last few days. They are a tremendously dedicated and fun bunch of people. When I had time I took some photos of what went on during the days before the show.The practice day on Friday is also fun if you get a chance to attend. One of the tasks involved babysitting the media and helping them get to where they needed to be for photos on the ground and in the air. I was fortunate enough to get a ride in the Lancaster, to watch the professional photographers work. The Hamilton Airshow is back! Here are a few of my images, thought I'd start a thread for anyone else who attended to post theirs. Richard

That is stunning. What a gorgeous restoration!! The Dolphin is my favourite British First World War aircraft. Not sure why, it's just so powerful and brutish ( as opposed to British!) looking. Probably the same reason the Tempest is my favourtie British Second War aircraft. And neither one is available in 1/32 scale yet! So wonderful to see the amazing work that's been done. Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh so to speak next time I'm over. Congratulations to everyone involved! Cheers, Richard

Although you were building a model of a modern warbird (a gorgeous one at that!), those drop tanks are just fine, both types were used in the ETO right to the end. As others have added above, the 75 gallon metal tanks (1/72 versions of course!) on your Mustang are correct. The paper 108 gallon tanks were produced in the UK and were just easier to use being lighter and easier to handle and readily available. If you go to the Little Friends website you'll see photos of both types used to the end of the war. Beautiful Mustang by the way! Little Friends: 8th Air Force Fighter Command Cheers, Richard

What do I think?! I think that's "bloody brilliant"!...or whatever a Brit would say. What do I know, I'm Canadian. Seriously, a wonderful build and perfectly finished. The surface is just weathered enough to portray a new aircraft and admirably captures the look of the P-39s in those famous photos from the Press Day at Duxford. Well done! Richard