**** DONE: 1/48 P-51B "Lambie II" - Allied Manufactured Aircraft

[Wurger]

 

[Wayne Little]

sweet reference!

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far Andy!

 

[JKim]

Great reference pics!

 

[Crimea_River]

....and we're done!

Finishing touches included a thin panel wash followed by application of some pastels around the access panels and along the wing walks to represent grimey hands and footprints. Thanks all for your comments an support.

Sh!t. Noticed a scratch on one of the exhaust stubs. I guess I'd better touch that up.

I decided to droop the landing gear doors unevenly to replicate a commonly seen pose on the actual aircraft

It occurred to me that the landing gear struts could use some stencils. I'll need to see if I can find some.

Gotta apologize for the dust on this one. Damned close-ups!

 

[Gnomey]

Looks great Andy!

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[JKim]

I decided to droop the landing gear doors unevenly to replicate a commonly seen pose on the actual aircraft

Uh huh... nice try!

Just kidding Andy! That's a beautiful bird. The NMF came out wonderful. You should be very happy with this one!

 

[Donivanp]

Very nice indeed

 

[Airframes]

That's a real beaut Andy !
One thing though - the radio was on VHF, the rod antenna for which was enclosed within the aerial mast, negating the use of an antenna wire, which was used on the earlier HF radios.

 

[Totalize]

A real clean build Andy nicely done. Looks like you have the Alclad thing well mastered.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks very much guys. Appreciate the comments.

One thing though - the radio was on VHF, the rod antenna for which was enclosed within the aerial mast, negating the use of an antenna wire, which was used on the earlier HF radios.

Terry, I looked this up in the parts catalog and settled on this arrangement based on the following references:

P-51B-10 for s/n 106471 was given a model code of 104B

The radio installation corresponding with this model code is shown below.

 

[Airframes]

Hmm. I'd need to check further, but by this period, the VHF radios should have been fitted, so the wire would have been removed. The 'give away', such as it is, is the antenna mast, being the later, 'profiled' version, enclosing the carbon rod antenna itself. Behind this is the antenna wire insulated 'lead in', which was retained, but not connected to the transmitter/receiver.
When the bulged, 'Malcolm' hood was retro-fitted, the 'mast' and insulator were removed, and replaced by a 'whip' antenna, further aft, off-set to starboard.
On earlier P-51Bs, the original (HF) antenna wire fed from the 'tubular' mast, and then was moved to the insulator position after up-rated sets were installed, before the change to VHF, which initially utilised the 'old' style mast, as can be seen in this well-known shot of Don Gentille's aircraft - note the lack of wire connection at the insulator, and this was in March 1944. (shots from other angles, taken at the same time, clearly show a lack of fin connection also, as do many 'period' shots of other P-51B/C aircraft).
However, it's possible that a HF 'Command' set was retained, in addition to the VHF set, which would require the antenna wire, and maybe Bill could possibly clarify this ?

 

[Crimea_River]

I'll defer to your expertise Terry. I don't know when the one reference picture of this aircraft was taken but it does show the earlier tapered mast as shown in the diagram above. There is no evidence of any invasion stripe remnants so I'm thinking it's prior to D-Day. Other than that, I can't date the pic. Those who know more about Meyer could perhaps date it by the 18 victories painted on the side.