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Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.
Warbirdsim P-51D-5-NA Little Friends II OUT NOW! (Pay-ware)
- Thread starter WarBert
- Start date
Bomber_12th
SOH-CM-2025
Thank you! Yes, the T-6 Thunder guys are great to see flying over every now and then! Unfortunately the B-25, T-6, and BT-13 sightings out of Fleming have died down considerably since summer came to an end - I'm sure most are entering their annuals about now - the B-25 served as my Saturday-morning alarm clock three times this summer! : )
noddy
SOH-CM-2026
skyhawka4m
Charter Member
I have just completed the paintkit, and will start sending copies out to those who have contacted me thus-far, very soon. This is what you get with the paintkit, if you combine everything provided, as it comes. The subject is 44-13366, a factory-fresh example. You are provided both a paintkit for the standard fillet-less P-51D-5-NA models, as well as a separate paintkit for the P-51D-5-NA model fitted with an early dorsal fin fillet.
After I get the paintkits sent out to all of those who have asked for it thus far, I will be uploading these repaints below, one for each of the "D-5 standard" and "D-5 filleted" models, for anyone who might be interested in these factory-fresh examples.
Early dorsal fin fillet installed (slightly different construction/design than the more familiar fillet installed on later D-models).
AWESOME!!! A man after my own heart......love'm naked like this!
Bomber_12th
SOH-CM-2025
Beautiful screenshots, Barnes and Noddy, thank you for posting them!
I should also add that you should expect to see a repaint of "Hurry Home Honey" released sometime next week. ; )
I should also add that you should expect to see a repaint of "Hurry Home Honey" released sometime next week. ; )
skyhawka4m
Charter Member
NICE!!!!!! GOOD OLE C5*T.......another very cool scheme that is. I also noticed that you use 413366 as your clean aircraft....a nice shot of here in the Squadron Signal book....I'm sure you knew that though.......any xhance you'll put out CRIPES with full invasion stripes?
Bomber_12th
SOH-CM-2025
Regarding a fully-striped "Cripes", in-time, most definitely.; )
44-13366 was the subject of a photo-shoot in the summer of 1944 (before delivery), over California, with a number of photos of it published in a few magazines/publications that same year (in color and B&W). Once in England the aircraft ended up assigned to the 355th FG. Its pilot, Lt. Ward Douglass, named the aircraft "Baby Buggy" (I'll also plan on making a repaint of -366 as "Baby Buggy").
44-13366 was the subject of a photo-shoot in the summer of 1944 (before delivery), over California, with a number of photos of it published in a few magazines/publications that same year (in color and B&W). Once in England the aircraft ended up assigned to the 355th FG. Its pilot, Lt. Ward Douglass, named the aircraft "Baby Buggy" (I'll also plan on making a repaint of -366 as "Baby Buggy").
rgatkinson
Charter Member
Source for repaints
Hi,
Just wondered where you painters get the ideas, photos and reference material for your skins? Do you just trawl the internet, libraries and bookshops for info and inspiration or is there an online 'repository', 'skinners heaven' or 'Shangri-La' (P-51 pun intended) that I have yet to find?
Any and all guidance appreciated.
Taff
PS congrats to all at Warbirdsim for producing such an exceptional product. I've already treated myself to an early Xmas pressie
Hi,
Just wondered where you painters get the ideas, photos and reference material for your skins? Do you just trawl the internet, libraries and bookshops for info and inspiration or is there an online 'repository', 'skinners heaven' or 'Shangri-La' (P-51 pun intended) that I have yet to find?
Any and all guidance appreciated.
Taff
PS congrats to all at Warbirdsim for producing such an exceptional product. I've already treated myself to an early Xmas pressie
jankees
SOH-CM-2026
I can't speak for the others, but I have about 3 meters of aviation books within arm's reach from my computer, several Gb of photos on two harddisks, and there is a HUGE amount of data available on the internet. Little Friends is probably your best starting point for Mustangs and Thunderbolts.
Bomber_12th
SOH-CM-2025
Thank you, Taff!
Regarding paint choices - I usually go off of the paint schemes that have come into my knowledge over all of the years I have been interested in warbirds/Mustangs - through warbird magazines and journals I am subscribed to, internet foroums on WWII aviation/warbirds, forums and sites dedicated to the P-51, and books that I have bought. In trying to hunt down new, unique, and interesting Mustangs that I have not seen before, I have spent a considerable amount of hours trawling through this site (though it only covers the 8th AF Fighter Groups): http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/
Also, if you have a Fighter Group in mind, that holds particular interest with you, you can usually find a website dedicated to that particular group, with, in many cases, fantastic photo galleries, often submitted by veterans from that group.
Outside of the 8th AF (which usually gets the most coverage) there were some very interesting Mustangs in the 9th AF, 15th AF, 14th AF, 7th AF, etc., and you can find yourself on a tangent, looking up what fighter groups within these operated Mustangs, and then by looking up a particular fighter group, through say Google, will usually come up with some great photographic resources.
Like the USAAF Mustang groups, you just have to know what you are looking for when it comes to finding Mustangs outside of the USAAF (i.e. Canadian, British, Australian, New Zealand squadrons, and many more). Even just conducting a Google-image search of a particular squadron that opperated Mustangs, will usually provide a lot of useful returns.
