A2A P51D

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (Jamessx @ Jun 8 2012,7:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Spotted anything else?

I was so blind , your earlier (2408) paint has to go blue checkers
, took it for granted and checked . But Graham will be happy with this .

[Jamessx]

Ahaha, that's fine ill fix it up quickly some time tomorrow. Do you mean change the whole roundial with checkers to blue?

Jamessx

[noooby]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Jun 7 2012,4:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Looking Great Alex , fantastic model this one Don't forget they were'nt all the polished up .. painted in a gloss silver to protect the skin , not a clean polished aluminum

Hi Ian, just to clarify, the RNZAF Mustangs were a hodge podge of different amounts of bare metal and paint. Wings were always painted to preserve laminar flow

Have a look at this link: http://www.thescale.info/news/publish/RNZAF-Mustangs.shtml

It shows 2402 with bare fuselage, but silver painted fin and rudder.
2417 painted silver all over.
Unidentified Mustang looking painted all over.
2406 with bare fuselage.
Unidentified Mustang with original rudder with last three digits of US BuAir number on it. Fuselage looks bare, but hard to tell.
A couple of photos of 2417 with painted fuselage.
2419 with a painted looking fuselage.
2422 with bare metal fuselage.
And last but not least, another unidentified RNZAF Mustang with silver painted fuselage.

Pre-delivery photos I've seen of RNZAF Mustangs, show bare metal fuselage and painted wings, so I'm thinking the fuselages were painted on some, if not all, later in their service life?

Anybody know for sure?

Is it possible to do textures for this A2A model with polished fuselage and painted wings??


Cheers
Graham

[Jamessx]

QUOTE (noooby @ Jun 9 2012,5:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Ian, just to clarify, the RNZAF Mustangs were a hodge podge of different amounts of bare metal and paint. Wings were always painted to preserve laminar flow

Have a look at this link: http://www.thescale.info/news/publish/RNZAF-Mustangs.shtml

It shows 2402 with bare fuselage, but silver painted fin and rudder.
2417 painted silver all over.
Unidentified Mustang looking painted all over.
2406 with bare fuselage.
Unidentified Mustang with original rudder with last three digits of US BuAir number on it. Fuselage looks bare, but hard to tell.
A couple of photos of 2417 with painted fuselage.
2419 with a painted looking fuselage.
2422 with bare metal fuselage.
And last but not least, another unidentified RNZAF Mustang with silver painted fuselage.

Pre-delivery photos I've seen of RNZAF Mustangs, show bare metal fuselage and painted wings, so I'm thinking the fuselages were painted on some, if not all, later in their service life?

Anybody know for sure?

Is it possible to do textures for this A2A model with polished fuselage and painted wings??


Cheers
Graham

Hi Graham,

It is possible to do the textures with polished fuselage and painted wings its just tweaking the alpha maps you can see an example of the polished textures here http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic....1&view=next

Jamessx

[Ian Warren]

Laminar flow is the design , all aircraft with a polished skin had a better performance , good example off polish skin and affects to corrosion is well know , the dope was light protective to protect the skin , keep polishing them if you don't have a comfy hanger you wear the skin off , .. guess in combat that could afforded due to battle damage - airline duty tho .. the impressive example was American Airlines were the skin panel had to be replaced more regularly due to continuos polishing .

[markll]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Jun 8 2012,7:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was so blind , your earlier (2408) paint has to go blue checkers

Really Ian? You sure? NZ2408 served with No. 2 (Wellington) TAF Sqn....they had black and yellow checkers, as in the photo of NZ2422 on this page:

http://www.thescale.info/news/publish/RNZAF-Mustangs.shtml

[noooby]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Jun 8 2012,3:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Laminar flow is the design , all aircraft with a polished skin had a better performance , good example off polish skin and affects to corrosion is well know , the dope was light protective to protect the skin , keep polishing them if you don't have a comfy hanger you wear the skin off , .. guess in combat that could afforded due to battle damage - airline duty tho .. the impressive example was American Airlines were the skin panel had to be replaced more regularly due to continuos polishing .

