MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
Accurate Miniatures brought out a series of 1/48 models of the Allison Mustangs, including the Mustang Mk Ia, the P-51-1, the P-51A, and the A-36A. These are very fine kits and are head and shoulders above kits such as the 1/48 Monogram P-51B. Accurate Miniatures are to be commended in attempting to get the radio equipment depicted in these kits correct, but they did not quite get there, producing a rather odd combination of features.
Osprey Modeling Manual No. 19, "North American P-15 Mustang" shows details of a superb build of an Accurate Miniatures P-51-1, but further compounded the flaws in the kit by making up some additional incorrect details out of thin air.
The AM P-51-1, A-36A, and P-51A kits (all I have, but then again I have a total of 18 of them) all attempt to depict the SCR-274-N radio installation. SCR-274-N is an LF receive and HF transmit/receive installation that features separate receivers and transmitters for each band. Typically, there were three receivers and two transmitters, although it was pretty easy for units to change that arrangement as required. Different frequency transmitters and receivers could be swapped out very easily. When they arrived in the CBI the Air Commandos found their P-51A's offered an advantage over other fighters in the theater since they could be fitted with radios that enabled them to talk directly to the ground troops they were supporting, an idea that sounds utterly logical from today's viewpoint but was all but radical for that stage of WWII.
Here is a page from the P-51A maintenance manual, showing the SCR-274-N installation. The three receivers were down low behind the pilot's seat while the two transmitters were up above. It seems likely you could not even see the three receivers without dismantling something but the two transmitters were quite obvious though the rear side windows.
Here is a shot of three receivers being installed in a P-51A at the NAA factory. The receivers as well as the transmitters were mounted on racks which were hard to see easily, basically covering the bottoms of the radios. The wiring was at the rear bottom of the racks and thus was al but invisible.
Here is a shot of one receiver and one transmitter. The receivers had drum-shaped objects clipped to the rear top; those are dynamotors that serve as power supplies, converting the 28VDC of the aircraft to 250 VDC, The transmitter dynamotors were located separately, along with the modulator that enabled AM transmissions.
Now, here is picture from the Osprey book. What AM did was supply kind of a weird combination of transmitters and receivers. The "radio rack" has not two but three pieces of equipment that look like transmitters but have depictions of dynamotors at the rear such as receivers actually have. Then the Osprey folks added some wiring on the top rear of the transmitters, which provides excellent but inaccurate detail. The actual airing harnesses for the SCR-274-N sets were at the bottom rear of the transmitters and receivers and I doubt you could see them in 1/48 scale. What you could see was the antenna wire, which would have been white and extended from the antenna connections of the receivers and transmitters over and up to that square box mounted behind the pilot;s seat, which was the RF meter.
So, if you want a more accurate Accurate Mustang, take that radio rack they provide, cut off one of the transmitters and all three of the humps in the back and fill in the resultant holes accordingly. If you have two sets of those radio racks and want to depict the receivers down below, cut off the front of those three transmitters to make them shorter, fill in the holes, and paint dials on at the top of the front face of the receivers.
Good luck!
Osprey Modeling Manual No. 19, "North American P-15 Mustang" shows details of a superb build of an Accurate Miniatures P-51-1, but further compounded the flaws in the kit by making up some additional incorrect details out of thin air.
The AM P-51-1, A-36A, and P-51A kits (all I have, but then again I have a total of 18 of them) all attempt to depict the SCR-274-N radio installation. SCR-274-N is an LF receive and HF transmit/receive installation that features separate receivers and transmitters for each band. Typically, there were three receivers and two transmitters, although it was pretty easy for units to change that arrangement as required. Different frequency transmitters and receivers could be swapped out very easily. When they arrived in the CBI the Air Commandos found their P-51A's offered an advantage over other fighters in the theater since they could be fitted with radios that enabled them to talk directly to the ground troops they were supporting, an idea that sounds utterly logical from today's viewpoint but was all but radical for that stage of WWII.
Here is a page from the P-51A maintenance manual, showing the SCR-274-N installation. The three receivers were down low behind the pilot's seat while the two transmitters were up above. It seems likely you could not even see the three receivers without dismantling something but the two transmitters were quite obvious though the rear side windows.
Here is a shot of three receivers being installed in a P-51A at the NAA factory. The receivers as well as the transmitters were mounted on racks which were hard to see easily, basically covering the bottoms of the radios. The wiring was at the rear bottom of the racks and thus was al but invisible.
Here is a shot of one receiver and one transmitter. The receivers had drum-shaped objects clipped to the rear top; those are dynamotors that serve as power supplies, converting the 28VDC of the aircraft to 250 VDC, The transmitter dynamotors were located separately, along with the modulator that enabled AM transmissions.
Now, here is picture from the Osprey book. What AM did was supply kind of a weird combination of transmitters and receivers. The "radio rack" has not two but three pieces of equipment that look like transmitters but have depictions of dynamotors at the rear such as receivers actually have. Then the Osprey folks added some wiring on the top rear of the transmitters, which provides excellent but inaccurate detail. The actual airing harnesses for the SCR-274-N sets were at the bottom rear of the transmitters and receivers and I doubt you could see them in 1/48 scale. What you could see was the antenna wire, which would have been white and extended from the antenna connections of the receivers and transmitters over and up to that square box mounted behind the pilot;s seat, which was the RF meter.
So, if you want a more accurate Accurate Mustang, take that radio rack they provide, cut off one of the transmitters and all three of the humps in the back and fill in the resultant holes accordingly. If you have two sets of those radio racks and want to depict the receivers down below, cut off the front of those three transmitters to make them shorter, fill in the holes, and paint dials on at the top of the front face of the receivers.
Good luck!