For the P-51D-5-NA, in particular, their use was limited to the 8th, 9th, and 15th U.S. Army Air Forces (though there was at least one German-captured P-51D-5-NA (bare metal/yellow bottom/German insignias) and a Russian-interned 31st FG/15th AF P-51D-5-NA (named "Weary Willie"/red stars painted over U.S. stars) - both would make for some very nice repaints if anyone is interested in taking any of them on!), as other outfits did not receive D-models until after the D-5-NA production run was over. So if you are aiming to make a repaint of a P-51D-5-NA, you can limit your searching to certain Fighter Groups within the 8th, 9th, and 15th Air Forces (of which only certain fighter groups within those Air Forces got P-51D-5-NA's).
Regarding paint choices - I usually go off of the paint schemes that have come into my knowledge over all of the years I have been interested in warbirds/Mustangs - through warbird magazines and journals I am subscribed to, internet foroums on WWII aviation/warbirds, forums and sites dedicated to the P-51, and books that I have bought. In trying to hunt down new, unique, and interesting Mustangs that I have not seen before, I have spent a considerable amount of hours trawling through this site (though it only covers the 8th AF Fighter Groups): http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/
Also, if you have a Fighter Group in mind, that holds particular interest with you, you can usually find a website dedicated to that particular group, with, in many cases, fantastic photo galleries, often submitted by veterans from that group.
Outside of the 8th AF (which usually gets the most coverage) there were some very interesting Mustangs in the 9th AF, 15th AF, 14th AF, 7th AF, etc., and you can find yourself on a tangent, looking up what fighter groups within these operated Mustangs, and then by looking up a particular fighter group, through say Google, will usually come up with some great photographic resources.
Like the USAAF Mustang groups, you just have to know what you are looking for when it comes to finding Mustangs outside of the USAAF (i.e. Canadian, British, Australian, New Zealand squadrons, and many more). Even just conducting a Google-image search of a particular squadron that opperated Mustangs, will usually provide a lot of useful returns.
For the P-51D-5-NA, in particular, their use was limited to the 8th, 9th, and 15th U.S. Army Air Forces (though there was at least one German-captured P-51D-5-NA (bare metal/yellow bottom/German insignias) and a Russian-interned 31st FG/15th AF P-51D-5-NA (named "Weary Willie"/red stars painted over U.S. stars) - both would make for some very nice repaints if anyone is interested in taking any of them on!), as other outfits did not receive D-models until after the D-5-NA production run was over. So if you are aiming to make a repaint of a P-51D-5-NA, you can limit your searching to certain Fighter Groups within the 8th, 9th, and 15th Air Forces (of which only certain fighter groups within those Air Forces got P-51D-5-NA's).
Bomber_12th
SOH-CM-2025
Of all of the projects thus far, I think this is the hardest one for me to pick any favorites amongst - I find myself flying them all, just about equally. Yesterday I got some time in on "Cripes", and took a few screenshots.
You can spot some unique details on all of the variants, that were picked up upon from the originals. In the case of "Cripes A' Mighty 3rd", just as can be seen in original photographs of the aircraft, the original production block stencil that was applied on the aircraft from the factory, was almost nearly completely removed from the aircraft at one point, likely from the ground crew cleaning the aircraft, though you could still see a trace of it left behind. A new production block stencil was then applied, a bit higher on the side of the fuselage above the position of the original stencil, but it wasn't done quite so nicely as the original production stencil application. Also, as the era of the aircraft depicted is after the invasion stripes had been removed from the top-surfaces of the aircraft, the stencils that were beneath have been almost completely or totally removed as well, leaving just a trace impression, if anything.
You can spot some unique details on all of the variants, that were picked up upon from the originals. In the case of "Cripes A' Mighty 3rd", just as can be seen in original photographs of the aircraft, the original production block stencil that was applied on the aircraft from the factory, was almost nearly completely removed from the aircraft at one point, likely from the ground crew cleaning the aircraft, though you could still see a trace of it left behind. A new production block stencil was then applied, a bit higher on the side of the fuselage above the position of the original stencil, but it wasn't done quite so nicely as the original production stencil application. Also, as the era of the aircraft depicted is after the invasion stripes had been removed from the top-surfaces of the aircraft, the stencils that were beneath have been almost completely or totally removed as well, leaving just a trace impression, if anything.
rgatkinson
Charter Member
jankees, Bomber_12th
Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. I'm having lots of fun with this bird as well. When I get the paintkit I'm going to have a go at a P-51D-5-NA belonging to Capt. Harry Mace of the 357th FG 362nd FS named "Wee Willy"
Taff.
Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. I'm having lots of fun with this bird as well. When I get the paintkit I'm going to have a go at a P-51D-5-NA belonging to Capt. Harry Mace of the 357th FG 362nd FS named "Wee Willy"
Taff.
Bomber_12th
SOH-CM-2025
Pat, please see my recent PM. This should have been taken care of by now and with product in hand.
AussieMan
SOH Staff .."Bartender"
Thanks John, all is well now and downloading as I type. Will be at least another hour before I can fly them as I don't have the quickest internet at the moment. Lightning strike last week blew my modem and the ethernet bit of my motherboard. Now using a plugin ethernet card and it has slowed things down a bit.
Must emphasise that the emails I exchanged were very civil.
Bomber_12th
SOH-CM-2025
Great news Pat, thank you for being patient!
Flame-Prop
Charter Member
Absolutely stunning, I got Little friends I for the first time and I never In my life experienced such magic and freedom.....will be looking forward carrying on with the Little friends series No. 2 next.....question was it possible to pop open the gunbay in Little Friends I ?
Gabe
Gabe