Hi Ian,
Correct, Laminar flow is the design type for the P-51 wing.
To preserve the qualities of laminar flow design, the wing must be as smooth as possible. This is why NAA filled the seams and rivets on the P-51 wings with putty in certain areas, and then completely painted the wing silver, except flight controls, as even the most advanced laminar flow airfoil has flow separation before the control surfaces, so there is no point in filling and painting them. This was the best method they had to ensure as smooth a surface as possible. I'm presently looking for the Tech Order pertaining to wing repairs on the P-51, as I am fairly certain there is a section in there about restoring the surface finish to maintain the airfoil surface.
Factory delivery for all non-camo P-51's was bare metal fuselage and tailplane, silver painted wing (top and bottom) and bare metal or doped fabric flight controls.
I can't get a solid answer from any Mustang people about the gear doors. Some say they were painted like the wings at delivery, others say they were metal. Perhaps it changed as the war went on and they figured there was no point in painting them. Just like Spitfires. Have a look inside a Spitfire Mk.V fuselage, and you'll see it is painted all the way back to the tail. The Mk.XVI however is only painted in the cockpit. The aircraft wasn't expected to survive for long, so why waste paint where it isn't needed???

But I digress.... I'll do a bit more research on the Mustang. My mechanic work on Warbirds (many years ago!) has mostly been concentrated on British types, so I'm lacking in knowledge on the American stuff. Now living in Canada though, I am close to some knowledgable people and museums.


I guess I should get photoshop and have a play with the paintkit myself!!!


Cheers
Graham

[markll]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Jun 9 2012,10:42 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Laminar flow is the design , all aircraft with a polished skin had a better performance

Yep, it's true that the P-51 was designed to have a laminar flow wing, and the wings were the only part of the aircraft tested in a wind tunnel prior to production... however research during the war discovered that in fact wing production was not generally of high enough standard to ensure that the wings were smooth enough to maintain laminar flow!

[noooby]

QUOTE (markll @ Jun 8 2012,10:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep, it's true that the P-51 was designed to have a laminar flow wing, and the wings were the only part of the aircraft tested in a wind tunnel prior to production... however research during the war discovered that in fact wing production was not generally of high enough standard to ensure that the wings were smooth enough to maintain laminar flow!

I guess quality control is one of the first things to suffer when there is a war on and speed of production takes priority!

Finally found a new version of the picture I'm looking for that shows how the wing was painted and filled with putty at the factory.

Light gray is painted area, dark gray is bare metal. Light grey panel lines are filled, black panel lines are not filled.

Once I get a chance to try out the A2A paint kit, I'll see if it is possible to do this. Unless someone does it in the meantime


Pony Paint by noooby100, on Flickr

[Ian Warren]

Great stuff Graham , as you showed the access panels and the regular moving bits and pieces , quality control and speed of production in wartime is a little different ... this is a great little model and with the recent NZ paints make it a goodie .

[noooby]

Tried to open up the paintkit files in Paintshop Pro, but my poor laptop doesn't seem to have enough memory.
Since when is 2 Gig not enough! When I look at my Task Manager, it shows Paintshop using 1.5 Gig, so when you factor in all the other things that Windows uses, there really isn't much memory left!
The one file I could open, has a couple of different skin variations, one of which shows the bare metal in the same pattern as above. I'll see if I can free up enough memory some how, and then see if I can figure out how to make a skin out of these files.

[Jamessx]

QUOTE (noooby @ Jun 11 2012,2:57 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Tried to open up the paintkit files in Paintshop Pro, but my poor laptop doesn't seem to have enough memory.
Since when is 2 Gig not enough! When I look at my Task Manager, it shows Paintshop using 1.5 Gig, so when you factor in all the other things that Windows uses, there really isn't much memory left!
The one file I could open, has a couple of different skin variations, one of which shows the bare metal in the same pattern as above. I'll see if I can free up enough memory some how, and then see if I can figure out how to make a skin out of these files.

Yea, I have 8GB and it is still kind of slow and sluggish so I think you may have some problems trying use it to its full potential.

Jamessx

[jankees]

yes, the paintkit is very big. It takes my rig almost 5 minutes to open it...saving everything is a pain, and it just gets bigger and bigger with everything I add...

I see you have the RNZAF aircraft all nicely painted, so I can look at some US ones:

[Ian Warren]

Looks Fantastic JK , a good selection already

[jankees]

Thank you, here's a few more:

[Ian Warren]

Later this week i'm going to want to try a multiplay with the 51 and the 47 and compare the types , that would be a lot of fun , another great paint JK

[AndrewJamez]

I cant seem to download the file straight out or download drop box, the computor just hangs. Any chance of uploading to OZx site?

[jankees]

a few more paints for the mustang, for flying around Iwo Jima and Japan:

[Ian Warren]

LOOKING SMOOTH JK

[Charl]

Kirk Olsson's models had that metal feel you wanted to touch.
This one, too.
Great repaints Jankees, the last screen is poster material.