***Finished*** My Interpretation Of "Lou IV" (44-13410) as of 26th July, 1944

[mark.au]

@Biggles87, @bigbadbadge and @Col Walter E Kurtz; thanks again gents, your comments and encouragement are very much appreciated.  
 

Without introductory comment, here’s where it’s at now...

 

 

The decals went down without incident.  I’m actually quite impressed with Airfix decals, they react well to setting agents and have very little carrier film.  

 

Overall I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out.  It’s one of my most complex paint jobs, there’s nine different colours painted on this fuselage, plus the Bare Metal Foil and each was painted quite precisely in terms of placement.  There’s a couple of places where I’ve slightly miscalculated paint application but I know that I’m being quite picky in that.  I did get the nose art backing paint right though, that was a relief.  The little dark triangle in the top right corner can be whatever colour you want it to be  but note that I did not use metallic paint, just sayin’... 
 

I’m going to focus on the peripherals now in preparation for the final assembly.  There’s not much more I can do on the fuselage before that so I’ll put it aside with the wings while I finish the stabilisers and flaps, plus begin work on the undercarriage, auxiliary fuel tanks and the canopy.

 

Cheers;

Mark

[bigbadbadge]

Looks flipping awesome with the decals in place over the paint too.  You did get the paint on very precisely compared with the photo  which is a cracking job.

Great work 

Chris

[Col Walter E Kurtz]

Erudite research and brilliant execution Mark. Your research has brought me down firmly in to the 'Blue' camp. I'm rather interested in the foil too. Thanks

[FalkeEins]

yes, I think so too - I may well attempt similar (ie  'copy' unashamedly) for my Revell build.  Excellent work!

[Anthony in NZ]

I have to say that I am really enjoying this thread.  I have never been one to believe the blue paint and just put it down to old film etc.

 

However your analysis and reasons for hetting to that conclusion have totally changed my mind on the whole blue concept.

 

By joves, I think you got it right ....and everyone was right.  Both blue and green.

 

Love this sort of analysis and so beautifully executed in your build

 

[mark.au]

14 hours ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said:

 I'm rather interested in the foil too. Thanks

The foil is from these guys (I have no affiliation with them): https://www.bare-metal.com. It’s very simple to use and not nearly as challenging as it seems.  Patience is the key, work slowly and with thought in terms planning the burnishing and it can be made to conform without wrinkles to almost any shape.  The radiator scoop is the most tricky part of the Mustang and I was able to cover it with one piece on this model.
 

If you’re further interested, I did a little tutorial in my piece on the 15th FG VLR Mustangs on my site https://making-history.ca/2020/07/19/running-on-fumes/.  Since doing that one I’ve learned to burnish with a hard edge as well (usually a wooden paintbrush handle) to really force the foil to conform to complex curves and shapes as well as remove wrinkles which has improved my results over that first one.

 

Thanks again  for the comments gents, much appreciated.

.

Edited December 13, 2020 by mark.au

[VT Red Sox Fan]

Just joining--this is an awesome build--really appreciate what you are doing with the foil.  Just out of curiosity, the forward fairing of the wing join looks spectacular with all those compound curves--how did you make that happen?  Thank you for sharing this spectacular build.  Best, Erwin

[mark.au]

5 hours ago, VT Red Sox Fan said:

Just joining--this is an awesome build--really appreciate what you are doing with the foil.  Just out of curiosity, the forward fairing of the wing join looks spectacular with all those compound curves--how did you make that happen?  Thank you for sharing this spectacular build.  Best, Erwin

Thanks Erwin.  I placed the foil in the middle of the curve first, then gently worked it outward in all directions so the foil was able to stretch to conform.  The trick in those kinds of areas is to make sure the foil is only in contact with the plastic at the point you’re working.  If you let it stick further out, it’s far more likely to tear as you work it into a tight area.  Hope that makes sense?

[heloman1]

Hi Mark, just found your build thread, as a Lou IV lover, I'm enjoying your build. I like the way you have tackled the photo interpretation. When I built my model back in the late 1970's, I certainly didn't look at the wing and fuselage shading. I think Scale Models carried the article, so I followed that info to the letter. It is only in recent years comments as to the blue vs green has come to my attention.

I think you have nailed it perfectly. Building another, it would be blue...

 

Colin

[VT Red Sox Fan]

5 hours ago, mark.au said:

Thanks Erwin.  I placed the foil in the middle of the curve first, then gently worked it outward in all directions so the foil was able to stretch to conform.  The trick in those kinds of areas is to make sure the foil is only in contact with the plastic at the point you’re working.  If you let it stick further out, it’s far more likely to tear as you work it into a tight area.  Hope that makes sense?

