Are there any 1/72 decals for Polish Mustang IVs?

[Procopius]

Hello all, hoping you can spare a moment to set your mighty brains loose upon my current bugbear. I was thinking it might be fun to do a Polish Mustang IV in 1/72, but there don't seem to be (m)any decals, aside from the sheet in Polish Mustang Units, which has a single NMF aircraft, and which doesn't include national markings (important in this case because the Mustang IV in question may have omitted the blue from at least one of the upperwing roundels). Am I missing something? Are there truly no decals out there in 1/72 for Polish P-51Ds?

[Navy Bird]

I only know of some Mustang III Polish decals:

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/210735-techmod-72028-north-american-p-51-mustang-iii

 

But maybe someone will come up with some Mustang IV sheets. What units do you have in mind?

 

Cheers,

Bill

[John Laidlaw]

@FalkeEins has a blog page on this very subject:

http://falkeeinsmodel.blogspot.com/2012/11/polish-mustangs-303-squadron-aj-press.html

 

It looks like the book is still available, although I don't know whether this particular burr will force you to spend this much:

http://aj-press.com/book/polish-mustang-units-polish-wing-hqs-and-nos-303-306-309-515-and-316-squadrons-in-britain/

[Procopius]

1 hour ago, Navy Bird said:

But maybe someone will come up with some Mustang IV sheets. What units do you have in mind?

 

Oh, 303, necessarily. But really I'm not picky. 

 

26 minutes ago, John Laidlaw said:

It looks like the book is still available, although I don't know whether this particular burr will force you to spend this much:

http://aj-press.com/book/polish-mustang-units-polish-wing-hqs-and-nos-303-306-309-515-and-316-squadrons-in-britain/

 

Yep, those're the only ones I knew of. I was hoping there were more out there. Now I have to think about how badly I want to do one of these.

[RZP]

There is also the Kagero Red Series (with decals) title Mustangs Over Europe, part 1: Nos. 309 and 303 Squadron, but it has the same aircraft KM112 on its sheet. I've seen the photo that seems to show the blue missing from the upper wing roundel but I'm not entirely convinced, yet. My father actually serviced that aircraft, but doesn't remember there being anything unusual in the markings...apart from the mirror image serial number under the wing. He is now 91 though, and his memory is not what it was. 

 

The other Mustangs in 303 were pretty straightforward. The best book by far is from Red Kite Books, 303 Squadron, Volume 3, 13 Nov.1943 to Present Day, by Wojtek Matusiak. It has dozens of photos of 303's Mustang IVs. The markings for most of these would be simple to put together from generic sheets. One interesting photo in the book is KH735, PD-W. This aircraft was received from 442 RCAF as Y2-W when it disbanded, and 303 Squadron left the "W" with the yellow outline as was the practice with 442. It didn't carry the 303 Squadron badge or the Polish chessboard on the nose, but it's different.

 

Richard

Edited February 15, 2017 by RZP

[Procopius]

1 minute ago, RZP said:

There is also the Kagero Red Series (with decals) title Mustangs Over Europe, part 1: Nos. 303 and 303 Squadron, but it has the same aircraft KM112 on its sheet. I've seen the photo that seems to show the blue missing from the upper wing roundel but I'm not entirely convinced, yet. My father actually serviced that aircraft, but doesn't remember there being anything unusual in the markings...apart from the mirror image serial number under the wing. He is now 91 though, and his memory is not what it was. 

 

I think I've seen your old thread on LSP! My understanding was that Mustangs over Europe was only 1/48 or 1/32...am I wrong in this?

[RZP]

39 minutes ago, Procopius said:

 

I think I've seen your old thread on LSP! My understanding was that Mustangs over Europe was only 1/48 or 1/32...am I wrong in this?

 

Hmmm...good point, you're right. I was only interested in the 1/32 scale sheet, and I just assumed that they did it in 1/72 as well. Sorry to steer you wrong, the Kagero site only lists 1/48 and 1/32. 

 

I'm wishing they did it in 1/24 too, but that would be a very small market. 

 

Edited February 15, 2017 by RZP

[John Laidlaw]

8 hours ago, Procopius said:

Yep, those're the only ones I knew of. I was hoping there were more out there. Now I have to think about how badly I want to do one of these.

 

The alternative is, having found a scheme you'd like to do, having the unique markings (squadron badge, etc.) printed by someone like Fireball Modelworks. That would be $8 for a 1/4 page print including white and metallic. Roundels and codes could be sourced elsewhere.

[303sqn]

Modelmania 3 P-51D Mustang, AJPress, came with a decal sheet for KH865 RF-P in the four most popular scales, complete with stencils. Lots of stencils.

[Cookenbacher]

I'm planning a 303 Mustang IV or two myself. I have the AJ press book and decals, but I think I'm going to cobble together an "RF" coded scheme rather than the "PD" markings that come with the book. The main thing you need is the Polish emblem and Kosciuszko badge, the rest can come from generic RAF squadron code and serial sets. An excellent source for the emblem and badges is Techmod's sheet for Jan Zumbach's Spitfire V: it comes with enough to make three models and I've used mine up and still haven't built Zumbach's Mk V!

 

The Red KIte 303 Sqn books are amazing. Vol 3 mentions that the DFS Mustangs were actually Mk IV's while the NMF ones were Mk IVA's, so I was thinking of building one of each.