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Ethical question - P-51D decal disaster...


al_the_drummer

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Hi BM'ers...

 

Hope life is treating you all well and robust health abounds.

 

So - a quick question/poll:

 

I've had some time recently to dive back into the hobby, and have completed some nice-enough 1/72 builds - satisfying enough that I'll post one in RFI soon. As a treat to my braille-scale cack-handedness, I started building a Tamiya P-51 in 1/48, specifically the Korean War edition with the drop-tanks and rockets, that had been in my stash for a few years. I decided to get some decals to do a WWII scheme at the time of purchase, ideally a mix of NMF and either invasion stripes and/or some camo - and got a lovely EagleCals set including Lou IV, the perfect scheme.

 

The Korean War-era P-51, now the F-51D, had the additional tail fillet. 

 

Lou IV did not have the fillet, even slightly.

 

I work as a photographer, have had a ruinous year like so many, have a bright and bouncing nearly 6-month-old infant, and as such – very obviously – literally don't have the budget or real justification to purchase new decals. Current maths runs as £12 for a set of decals in fact = 1.4 packets of baby's preferred nappies, and the spare pennies are far too tight to mention...

 

I'm tempted to just modify the scheme to extend the camo across the fillet down to the spine of the body, as the build has been much, much fun so far and doesn't deserve the shelf of doom.

Another part of me asks, is it a mark of disrespect to the aviators who flew these planes to ignore such a glaring inaccuracy?

 

I'd be really interested to hear anyone's thoughts, if you've got a minute to reply.

 

Happy modelling to all...

 

 

Edited by al_the_drummer
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Just remove the tail fillet and fill and rescribe as necessary - however the prop may be a problem. IIRC the Korean War aircraft had the uncuffed prop. As for disrespect - we are talking about plastic kits, not war graves.

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Where are you in the build? As long as the decals are not yet on, @MilneBay has an excellent suggestion. It may well be the kit has the HS prop.

 

If the decals are one, well, you could just leave it. The model is for your enjoyment. 

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26 minutes ago, al_the_drummer said:

The Korean War-era P-51, now the F-51D, had the additional tail fillet. 

the fin fillet was introduced in fairly early on in the D variants.   It's not that hard to remove, and Lou IV has camo on the bit you remove as well.

 

30 minutes ago, al_the_drummer said:

literally don't have the budget or real justification to purchase new decals. Current maths runs as £12 for a set of decals

our 'wanted' section is back open.  

Eduard have been churning out P-51D kits, the profipacks come with multiple options.  Someone will have spares. Actually, there are ooodles of AM Mustang decals, so someone will have spares.

Do a bit of research, say,  look at the Eduard site,  see what is in the profipacks and ask,  it's polite to offer payment, but many folks will just send them as general modeller goodwill.  Airfix have recently done a P-51D as well.

 

Or, just swap or sell the decals, Eduard have done a D-5 boxing so there is now a kit for them. 

 

 

13 minutes ago, MilneBay said:

IIRC the Korean War aircraft had the uncuffed prop

It does,. but still has the cuffed, both seen here, cuffed left, uncuffed right.

1533_1_tam61044_4.jpg

 

HTH

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4 hours ago, al_the_drummer said:

Another part of me asks, is it a mark of disrespect to the aviators who flew these planes to ignore such a glaring inaccuracy?

 

Regarding the ethical aspect of your problem, I don't think it is a mark of disrespect by any means. I think any surviving Mustang pilot would be more pleased that you were building a model of the type of aircraft that he flew than he would be upset at an errant fin-fillet.

 

Cheers, 

 

Stew

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9 hours ago, al_the_drummer said:

 

I'm tempted to just modify the scheme to extend the camo across the fillet down to the spine of the body, as the build has been much, much fun so far and doesn't deserve the shelf of doom.

Another part of me asks, is it a mark of disrespect to the aviators who flew these planes to ignore such a glaring inaccuracy?

 

I'd be really interested to hear anyone's thoughts, if you've got a minute to reply.

 

Happy modelling to all...

 

 

Interesting question.
A mark of disrespect?

 

No - most certainly not!

Not in my opinion anyway - especially since you are honest enough to freely admit the inaccuracy.
 

There is no compulsion in any of this to make our models ‘perfect’  - if there was, I would have given up years ago.

😀

 

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I had the issue with the fin fillet on my Fujimi Mustang 25 years back (at that time there were no P-51D kits without it). It was not too difficult to remove as you will see on my 'Lou IV' here (scroll down there for Lou IV).

