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Mustang Wings and panel seams


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Hi Murph,

Does the 'droop' of the inner undercarriage doors have anything to do with flaps position or the position of the radiator flap under the mid-fuselage?

Thanks,

Michael

Michael,

Not sure on those, you can try a PM to TF51GREGWISE who started this string; he works on restoring the real thing.

Regards,

Murph

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Hi Greg,

taking the opportunity of Mustang in topic, I would like to ask you some questions that bother me for a long time:

1.) on navalized P-51D, what was the exact appearance and the attachment point of arrestor hook? All the photos I have seen are not big enough to help me determine this and I would like to build a kit of this unique version

2.) do you have a photo of TP-51D Mustang's rear cockpit arrangement (instrument panel etc.)?

3.) is there a way to tell from the photos of TP-51Ds, which were taken before the end of WW2? Since I strictly build the kits of aircraft that flew from 1st Sept.'39 till 3rd Sept '45, I would like to be sure that I am marking my TP-51D in WW2 era markings.

Sincerely,

Marko

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Hi Murph,

Does the 'droop' of the inner undercarriage doors have anything to do with flaps position or the position of the radiator flap under the mid-fuselage?

Thanks,

Michael

My father was in the USAAF during WW II and he said he never saw a P-51 with the inner undercarriage doors open. I was in a discussion about this on another forum and aparently the early P-51Ds had a problem in which the doors would pop open in flight after some maneuvers. Aparently there was no interlock to lock the doors up in flight on the early Ds.

Part of the solution was to keep the hydraulics in the door operating system in top shape, so the doors tended to be the last to drop as the hydraulic system bled out.

Many years ago, I asked a modern P-51 operator why the doors were dropped on restored P-51s and not on WW II planes and he said that nobody bothers to do that level of maintenance on the door hydraulics. I believe later model P-51Ds had an interlock that locked the door up while in flight. I'm sure TF51GREGWISE probably knows more about those systems than I do.

I would expect the heavily used Mustangs in primitive conditions (such as in the Pacific or CBI theater) probably didn't get all the maintenance mandated in the manuals, but most of the 8th and 9th AF P-51s had good maintenance. Of course planes still in the states would be maintained quite well too.

I'm not sure how many P-51s my father saw in the front lines. He was all over the Pacific, but before being sent to the war zone, he bounced around different bases in the US. He was a combat photographer and his unit also made training films and filmed various studies. I'm sure he saw many P-51s in the states, but when he was out in the Pacific, the USAAF fighters were mostly P-38s with some P-47s.

Bill

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So if they were filled and painted at the factory, wouldnt there be a FS # for the exact color the wings were painted? Also how did you fill the wings? I was thinking perhaps a correction fluid pen might work.

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So if they were filled and painted at the factory, wouldnt there be a FS # for the exact color the wings were painted? Also how did you fill the wings? I was thinking perhaps a correction fluid pen might work.

It would have been an ANA (Army-Navy-Air corp) number, not FS (Federal Standard). Federal standard came afer the war.

It was just aluminum dope, as they called it, a lacquer carrier with aluminum particles suspended in it.

Edited by Slartibartfast
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What I use is a mix of testors 'model masters' insignia white and chrome silver about 50/50 spray several thinned light coats. No fed numbers...just "cause it looks like aluminum dope" to me.

HTH,

Greg.

100_1136.jpg

Excellant, Thanks!!

Jim

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Greg, why you filled panel lines around landing gear access doors? Accordingly to p-51d erection and maintenance instructions this doors should be removed every "25 hour main landing gear inspection" for lubricating of main landing gear pivot shaft, if i understand right :) also this door should be removed every "50 hour fixed surface inspection"...

On real thing this panel lines not so prominent as on fuselage, but on close photos you can see them; also this panels has different color shade...

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