Mustang P51 D Questions

[kickstart]

Hi all. I am looking for the wording, sizing and placing of all stencilling of a P51 D as well as the size of stars and bars, etc ….. Full scale. Hope that you can help out.

[Work In Progress]

There are plenty of 'em.

Your best bet would be to pick up the very accurate Hobby Decal dry transfer sheet in large 1/24 scale, which has them all in a size you can read, and comes with a clear placement guide.

http://www.hlj.com/product/HBDST24002V1

[Admiral Puff]

Hi all. I am looking for the wording, sizing and placing of all stencilling of a P51 D as well as the size of stars and bars, etc ….. Full scale. Hope that you can help out.

How long is a piece of string? A P-51D finished according to the book was liberally strewn with stencilling. What we found when researching Southern Cross Mustangs was that even if an airframe came out of the factory with everything on it (a moot point by itself) it didn't take long for the stencilling to start wearing off. Some of it was done by decal, some simply painted onto unprimed metal. The latter was especially prone to coming off with only the slightest encouragement, as it didn't have much of a hold on the surface anyway - even the airflow at operating speeds could be enough to strip such stencilling off. Add to this the exigencies of combat use, such as repair and repainting, which was usually done hurriedly to get the aircraft back into action, and you can end up with an airframe with a significant amout of its 'by the book' stencilling gone. 3RAAF's Mk IIIs in Italy are classic examples. It comes down to the old adage - check your references! Don't sweat over replicating stuff that they show wasn't there.

[kickstart]

Hi Guys, Thanks for the replies.

Work In Progress…. that generic stencil sheet looks wonderful. As you see from the pic, I have my latest paint job and 1:1 scale. We putting it back to original as possible whilst it was a Checker Tail in Northern Italy. Our shop restores and maintains classic and war-bird aircraft. The stencil sheet would be a fantastic place to start but time constraints are pushing. Anybody that could copy their sheet and placement diagram would be a fantastic help.

Thanks Admiral, yes I know that it would be hard to paint the aircraft to an exact time frame so we are doing it to represent it as close to arriving in Italy and getting its checker tail as possible. Stencils were actually rubber stamped onto the bare metal and the strange thing is that even with a 67 year passage of time, active service in Europe, a stint in a South American Air force, Canadian pseudo racer and a few other lives….. Once we paint stripped it, in places were slight tonal differences were some of the stencils must have etched into the metal.

[Jennings Heilig]

Your best bet would be to pick up the very accurate Hobby Decal dry transfer sheet

Caveat: I don't own, nor have I seen that particular Hobby Decal sheet. HOWever... I do have some of their other stuff. While it is uniformly *gorgeous* to look at, some of it suffers from less than stellar research. Their RN Phantom sheet has a number of pretty obvious errors. Some of their stencil sheets are very generic, and often don't account for differences widely seen in photos. The line drawings of the a/c on their instructions have been touted as being "very accurate" and it simply isn't so. Pretty, yes. Accurate, no.

Just go in with your eyes open, and as our old pal Ronny Raygun used to say, "trust but verify".

J

[Prop Duster]

Hi Guys, Thanks for the replies.

Work In Progress…. that generic stencil sheet looks wonderful. As you see from the pic, I have my latest paint job and 1:1 scale. We putting it back to original as possible whilst it was a Checker Tail in Northern Italy. Our shop restores and maintains classic and war-bird aircraft.

1:1 Now that's MODELING !

She looks good so far.

[Admiral Puff]

Hi Guys, Thanks for the replies.

Work In Progress…. that generic stencil sheet looks wonderful. As you see from the pic, I have my latest paint job and 1:1 scale. We putting it back to original as possible whilst it was a Checker Tail in Northern Italy. Our shop restores and maintains classic and war-bird aircraft. The stencil sheet would be a fantastic place to start but time constraints are pushing. Anybody that could copy their sheet and placement diagram would be a fantastic help.

Thanks Admiral, yes I know that it would be hard to paint the aircraft to an exact time frame so we are doing it to represent it as close to arriving in Italy and getting its checker tail as possible. Stencils were actually rubber stamped onto the bare metal and the strange thing is that even with a 67 year passage of time, active service in Europe, a stint in a South American Air force, Canadian pseudo racer and a few other lives….. Once we paint stripped it, in places were slight tonal differences were some of the stencils must have etched into the metal.

Shameless plug follows ...

