1:32 P-51B Mustang

When stripes ran across the insignia

On the night before the Normandy landings, Allied aircraft were given broad alternating white and black stripes around the rear fuselage and around both halves of the wing. They were painted in haste, with brushes and rollers, often straight over the national markings, so on some aircraft the star lies partly under a stripe. During the summer the stripes were washed off the upper surfaces again so that the aircraft would not stand out on the ground, and by the end of the year they remained only on the underside of the fuselage. Anyone building a Mustang with the raised rear decking to the spring or summer of 1944 therefore has to sort out the order of the layers: camouflage, insignia, stripes and finally their partial removal.

Why a stencil in particular

A sprayed insignia will take further paint running across it, and it will take that paint being partly sanded away afterwards. A decal film suffers under this procedure, because it abrades differently from the paint beneath it. In a large scale the difference is apparent even to the naked eye: the edge of the film reflects light differently from matte camouflage, whereas a sprayed insignia lies in the same plane as it. The set contains masking of the glazing from the outer and the inner face plus two insignia masks.

Recommendation

• Spray the stripes through roughly cut tape; sharp edges look unconvincing on a model.
• Let the insignia dry through before you cover it with a further layer.
• Unmask the glazing right at the end, after the clear coat and after the weathering.
• Lift the film at a slight angle, not perpendicular to the surface.
• Choose an off-white shade; pure white looks harsh on a large model.

The box is intended for painting and contains neither a kit nor paints.