brentce

Apparently, Chuck Yeager's new wife has convinced him that protecting his 'brand' is now required. Hence, Amorous Lenn. Brent

Migrant, I've had the opposite experience, I found Xtracrylics to be very, very tough when thinned 50/50 with the Xtracrylic thinner. My only complaint is that they foul my airbrush tip very quickly- I much prefer Gunze for sprating soft-edged camoflage. Brent

Andrew, That's a Fleet Air Arm Corsair II landing on one of the Royal Navy fleet carriers, probably Illustrious or Victorious. Brent

Lee, I'd be real careful using RAF Dark Green on HELL-ER-BUST. H-E-B was an early P-51B-5-NA that was delivered in OD/NG, there's no reason to believe that it was repainted in RAF colors. I'm not sure where Eaglestrike/Aeromaster came up with that one. However, the recommended light blue matches what shows up in the available photos of H-E-B and other early 352nd FG Mustangs. I went with Model Master Bright Blue (I think!) when I built H-E-B. Also, I believe Eaglestrike states that the scheme represents H-E-B during September of '44. In fact H-E-B was left in North Africa (in full invasion stripes) after the first 8th AAF shuttle mission to Russia sometime in June or July. HTH, Brent

It depends from which production block the Mustang III was delivered. The first 126 Mustang III's in the FX848-972 RAF serial number block were P-51B-1-NA's that were not fitted with the tank. FX973 through FZ197, and FB120-124 were P-51B-5-NA’s that may or may not have had the tank installed. If the tank was not fitted, you should not be able to see the radio through the rear quarter windows and the auxiliary tank fuel filler cap just behind the port quarter window on the upper fuselage will be missing as well. The following photo of FZ124 serving with 309 (Polish) squadron during Spring of 1945 shows no tank or fuel filler cap even at that late date: All aircraft in the FB125+, HB, and KH series (all P-51C’s) should feature the fuselage tank. On a related note, it appears that all mk. III’s from KH431 through KH640 (P-51C-10-NT’s) were fitted with the fin fillet at the factory. HTH Brent

Hi Bill, Thanks for the pic's! My first impression is that Airfix did a good job on overall shape. How is the surface detail compared to the Spitfire 22/24 kit? That one is a real beauty. Keep 'em coming! Brent Erickson

Hi Erwin, For Dooleybird you'll want to stick with drop tanks. From February 1945 to VE-Day 19 squadron was stationed at Peterhead, Scotland and was engaged in escort and fighter sweep operations to Norway and Denmark in support of the Banff Strike Wing. The distances involved in those missions required that drop tanks be carried on every sortie. Then again, the 'Dooleybird' paint scheme with the blue/white nose and spinner was an immediate post-war scheme so you could put bombs on it and call it a training loadout. If you want to do Dooleybird as it appeared on wartime operations, you'll want to go with the yellow and black stripes on the cowl and spinner as oppossed to the blue/white scheme. HTH Brent Erickson