1:32 P51D Mustang

Kings Cliffe and its Mustangs

The 20th Fighter Group, nicknamed the Loco Group after its pilots' fondness for shooting at locomotives, exchanged twin engine Lightnings for single engine Mustangs in the summer of 1944. It flew from the English airfield at Kings Cliffe and escorted heavy bombers deep over Germany. This sheet in 1:32 scale belongs to two machines of its 79th Fighter Squadron.

The code MC-B with serial number 44-13660 was carried by the aircraft of Lieutenant Kenneth A. Skinner, named Panty Waste. The second, MC-L with the number 44-15198, belonged to Lieutenant John B. Lee and had a double name on the fuselage, E.K. and Jay Bee on the left side and the name Suzanne on the right. The letters MC denote the squadron, the last letter the particular aircraft within it.

Double markings on one machine

A different name on each side of the fuselage is a welcome complication for a builder: it gives the model life, but it calls for care in placement, because both pieces of art have to sit at the same height and at the same distance from the exhausts. Measuring the position from the panel lines rather than from the edge of the cockpit proves itself.

The silvery surface of unpainted duralumin is the most demanding base for decals there is, because the slightest matte edge of the film stands out on it at once. An intermediate gloss coat is therefore a necessity here, and the final unifying of the surface is done with a varnish of very low sheen, so that the model does not go matte and lose its metal character. Patience pays off here more than anywhere else, because a motif set down crooked on a polished surface practically cannot be corrected.