Well I haven't taken the step to start the decals yet. Instead, I have been doing some last minute details. I washed off the salt mask to expose the silver underneath. If the plane had deicer boots or not I am not sure, I just know that if it did at some point they were removed. On the tail surfaces it appears that the leading edges were paint black. On the wings, all my pictures show that the wings were touched up with various shades of OD. The salt mask worked great, and gave me the extremely worn look I was looking for. It looks a little out of place right now, but once the decals and additional weathering is done they will look perfect. I have some pictures, that may be stateside, showing that the wings and nacelles must have undergone extensive repairs as they are all silver.
I also modified the tail markings based on some information I received here, and right or wrong I like them. It seems that just about the time the plane was being prepped for the return stateside, the group markings were undergoing a change. The 376th added horizontal black and white stripes to the rudders and port elevator, and two white circles on the vertical stabilizers one above the other. The top circle had a triangle in it, the bottom one had a number 2. These marking were added in January/February of 1944, about the time "The Blue Streak" headed home. I have the markings basically half finished.
I will start decals tomorrow. Wish me luck! I think I am finally in the home stretch of this build.
6 attached images. Click to enlarge.
