ijs302 Posted April 22, 2021 Share Posted April 22, 2021 Hi i;m confused [more than normal] all the photos of the mustang show yellow lettering of happy jacks go buggy on the nose i have the kits world 1/72 decal sheet which shows it in green so who is right i wonder any help would be appreciated thanks ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted April 22, 2021 Share Posted April 22, 2021 Ian, It's yellow! The late Jack Ilfrey provided first-hand knowledge as to the colors and markings to ex-USN F-18 pilot Dr. Bruce Winters, who had his P-51D restored as Ilfrey's Mustang, 'Happy Jack's Go Buggy.' See the linked photo. The Mustang has an operating gun sight as well as AN/APS25 tail warning radar, which was not fitted to Ilfrey's D-5; the only other major concession to historical accuracy was the dorsal fin strake, which the FAA requires on all bubble canopy Mustangs; the D-5 that Ilfrey flew did not have the fin strake. I get to see this Mustang all the time, as it flies over my house almost every Friday when the weather is VFR. Nice tribute model, especially as Jack was a Houston, TX native. Everything I have seen and read stated the lettering of HJGB was yellow. Mike https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/P-51D_Mustang_Happy_Jack's_Go_Buggy_2008.jpg Period photo- note the yellow lettering appears to match the yellow prop tips. https://imodeler.com/2019/11/happy-jacks-go-buggy-eduard-1-48-p-51d-5/ Another period photo http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/18463 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silberpferd Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 However, from the American Air Museum link, the colors appear to be green, yellow and red Laurent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toryu Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 2 hours ago, silberpferd said: appear to be green, yellow and red Colour shift due to poor photo quality, in my view. Enlarge it further and the green and yellow merge. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ijs302 Posted April 23, 2021 Author Share Posted April 23, 2021 Thanks everyone for the info /links, I will see if I can find another source of decals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tbolt Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 Have they done the writing green, outlined in yellow, so they haven't got the lettering style right? I wish more decal companies would supply alternate lettering/artwork when then a questions about the colour. A few have done it but too many just go with one colour. A classic one is the P-47 "Miss Plainfield" which Kits World have printed the background in red. But Google it and you will see artwork and models where some are red and some are blue yet they only went with red. Problem is there is one photo that proves it's not red that they obviously didn't see when doing the artwork, so why don't they cover themselves and do both? I now do research before buying decals as I've ended up with too many decals with poor research that are now unusable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 IIRC, Jack Ilfrey's P-51D-5 NA , 44-13761, appears to have had yellow letters outlined in red, if the period color photos are correct- see below. Later on, 20th FG Mustangs had the 'piano key' black and white bars applied to the cowling, and you can see photos of Ilfrey's Mustang with these markings below; note that in those photos, the lettering appears darker (maybe the green that is on some decal sheets?) and you can clearly see his Mustang also now has the dorsal fin strake. You can't see the serial, nor is there a listing for a second HJGB in the 8th AF Little Friends website, so I am guessing that Jack's D-5 had the fin strake fitted by means of a factory supplied kit at some point in time, which was frequently done until very late in the D-5 production block when it was fitted at the factory. (Never thought to ask him about his Mustang's markings when he used to come to our IPMS chapter annual contest to meet and greet and autograph copies of his book, Happy JJack's Go Buggy- a Fighter Pilot's Story. which has color photos and profiles, IIRC.) He always sat with Tex Hill, AVG ace, Jack Parr, Korean War Sabre ace, and Dick Cole, Jimmy Doolittle's co-pilot...needless to say, we were all starstruck to have them with us at our Alamo Squadron IPMS annual contests! Class acts and true gentlemen, all. Hope this helps. FWIW, Bruce Winters, who owns HJGB, is a great guy, and he and the Midwest Aero did a lot of research into the colors and markings. Mike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_M._Ilfrey http://www.midwestaero.com/articles/HappyJacks_Sept2009.pdf https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/127594-happy-jacks-go-buggy/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 @ijs302 Ian, In case you want to do Ilfrey's P-51D as it looked with the 'piano key' cowling markings and the dorsal fin fillet, I have attached a link to an article that discusses and illustrates the strakes fitted in the field and at the factory. Differences are hard to discern in many photos, but once you see them together, they are pretty easy to differentiate. There was a long and detailed description of these as fitted to P-51B/C/D Mustangs on the P-51 SIG, but I can't post photos from that site without permission. I hope you and others will find the information useful- we also had a pretty good discussion with drawings/photos on this same subject a while back here on BM, and you could search for it. Mike https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/74566-revell-early-mustang-check-mate/ In either scheme, it will be a pretty Mustang and a wonderful tribute to a great combat pilot and a real gentleman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ijs302 Posted April 23, 2021 Author Share Posted April 23, 2021 Hi Mike thanks again for all the information that has been a great help I really want to make some of the 20th fg aircraft as I am quite local to the old airfield, I really wished I had met the brave men who flew from there during the war it must have been a privilege to meet them, having flown in a p51 for about an hour I couldn't imagine what it was like all the way to Germany and back. Thanks again Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 1 hour ago, ijs302 said: I really wished I had met the brave men who flew from there during the war Ian, I think you will enjoy reading this article. Can't wait to see his Mustang finished! Mike https://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=139675 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ijs302 Posted April 24, 2021 Author Share Posted April 24, 2021 Hi Mike I think I have found some more decals which I need to order from the big H in lowestoft, oh no not too much pressure I'm sorry to say my modelling skills are not as good as quite a few builds on here, as I get older my fat fingers and weary eyes don't help, having searched my stash I've found a few more mustangs and decals that I wanted to do and maybe a p38 as well Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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