Thanks Mark—makes complete sense—thank you for a fascinating build—following with interest and awe—best, Erwin 

[mark.au]

Thanks gents, @heloman1 and @VT Red Sox Fan.

 

One of the minor tasks that needed completing was painting the wing roots.  I'd roughed in the blue on each side but I knew it didn't actually go all the way to the wing root fairing at the fuselage, there was another colour which my interpretation led me to believe was black.  So I took a look a the pics to determine how I'd paint it and noticed something;

 

 

 

In the images above the black "cloud" shapes extended all the way to the wing leading edge at the fuselage, but I knew I'd not painted them that way on the model.  I believe both pics above to have been taken at the same time, or very nearly, and show 413410 before the the yellow nose was painted.  As the wing is painted however, and we can see that the upper stripes were painted, these photos were taken in early or mid July.  

 

The picture below was taken on 26th July, perhaps week or two later...

 

 

...and it's clear that the panel directly below "Lou IV" must have been replaced as; a) it looks new and shiny, and b) there's no black paint on it unlike the early-July pics above.  Also, it explains why the yellow nose looks so pristine - it was!

 

Therefore, based on this I painted the black on the wing root only to the area where it angles out from the fuselage and back all the way to the trailing edge of the flap as seen on the early July photos.  I noted also that in the early-July profile pic it's clear that where the flaps have dropped the flap "leading edge" so to speak, was left in bare metal, so I painted mine that way too.

 

 

Something else became apparent when I was looking at the photos I took for this update; see how the blue in the pics above is quite subdued, even appearing a different hue of green...?  Here's another one, taken within a minute of the above in the same lighting but from a different angle...

 

 

I'd argue that this gives further weight to the blue proposition; one of the detractions from the blue theory is that it can't be seen in the photos (I think it can, but nonetheless) - these pics (though obviously not definitive proof) give an indication that blue doesn't always look blue.

 

And finally, yet another little detail popped out!  The late-July photo shows a rear view mirror which not installed earlier.  If it was a field mod it would explain the unusual placement on the right side of the windscreen rather than in the centre as would be expected.

 

In the model photos above the wing is not yet permanently joined to the fuselage.  I have a bit of finagling to get the fit I want - there's a little to do to make the wing roots better.  I expect I'll get that finished tonight though.

 

Thanks for reading, what a lot of effort for a bit of black paint at the wing root!  😄 

 

Cheers;

Mark.

 

.

Edited December 16, 2020 by mark.au
Typo

[VT Red Sox Fan]

Coming along nicely--inspiring me to build an earl P-51D myself!  Best, Erwin

[Jackson Duvalier]

I shan't reiterate how impressed I am with your photo interpretation, Mark.  😉

 

I did just notice the heavy post-shading (ahem) around the square pistol port plate just below the port side canopy rail.  Do you suppose they had the crew chief apply it with Tamiya X-19?

[bigbadbadge]

Hi Mark 

With the wing temporarily in place it looks fantastic and great colour research and explanations,  this is a fascinating thread.  Good spot on the mirror too.  Great work 

Chris

[mark.au]

3 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

I did just notice the heavy post-shading (ahem) around the square pistol port plate just below the port side canopy rail.  Do you suppose they had the crew chief apply it with Tamiya X-19?

I’d like to ask him how he did it because I’m not sure how I’m going to...  

 

A very small square of masking tape yes, but controlling the overspray will be tricky.  Maybe chalk pastels smudged into a bit of damp flat coat (I’m going to flatten the finish of the BMF because in the photos it doesn’t seem to have much shine - certainly not as much as the model has right now).

[mark.au]

I also noticed something else on the two early-July photos; they liklely weren’t taken on the same day as the E2 squadron code is clearly outlined in silver on the side-on photo but not on the close-up whereas the rest of the paint scheme seems the same.  
 

This tells me that the paint scheme was constantly being worked on - the go-faster stripes were a work-in-progress throughout July.

[GMK]

Mark, absolutely amazing work! Really admire your dedication to interpreting & replicating the Lou IV in scale. Excellent craftsmanship. 

[Hal LH]

Just would like to say how impressed I am by your detailed analysis of "Lou IV ", always enjoyed reading the discussions over the years ,For and Against, and quite a recent one over on Hyperscale started by Dana Bell. 

