Tamiya 1/48 Mustang "dooleybird"

[stevej60]

Hi folk's,a recent posting of this kit and the upcoming Matchbox GB had me digging out this build of

 Tamiya's 1/48 kit I did a few years ago,yes this is a D so not 100% accurate for the MK iv and my take

on the scheme does not agree with those with a lot more knowlege of the subject but I went with Matchbox's

kit scheme from the 1970's which incidently the pilot was consulted on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Graham Boak]

Please clarify:  The Mk.IV was a D.  Was there some specific differences introduced for the RAF?  (The Mk.IVA was a K, but this is often ignored in photo captions.)

[Antti_K]

Lovely Dooleybird! I like this a lot.

I prefer this paint scheme with blue on top of the nose and on canopy frame. I wonder where they got the idea about yellow. The pilot himself said in an interview, that he couldn't remember what the colour was and in black and white photos it could be either. Flt Lt Doley held the Matchbox kit in his hands while giving the interview. It is possible that he remembered the correct colour very well and just wanted to be polite. Hopefully we will know one day.

 

Cheers,

Antti

[wellsprop]

1 hour ago, Graham Boak said:

Please clarify:  The Mk.IV was a D.  Was there some specific differences introduced for the RAF?  (The Mk.IVA was a K, but this is often ignored in photo captions.)

 

The Mustang Mk IV had uncuffed props (aeroproducts, rather than Hamilton standard) and air intake louvres. 

 

What a lovely Mustang! 

[stevej60]

1 hour ago, Graham Boak said:

Please clarify:  The Mk.IV was a D.  Was there some specific differences introduced for the RAF?  (The Mk.IVA was a K, but this is often ignored in photo captions.)

Hi Graham.I remember when posting this orignally I was told the RAF Mk V had a different prop to the Tamiya kit and the front grille on

either side of the lower engine covers on RAF machines had Louvres over them exactly as described by @wellsprop

[Graham Boak]

Thanks for the guidance, though I will be very surprised not to find photos of RAF Mustang Mk.IVs with cuffed props.  Late production P-51Ds had Hamilton Standard uncuffed props, as perhaps most commonly seen in WW2 in the Pacific theatre, but also elsewhere.  The common suggestion that uncuffed props = K (Mk.IVA) is certainly too simple.  I also think that you will find photos of RAF machines without the louvres.  Neither of these features are specific to Mark number - although may well be present on Dooleybird, I grant you!  However, this perhaps raised the question of whether the kit has the same canopy as the original aircraft, another feature that can be seen to differ on P-51Ds, if less so on kits.

[72modeler]

I'm pretty sure KM272 was a P-51K as seen in the linked photo; you can clearly see the Aeroproducts prop; those props had hollow blades and reportedly were a pain to keep in balance, and were frequently removed and the HS cuffed prop was put in its place. At some point in time, Dooleybird might very  well  have had the Hamilton Standard prop.

Mike

 

https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/raf-p51-dooleybird.23453/

 

It doesn't look like any of the K blocks were late enough to get the uncuffed HS prop with the square tips, as IIRC they were fitted beginning with the D-30 block

https://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/variants/p51k

 

 

[Dunny]

Lovely work Steve! Great build and finish,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[RMCS]

Excellent skills 

[Boman]

KM272 was indeed a P-51K. USAAF serial 44-12395 to RAF as Mustang IVA KM272. SOC Jun 26, 1947. The link is to Joe Baugers excellent site. 

[tonyot]

Great job Steve,...... who doesn`t have a soft spot for the old Dooleybird eh?

Cheers

          Tony