Silver Horse and Black Fighting Rooster – Mustang mk.III AZ-Model

Started by capt. R · 141 · 3 years ago
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    capt. R said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    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 πŸ™‚

    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.

    15 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    What an excellent choice, Lis @lis
    Regardless your choice, it is always great to follow a build thread.
    Regarding the NMF finish, your explenation is also what I have read several times, although not sure if that is the correct statement.
    Really looking forward to this build.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 2 months ago:

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

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    George R Blair Jr said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Great choice, @lis. Looking forward to another great build.

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    capt. R said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    @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.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Great start, my friend @lis!
    Color looks spot on!

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    capt. R said 3 years, 2 months ago:

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

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    capt. R said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    @gblair @fiveten @johnb
    Some detalis in cockpit. I think seatbelts are oversized. Very interesting is wooden cockpit floor.

    3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years, 2 months ago:

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

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    I agree with our friend @johnb, @lis!

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    Andrew H said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    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!

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    George R Blair Jr said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Looks great, @lis. Interior colors can vary widely, so I think your interior colors look fine. I think a lot of planes had wood in unexpected places during WW2, probably because metals were more scarce than wood.

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    capt. R said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    @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.

    3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Andrew H said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Lis, I understand that there is no definitive way to know what aircraft had what colors. The best we can do is try to understand what the manufacturer did, and when, as Dana Bell does in the link. Since the AZ Mustang has a "boxed-in" wheel well (much like Tamiya's quarter scale P-51), it would be best, in opinion, to paint it all Yellow Chromate, or Aluminum Lacquer. Since this is a B/C model, it may have still had the Lacquered (3 layers of protection) bay like your pictures, or due to the shortages and time crunches, may have been yellow chromate'd (one layer of protection), or a mix of yellow & green, and raw aluminum (as some spars may have been treated differently before assembly. It sounds silly to "split hairs" over any of these colors when there is no way to say definitively for each aircraft... πŸ™‚ In that regard, I'd be willing to bet that no-one will nit-pick your selection, whatever that may be.

    ** I do see, however that your MkIII kit has the dorsal tail fillet, where-as some of your references for the "PK-J" airframe (and the decal sheet) show no fillet... That may or may not be easy to sand off and correct, just a heads up if you didn't catch that yet. πŸ™‚ Happy building!

    **EDIT: Nevermind that last bit.. I looked up the kit instructions and see that the fillet dorsal tail is an option, so no worries! If only I would have looked closer at the PLASTIC pieces in your first post... πŸ˜‰

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    capt. R said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    @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 πŸ™‚