British Mustang IV query

[stona]

I'm about to embark on knocking some atrocity together from the Tamiya P-51 D kit, but have a niggling doubt about the wheel wells.

I remember reading, somewhere, that all the P-51s supplied to the British had aluminium or aluminiumised dope (silver) wheel wells with the exception of the rear 'wall' which was effectively the main spar and would be in ZC yellow.
Can anyone confirm or deny this or am I suffering a faulty memory?

Thanks for any input.

Steve

 

[Crimea_River]

Sounds right Steve but I don't think it was unique to British supply but rather dependent on the factory practice. I've also seen a bare aluminum roof complete with spec stencils and ZC stringers, one of apparently several possibilities.

I'll post this lengthy build thread here as it has a LOT of expert input on all things P-51, including, somewhere, wheel wells. It will require some diligence to find the info given the length of the thread but your patience may be rewarded. Missouri Armada P-51D Mustang: documents and partial scratch from the Tamiya 1/48 kit

 

[stona]

Thanks, I will check out that build.

Steve

EDIT:

The wheel wells he did around pages 35-40 of his build. He didn't use the kit parts but went for some after market resin, which given his attention to detail was fair enough! He did Alclad (c/w decals) and ZC stringers, or whatever they are called in a wheel well.

Me? It's convinced me that some form of aluminium finish is in order. Most British fighters had wheel wells sprayed in aluminium dope, at least when they left the factory, and I guess this may have been a stipulation of the UK order, as was the camouflage finish in the US equivalents for the Day Fighter Scheme.

That's a very useful reference, the guy is a bit more obsessive than I will be, but there is a lot of information in there!

 

[Crimea_River]

Yeah, obsessive is the word, but he did manage to drag out a lot of useful stuff.