   Been going through old magazines to try to lighten the load in the loft recently, and came across an article from the October 1979  ( Where did that 41 years go !! ) issue of Airfix mag. by Michael Bowyer on spotting Mustangs during the war, and I thought I'd quote the last paragraph

                          "Although I recorded many RAF Mustangs IIIs, my most vivid memory of the P 51s will always date from a clear, warm, sunny evening, that of July,9, 1944 . I was in the same part of Bottisham airfield where , in 1940, I had tarried nervously at the sight of Tiger Moths, bombed up to meet the possibility of invasion. Now the tables were truly turned and Bottisham was certainly on the offensive.  Here at hand were a clutch of three P51s, natural finished at a time when about half the half the USAAF aircraft had shed camouflage. These were among those Bottisham Mustangs that had acquired a most superb blue upper decking to wings and fuselage .The colour was what I described in my diary as ' really Royal Blue'. I noted that it was not desecrated by the addition of invasion stripes above the main plane or wrapping around the fuselage. A generous American led me to 2106900: E2-H a P51-B-15-NA (which long serial I had to note very cautiously! ) and then we went to 2103588:E2-P a P51C-5-NT. Finally we wandered to one of the then new , P51D-50-NAs , 413765:E9-0 already resplendent in the blue scheme. With this dashing performer a Bottisham shape for over two years had all but gone"

                         Not sure what he meant with that last line , but it seems to me that after 5 years of spotting he could tell the difference between Green and Blue and by the sound of it he was allowed pretty close access to some of these aircraft, so not at any distance.

 

                      Hmm, Bombed up Tiger - Moths, Where's my 1/48 Airfix Tiggie ! 

Ps, I also found a letter in the February 1979 issue about Ta152 camouflage from an A. G . Boak , The name seemed familiar from somewhere !?

 

 Hope this has been of some interest.

 

 Cheers. 

[mark.au]

Thank you for that Hal, interesting indeed.  I’ve never read Michael Bowyer’s comments before, though familiar with his reportage on the blue Mustangs.  Like Dana Bell, I find it impossible to discount the contemporary notes of an experienced eye witness that there were blue Mustangs at Bottisham in July 1944.  They may not have been there in September, but they were there in July, I’m convinced of that.

 

In other news, I have attached the wings and will tidy the join and apply the last piece of BMF.  I’ll get to that next week though; for now, travel to Canberra for my daughter’s wedding on Saturday and I have father of the bride duties!  It will be a fabulous weekend.

[bigbadbadge]

Have a great weekend at the wedding Mark.

Chris

[Big Dave S]

On 13/12/2020 at 06:24, mark.au said:

Thanks Erwin.  I placed the foil in the middle of the curve first, then gently worked it outward in all directions so the foil was able to stretch to conform.  The trick in those kinds of areas is to make sure the foil is only in contact with the plastic at the point you’re working.  If you let it stick further out, it’s far more likely to tear as you work it into a tight area.  Hope that makes sense?

Goodness me! This is on a different level altogether.

[mark.au]

On 12/16/2020 at 8:31 AM, GMK said:

Mark, absolutely amazing work! Really admire your dedication to interpreting & replicating the Lou IV in scale. Excellent craftsmanship. 

 

 

10 hours ago, Big Dave S said:

Goodness me! This is on a different level altogether.

Thanks gents, comments very much appreciated.
 

So, the wings are now attached and I’ve applied the last piece of foil.  Not really enough for a picture update because the model doesn’t look much different than above.  I’m going to focus now on the undercarriage and fuel tanks so they’re ready for install and then the end is in sight.

 

My next decision is on the finish in terms sheen.  Lou IV seems to me to have been tarted up for its photo shoot (the yellow nose is brand new, for example) so weathering will be minimised but there is obvious signs of use in the pic below, so not entirely pristine.  There’s also the ticklish issue of the white splotches on the underside of the stabilisers.

 

 

Edited to add that that my daughter’s wedding was just a wonderful day, fabulous.

Edited December 21, 2020 by mark.au

[mark.au]

Ok, a small update.  I worked on the underside a little, adding the white splotches to the tail.  The pic here mostly to show the underside as I realised I hadn’t posted a shot of how it looks yet.  I’ve still got to flatten the finish and the the weathering, before adding the bits and pieces.

 

[bigbadbadge]

Looking absolutely splendid Mark.  Great interpretation of the photos I know I have learnt a lot from your excellent tgread and build.

Thank you 

Chris

[opus999]

I don't know how it got past me for so long, but I just discovered this.  The photo interpretation was fascinating, the work on the cockpit outstanding, and the rest of it simply beautiful.  I'll tag along for the rest of the ride, if that's OK!