P-51D, 359 FG, 8th Air Force, RAF East Wretham

[Mitch K]

The twinned build has come to the point where I have to split them out. The 359 FG flew out of East Wretham, a village about seven miles from where I was born, first with P-47's, then P-51's, initially B models then D's. 

 

The blue-tailed 370 FS (callsign Redcross or Rollo) included among its ranks Captain Raymond "X-Ray Eyes" Wetmore. Wetmore, from California, ended the war as a 21 year old Major, the Group's leading scorer and the eighth-highest scoring American ace in the European theatre, with 21.25 kills. He died in 1951, staying in his crippled F-86 to avoid it crashing into houses when it went out of control during landing. I'm building Wetmore's "Daddy's Girl".

 

The decals I ordered finally arrived a day or so ago. These are SuperScale 72-806, and I have to say they are a very mixed bag. The instructions are hit and miss: on "Daddy's Girls", the serial number is painted across the rudder on an area that is left in natural metal, not painted blue. This is missed. All the photos of "Daddy's Girl" show thew black theatre markings on the wings and stabilisers, but are missing from the instructions.

 

Then it gets odder. All the bits specific to individual aircraft on the decal sheet are in 1/72 scale, but the serials and national insignia are 1/48th!

 

 

[Mitch K]

Now, with pictures!

 

The theatre markings and olive green anti-glare went on first. The base metal colour is Tamiya silver, with a couple of coats of Klear over it. It looks lovely, but I've found that this silver tends to "dust" terribly unless it's sealed down.

 

 

Followed by the squadron blue on the tail and the group-specific green on the nose. These are home mixes from Tamiya acrylics. Everything has had gloss over it at this stage, ready for decals.

 

 

Here's what I mean about the decals. The SuperScale sheet is at the back/underneath, with the Airfix sheet over the top for comparison. Careful measurement of things like codes, serials, heraldry etc on the SuperScale sheet reveals these are spot-on dimensionally, but look at the stars and bars, and the stencils! These are 1/48 scale. Many years ago in the 1980's I first came across Microscale and the vaguaries of their instructions and decals, but they had nothing on this!

 

[Mitch K]

Anyway, without further ado, here she is, done. I've put a post in the Gallery already. 

 

Had I had more time I might have gone with brake pipes and the whole Turkish orchestra, but I've been under the cosh timewise with both Mustang builds (my own fault, I spent too long on the Mediterranean GB). I replaced the aerial with a reshaped pin, and added gun barrels from 0.5mm capillary tube. I hope it's suitable tribute to Ray Wetmore and the rest of the men of the Eighth Air Force who gave so much.