In the end, I had to make a model choice. After the in-house and i-modeler plebiscite, 57% of the votes Were for the Mustang (strong home lobby) and 43% for the Spitfire IX PFT. I hope that everyone who supported the Spitfire would love to follow the Mustang thread anyway. To meet the expectations of people supporting the PFT version, I thought that I would make the model from the 315 squadron, of course in my favorite NMF paint. Of course, I will not fail to present the history of the squadron and I will try not to bore my dear readers 🙂

I'm so excited. So let's start this story!

The idea of ​​fighters in the NMF finish was born at the end of the war. I couldn't find an official explanation or order, but from an engineering point of view, polished metal reduced air resistance, and the lack of paint reduced the weight of the plane. The RAF introduced this scheme later than the USAAF, but successively after the war, a really large part of the combat aircraft had NMF finish.

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What a great choice, my friend @lis!
Looking forward to it!

@gblair @fiveten @johnb

So we start another journey through time. Yesterday, on the anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, I started work on the Mustang Mk III cockpit. I used black primer and H58 US Interior green WWII paint as usual. I am not entirely sure about this color, or is it really the right shade. What do you think about him? Moreover, the cockpit of the AZ / KP model is exceptionally rich in details and various elements. Unfortunately, the decal for the desktop is missing, even though it is described in the manual. I also used a simple set of Yahu photo etch strips. Many parts need to be installed before closing the fuselage, due to the presence of a retractable tail wheel and a large glycol cooler under the fuselage.

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I used this paint. I didn't find nothing else from Mr Hobby to paint cockpit.

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Looks great, Lis @lis
The wooden floor is nice.

Lis, progress so far is looking great! With regard to color, here is a useful link to read up on!

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/58119-raf-mustang-iii-interior-colors/

Remember that many restored aircraft today may differ from the original colors or application methods, for the sake of making it either prettier or to have better corrosion control, or a combination of both along with the economics of mass-production at the time versus a one-off restoration 60 years later. I hope this helps!

@pb_legend very interesting link! It looks like my chosen color is a kind of anti-rust paint. The main landing gear cavities are still an unrelated mystery. I found no pictures of real planes other than the museum. And there the recesses are silver or matt aluminum. Modelers do this detail differently. some silver, others dark green, still others in the same color as I used.

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@pb_legend

Andrew H Thanks for your helpful comments. They will definitely be useful. At the moment I have an idea to paint everything with zinc-chromate, or matt aluminum. Painting the girders separately on this scale can be a fruitless chore. Good you have noticed that fin on the tail. The manufacturer basically supplies a fuselage without a fin and as an option gives a third molding with a tail to trim yourself and add the one with a fin. I bought the AZ model deliberately, because the box contained extra refused fuel tanks, which in the KP set (which has identical forms) do not give it 🙂