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Hi Al,

 

Looks like your kit has both styles of prop.  That being the case, all you need to do is use the cuffed prop, cut down the fillet and do any restoration work on the tailplane fairing and rear fuselage as necessary.  I'd say you're good to go.

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There are no ethical issues whatsoever involved in making any model of any factual or fictional subject of your own, or others' devising for your own private purposes.

The only points where ethical issues MIGHT arise would only come if you display such a thing in public.

And even then only if

- you portray something obscene or grossly offensive to public decency standards or the laws of the territory where you display it

- if you knowingly make a historically inaccurate model which you knowingly portray in public as factual. If you display it as "hypothetical", "speculative", "fictional", then no ethical problem at all.

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10 hours ago, al_the_drummer said:

is it a mark of disrespect to the aviators who flew these planes to ignore such a glaring inaccuracy?

Obviously just my view, but I think you might be taking things too seriously. Remember, this is just a hobby about gluing bits of plastic together, it isn't some sort of obligation to the past. I used to be much more concerned about accuracy, but found that the less emphasis I placed on historical accuracy, the more I enjoyed the hobby and at the end of the day, isn't that the point of a hobby. Speaking for myself, I'm a modeller, not a historian. No one here appears to be offended by my mangling of history – quite the opposite from my experience. And no pilot has come back to haunt me… yet.

Also, how likely is it that your model will end up in a museum? 99% of our models will probably end up in land fill.

 

As I often say, “Your model, your rules”. Do what ever YOU want to (or can afford to).

 

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35 minutes ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

It’s true!  @Gorby mangles history, plastic and even the English language all the time - and he still gets more likes than me! 🤬

Love the comment but I donated your like to the previous post.

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I would say you can try to remove it like others have said, but it's not a necessary action. If you're showing another modeler or aviation geek we would all totally understand. However, if you're showing someone with no knowledge on the subject, they won't know the difference and it's an opportunity to educate someone! What better way to honour P-51 pilots than telling people all about them!

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Thank you all for such considered responses... I'm really chuffed you took the time to share your thoughts.


The thought of surgery is a little worrying, as it's not something I've attempted before. However, I've just managed to scratch build a reasonably convincing (if slightly cartoonish) interior for Eduard's 1/72 La-7, and have rigged a couple of biplanes with no significant collateral damage, so perhaps it's time to take the plunge and break out the razor saw. Eeeek.

 

On the other hand...maybe not. It's been great to read the differing perspectives you have, and am glad overall that no-one thinks I'd be disrespectful if I can't bear to slice the plastic. The enthusiasm of my step-son, and fascination of the baby with all these little shiny things is motivation enough to bring this to a conclusion one way or the other, and yes - being able to enthuse about our history from all angles is a real joy.

 

In the meantime, I'm going to put together an OOB of Airfix's Spitfire Mk Vb and ponder hacking up an otherwise beautiful kit!

 

Happy weekend out there in BM-land.

 

Al

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3 hours ago, dnl42 said:

Woohoo!

 

You'll never be satisfied with the box contents again... :coolio:

This is true, you just crossed a particularly particular Rubicon.

 

Welcome brother.

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It starts with a tail fillet.

 

Now there is no going back....

 

Doors, canopies, inspection hatches, shortened wings...

 

The descent has started!

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Al.. i'm sure all those young men who fought (and many died ) in these aircraft, on which ever sides they fought for would not object to you representing the aircraft they flew in , in your own way. I'm sure they would be more pleased that you want to keep the memory alive of what they did rather than get offended that you might bend history a little for 'art'.  Looking forward to seeing the finished result!  We all have our own objectives when we open that kit box.  I was considering putting some  over-wing Sidewinders  and a GBU bomb on my Tamiya 1:48 Beaufighter Mk X recently. Lockdown must be getting to me! There are plenty of 1:1 museum pieces and flaying legends which are and get painted up as particular aircraft. i think the IWM P-51 "Big Beautiful Doll" which hangs in the IWM main hall is an example.. maybe wrong.. Enjoy the modelling! 

 

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Thank you so much, everyone, again for your thoughts...

 

It's only fair to follow up, I think:

 

ZmFZCS.jpg

 

So - not too bad for a first attempt at this kind of modification I'm satisfied that it's just about good enough. The sliced hole was stuffed with plasticard, trimmed, sanded, filled, cured, sanded, filled, cured and finally sanded and polished. It's not perfect, but encouraging enough to try again, and possibly something a little more complex. Epoxy putty is on the shopping list...

 

Again - thanks for the inspiration. I'll have this in RFI in the next week or two.

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