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P-51D Wheel Bay Colours


McG

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Looking for some advice on the colours of the wheel bays for P-51D. The Tamiya 1/32 P-51D instructions call for interior green. 

 

I have seen builds online that use Zinc Chromate Yellow or Tamiya XF4 Yellow Green for the wheel bays. Some of these builds also have parts of the roof of the main wheel bays in silver. 

 

Does anyone have more definitive info? 

 

I'm building it as a P-51D-5-NA if that makes a difference. 

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You can do a search for the many discussions, color diagrams, and photos regarding the most commonly seen P-51D wheel bay and door colors  here on Britmodeller. Depending on the production block, there could be  several variations, but the one @bentwaters81tfw has stated is one of the most common. Those refurbished and overhauled examples used in Korea frequently had interior green or untinted zinc chromate primer applied to the wheel bays, but the wing spar was always treated with  zinc chromate primer. Are you talking WW2 or postwar, and  US or foreign user?

Mike

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Just read up on this as I built a P-51D-20 NA the other week.. And it was a little bit of a jungle at first.. Some soursces mention Interior Green on "early Mustangs". Which i got poo-poo for on other forums for mentioning.. ;)

Now I think those "early" Mustangs might be B/C or even Alison engined ones).

 

I go with what folks said here already - Zink Chromate wing spar and silver for the rest but there were probably blocks with painted wheel wells. Go with what looks the best for you?

 

Not sure that was a great answer but wanted to mention the interior Green (Korea era too huh?)

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@McG.

 

Seeing as how you are doing a EWW2 D-5, I would second Paramedic's suggestion of chromate yellow wing spar and bare metal wheel bay and inner gear fairing door surfaces; around the P-51D-20 block, things get a bit crazy, as finishes are all over the map!

Mike

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Please tell more about that. :) I assumed they went from making the hole pit Zinc Chromate to just the wing spar. Not soo it seems?

 

And slightly related.. (P-51D) I see people paint that frame between the radio and the fuel tanks in either black or interior green..

 

And.. Some call the floor covered in rubber while I see sources saying it was similar to the walk-panel on the wing - some mix of silica sand and black paint. (Maybe the same thing, almost) - but I guess both would chafe, similarly..

 

Just mention them sicne I ran across those too when I researched for mine.. That frame you might see in different colours anyways. The floor is some kind of black, whatever it is made of..

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1 hour ago, Paramedic said:

Please tell more about that. :) I assumed they went from making the hole pit Zinc Chromate to just the wing spar. Not soo it seems?

 

And slightly related.. (P-51D) I see people paint that frame between the radio and the fuel tanks in either black or interior green..

 

And.. Some call the floor covered in rubber while I see sources saying it was similar to the walk-panel on the wing - some mix of silica sand and black paint. (Maybe the same thing, almost) - but I guess both would chafe, similarly..

 

Just mention them sicne I ran across those too when I researched for mine.. That frame you might see in different colours anyways. The floor is some kind of black, whatever it is made of..

It was more the other way around. The spar was Yellow Zinc Chromate from the start and the rest unpainted. Then there was an issue with corrosion and the rest was painted YZC. Later again the whole was painted interior green, although I can't imagine why.

 

Dunno about the frame between radio and fuel tank. I paint it green, but are open to correction.

 

The floor was plywood painted anti skid black, but with use some of the black wore off.

 

This is for a WW2 bird. Then there was the Korea war, where a lot of F-51's was refurbished and had black cockpits ? 

 

Can of worms, really. The good stuff is that if you stick to your guns, nobody can disprove you, considering all the variations.

 

/Finn

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Alright! I had, for some reason thought, they started out painting it all then - to save time and money, not painted it (or was it painted silver?) Good to know! :)

 

Oh yeah i know about the wooden floor, what I meant, many call it rubber but other sources I´ve read doesn´t mention rubber but silica sand mixed with paint.

 

 

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Thanks all for the info. 

 

For the battery mounting frame - I painted this Tamiya LP3 flat black, based on a build thread I had seen on LSP. I've painted the battery LP5 semi gloss black and the fuel tank was painted either NATO black or rubber black, to give a contrast between the various shades of black. 

 

The floor I painted flat black and then painted some wood effect and painted black over the top to make it appear scuffed. 

 

I'll hopefully have some pics and a build thread soon. Just waiting on Barracuda Studios 1/32 P-51D cockpit placards to arrive from the US. 

 

 

 

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Yeah, would be nice to see. :) Sounds great though! You kinda treated those batteries and stuff like I did. Though I have done both IG and black frames.. No idea what is correct. Seems like 50/50 on actual builds.

