1:48 P-51D Mustang

Kings Cliffe and two well known pilots

The fighter group whose machines the sheet covers was based at an airfield in Northamptonshire and became known for low level attacks on airfields and trains. Two men flew with it whose names are known to this day by everyone interested in wartime aviation. The first was a squadron commander credited with one of the first kills of a jet machine, the second a veteran who in earlier service on a twin engine fighter became notorious for a forced landing in a neutral country and an escape back.

Both aircraft

The first Mustang has serial number 44-11161, the code pair LC, the individual letter N and the name June Nite on the nose. The second is 44-13761 with the code MC, the letter I and artwork called Happy Jacks go Buggy. The code pairs refer to two different squadrons of the same group, so two clearly different models come out of one sheet.

The D form in 1944

Machines from this period already had the bubble canopy and six machine guns in the wing. A number of them received a narrow dorsal fillet in front of the tail surfaces, which compensated for the loss of directional stability after the fuselage spine was lowered. Check against a photograph whether the example you are building had it.

Procedure

On a Mustang the code letters lie across a panel joint and across a riveted seam. Let a piece settle, then apply a decal softener and stop moving it; the film draws itself into the engraving while drying and the joint beneath it stays legible. After the softener, leave the decal undisturbed for at least forty-five minutes.

Painted motifs on the nose were also often bordered by a colored field sprayed straight onto the metal. Before reaching for tweezers, work out from the illustration how far that field reaches.