OK, if you're working in 1:1, can I suggest you get hold of a copy of Southern Cross Mustangs? It covers the use of the P-51 by Australia and New Zealand (the majority of Australia's aircraft and all the Kiwi ones came from US production lines, so a lot of what's in it is relevant to Mustangs generally). Included are several pages with everything you ever wanted to know, but were mortally afraid to ask, about Mustang stencils. Go to www.redroomodels.com for details.

[kickstart]

Evening all. Here’s what the cockpit looks like so far…..

Starting on the checker tail now. And hopefully have that done by week end, early next week and then on to the fuselage.

Still looking for stencils though

[Prop Duster]

imagine, no pre or post shading or washs to bring out the details

***************************

Seriously: Thanks kickstart for sharing your work with us.

these only give a generic overview but maybe it will give you a jumping off place if you havent seen them already.

stencil location 1

stencil location 2

Post more of your 1:1 if you have a chance.

[kickstart]

Prop Duster thanks, that is just what I need to get on with.

Will post as I go along. Seems to take less time to finish a 1:1 with me than a scale model

[Prop Duster]

Prop Duster thanks, that is just what I need to get on with.

Will post as I go along. Seems to take less time to finish a 1:1 with me than a scale model

Sure, the parts are bigger

*****************************************************

And your welcome, I just hope, if there are any discrepancy's, they are pointed out by the Britmodler members ASAP

ALSO: you may wish to contact TF51GREGWISE through the ARC forum web site LINK TO . He's in Kissimmee Florida, and works with 1:1 P-51s too

HTH

[David M]

Kickstart,

Some caution is recommended when using model decals as reference for Mustang stencilling as most sheets have some bits that are either missing or inaccurate.

As the good Admiral Puff suggests 'SCM' does indeed have full details for the stencilling on several Mustang variants in use with the USAAF/USAF, the RAF, the RAAF and the RNZAF, each of which had unique stencil combinations and differences in colours and wording. SCM includes stencil details for the P-51B/C (RAF Mk III); P-51D/K (RAF Mk IVA and RNZAF Mk IV), CAC CA-17 (RAAF Mk 20) and CA-18 (RAAF Mk 21/23) and for the 75 gallon and 110 gallon drop tanks in fuel and napalm form.

The artwork was prepared in CAD and I would be happy to share it with you; PM me if you are interested.

David Muir

Author: 'Southern Cross Mustangs'

A Red Roo Publication

Edited February 12, 2011 by David M

[kickstart]

Mustang with new clothes and a very happy owner. Phew! This was a very trying job with getting it to as close as possible to how it was in Northern Italy.

Thanks a ton to all that helped me with information to make my life that much easier to accomplish with a VERY big thank-you to David M who supplied me with so much information making that part of it a breeze.

[Prop Duster]

Congratulations, she's a beauty.

Well Done

[wellzy]

Nice one she is a Beauty, must have been a big box.

wellzy

[Chris FFZ]

Beautiful job.

Since you worked on one, perhaps you can provide an answer to something i've always wondered about, and shows up in your photos.

In some shots, the wheel covers are shown open and hanging, yet in others they are flush with the wing even while on the ground, what is the reason for that?

I've never been able to find the answer, I even watched takeoff footage, the doors are open, but fold into the wing, reopen and then close with the acual landing struts, yet on the ground photos show the door in the up and closed and open postions both!

[Super Aereo]

Beautiful job.

Since you worked on one, perhaps you can provide an answer to something i've always wondered about, and shows up in your photos.

In some shots, the wheel covers are shown open and hanging, yet in others they are flush with the wing even while on the ground, what is the reason for that?

I've never been able to find the answer, I even watched takeoff footage, the doors are open, but fold into the wing, reopen and then close with the acual landing struts, yet on the ground photos show the door in the up and closed and open postions both!

The hydraulics would keep the doors closed, but while the aircraft was parked they would slowly bleed pressure and let the doors hang. It really is as simple as that, I'm told.

[kickstart]

Super Aereo is quite correct in that the inboard doors (As well as the flaps) will fall open as hydraulic pressure dissipates. Door sequencing is as you say……. always shut but open during retraction/extension to accommodate the undercarriage movement.

This has been a task that has virtually made me a stranger in my own home and has kept me away from the modelling table and glad to see the back of it.

I have been promised air-to-air shots that I will post on getting them.

I’m now contracted in Sudan so STILL not getting any model time but hope to get my stuff up here in a while. Britmodeller keeping me in the loop though, thank goodness.