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When Mustangs were refurbished for another nation or came up for IRAN (Inspect and Repair As Necessary)  or overhaul, the interior green cockpits were painted matte black, and the wheel bays and frequently the inner surfaces of the landing gear fairing doors were treated with YZC primer, as @FinnAndersen stated above, to prevent corrosion. At some point  postwar, the year escapes me at the moment, tinted zinc chromate, also known as interior green FS34151, became the standard finish for wheels bays, flap and speed brake bays, inner gear and bomb bay door surfaces, and interior spaces.

Mike

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  • 3 weeks later...

The YZC wing spar + natural metal well is the most probable condition in the P-51D-5s since it was still in use during the P-51B production.

Please note that, most of the time during the WWII-operational lifetime of any P-51D the main wheel doors were closed, not open.

It is fairly clear in all the wartime photographs, the doors would remain closed with engine running, then bleed open over time if the hydraulic circuit was bleeding pressure. It is also probable that pilots didn't force-bleed the hydraulic circuit after engine shutdown or crew didn't after servicing planes.

It's in the photographs: most show closed doors or slightly and asymmetrically opened ones.

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I think it was The History Channel that had a multi-part documentary on the Mustang. There is very nice color footage taken at Inglewood of production line activity. At least during that period you can clearly make out the yellow zin chromate main spar, yellow zinc chromate secondary structure; ribs etc. The rest is all bare aluminum. There is great footage of a company pilot running through line-up checks allowing the viewer a good view of the cockpit fixture color, that being the slightly brown version of interior green.

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7 hours ago, Paramedic said:

You know which documentary or if it happens to be on You Tube? :)

Possibly not the same documentary @wschurr mentioned as in this one the wheel bays are full YZC and not just the rear spar, but it includes some very well-known footage from the Inglewood plant, starting around the 32-minute mark:

Note the haphazard mix of (mostly) YZC and interior green fittings in the bay when the camera zooms in, this was actually very common throughout the P-51's production. The fully primed finish seen in this documentary began with dash 20 blocks at all factories, as this NAA Summary of Changes document from December '44 clearly demonstrates (second entry, entitled PRIMING OF METAL SURFACES).

spacer.png

Prior to this, only the rear spar and stringers were primed, leaving the roof and ribs and all the rest in NMF.

 

Hope that helps!

 

- Thomaz

 

 

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1 hour ago, TAG said:

Possibly not the same documentary @wschurr mentioned as in this one the wheel bays are full YZC and not just the rear spar, but it includes some very well-known footage from the Inglewood plant, starting around the 32-minute mar

Note the haphazard mix of (mostly) YZC and interior green fittings in the bay when the camera zooms in, this was actually very common throughout the P-51's production. The fully primed finish seen in this documentary began with dash 20 blocks at all factories, as this NAA Summary of Changes document from December '44 clearly demonstrates (second entry, entitled PRIMING OF METAL SURFACES).

spacer.png

Prior to this, only the rear spar and stringers were primed, leaving the roof and ribs and all the rest in NMF.

 

Hope that helps!

 

- Thomaz

 

 

It does indeed. So from the D-20-NT, you will have YZC wheel bays !

 

The great plane documentary is worth seeing, balanced and without undue enthusiasm.

 

/Finn

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2 hours ago, TAG said:

Possibly not the same documentary @wschurr mentioned as in this one the wheel bays are full YZC and not just the rear spar, but it includes some very well-known footage from the Inglewood plant, starting around the 32-minute mark:

Note the haphazard mix of (mostly) YZC and interior green fittings in the bay when the camera zooms in, this was actually very common throughout the P-51's production. The fully primed finish seen in this documentary began with dash 20 blocks at all factories, as this NAA Summary of Changes document from December '44 clearly demonstrates (second entry, entitled PRIMING OF METAL SURFACES).

spacer.png

Prior to this, only the rear spar and stringers were primed, leaving the roof and ribs and all the rest in NMF.

 

Hope that helps!

 

- Thomaz

 

 

 

At 32'31"-32'32"  of the  above footage it is clearly visible that the stringers are YZC while the Alclad skin remains unpainted (NM)

 

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25 minutes ago, steh2o said:

 

At 32'31"-32'32"  of the  above footage it is clearly visible that the stringers are YZC while the Alclad skin remains unpainted (NM)

 

I stand corrected, was mistakenly looking at the fuel tank location in the wings (sans tanks, of course), which are fully YZC in this clip, but the wheel wells do indeed have the rear spar & stringers in YZC with the rest left in NMF, so these must be pre-dash 20 Mustangs. Thanks @steh2o!

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