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Flight1 P-51D is out!

Today i could not resist and give the P51 a try. Here a small summary


Flight model:
The aircraft seems to me to fly more realistic than the A2A P51. It includes the supercharger that A2A omitted.

Cockpit:
Is easier to handle using the mouse, as most of the controls require a single click to operate. The oil cooler control leveler is very hard to handle on the A2A P51. The gunsight, although the popup help indicates so, has no alternative view. The switches don't change a thing. Cool is, that you can operate the morse strobe lights. A2A forgot about those.

Aircraft outside:
Very nice modelled. F1 added really small details. And when power is of, like the real p51, the gear doors and flaps hang down(see pic).
More strobes are not depicted realisticly. Details are missing.

Textures:
Well, not as bad a some screenshots shown in this thread, but not close to the A2A quality. They have more details. A2A made full use of bump maps and the rivets in the fuse look authentic. F1 has space to improve here. Same as the cockpit. I don't mind that i have a factory new aircraft, but i mind if the textures of the gauges are blurry or not well readable.

As written earlier "Lou IV" Textures are not correct.

Overall, the product has some room for improvement

Cheers
Martin
 
MartinM said:
It looks like i have to spend some money to figure out if the AC is worth of it.

One remark, the LouIV / Athelene did not have a red cockpit paint during wartimes, neither it was blue.


P-51D-5-NA, 44-13410, E2-C
"LOU IV" (his fourth aircraft named for his daughter)
"ATHELENE" (right side; thought to be the crew chief's lady friend or wife)
callsign: 'Easy Two-Charlie'

LOU IV was painted using RAF Dark Green (HEX: 595C4E / RGB: 89,92,78)


Someone might wanna correct this repaint

The restored Lou IV, which happened to be restored several times from other aircrafts was not wearing a red cockpit painting either.

http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/p51survivors/pages/44-63350.php

Cheers
Martin
Click to expand...

Hi Martin,

I know from discussions with some experts on the P-51 that there was a lot of debate about the green/blue paint on during the war. There are only a few very poor colour photographs in existence to go from and there is still debate about it I believe (from what I am told). General consensus is that they used whatever was to hand... the restored paint schemes generally were considerably better than wartime examples for obvious reasons.

We will have another look at the red cockpit paint on Lou IV. Another look at the pile of P-51 books still sitting on my desk, methinks... I am sure a photograph I saw of her had a red cockpit, but the link you show doesn't of course.

All the best,

Mungo
 
jankees said:
Aaah, the colors of the Bottisham four...
I still think it should be either OD or RAF Green, but check here:
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/1998/05/stuff_eng_ww2incolor_louiv.htm

and here:
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/1999/09/stuff_eng_ww2incolor_louivaddendum.htm

and finally, look at the location of "Athelene" in this one:
http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/louivcq_1.htm

below the exhaust, not over it.
Click to expand...

RAF dark green is what at wartime must have been laying around to US FG in England. If you have to cover the invasion stripes, what would you take? Cetrainly what you have available on stock, and certainly what covers the stripes. The last thing that would probably be available in mass, would be the US marines blue coating.

From my own photography experience, as a spotter, in the sky, you might get a too blueish tone if the white balance is not well done. Color photography during wartimes was in its first steps, not widely used. We cannot expect to have a good white balance. Negatives, developed poorly may lead into wrong color results.

But looking at hundreds of P51 survivor aircrafts, which Switzerland bought 130 after WW2, the color used was either US olive drab or RAF dark green.

Give me one reason why USAF should be painting one aircraft in blue?
Makes no sense to me at all.

"Lil' Kitten" C5-K is a P-51C-10-NT, serial # 43-25039, of the 357th FG 364th FS. Although the USAAF received this particular aircraft unpainted, the 357th FG applied RAF Green as camouflage to all their Mustangs during Summer 1944. This aircraft has been retrofitted with a Malcolm hood.
Click to expand...


Just another evidence of what color was available in England -> RAF dark green!

http://www.swissmustangs.ch/4598.html


@Mungo: I would appreciate a P51 "LouIV/Athelene" in RAF dark green and of course i welcome if you could do a Swiss Air Force P51 ;)

Cheers
Martin
 
Stickshaker said:
Bazzar, did you get my email and PM?
Click to expand...

G'day Hans,

I have been travelling overseas mate. I am giving your addy etc. to Mungo over at Flight One, however, probably best if you go through him anyway.

Of course, he has posted a few around here under "REV"if you wish to get in touch that way.

Salutations my friend, I trust you keep well.

Baz.:engel016:
 
On the blue/green debate, we will probably do an Olive Drab version. The references we have are either those indistinct colour shots or shots of restored examples which are definitely blue.

Why would one restore a 2 million dollar machine and paint it thus?

Many books depict both colours too. Seems to be a debate without end...:engel016:
 
bazzar said:
On the blue/green debate, we will probably do an Olive Drab version. The references we have are either those indistinct colour shots or shots of restored examples which are definitely blue.

Why would one restore a 2 million dollar machine and paint it thus?

Many books depict both colours too. Seems to be a debate without end...:engel016:
Click to expand...

Ya think thats bad Bazz? You should try hanging out with the Luftwaffle crowd and "discuss" what "colors" were used on 109's or 190's!! Oh man, the endless debate!!:engel016:
 
Quite interesting that any debate should still exist at all, however, about what the color was or wasn't. Historians and restorers today, and the pilots and crew themselves (the most important ones) who helped end the debate, know that the squadron never used blue for upper surfaces, nor never thought of why to use blue in the first place. They, like other groups who experimented with painting their bare-metal Mustangs, like the 357th and 20th Fighter Groups, used any available paint they could find which resembled OD - though RAF Green was almost always only what was available to them for use. Restored examples such as Geraldine and Fercious Frankie (included in this release!) are painted in correct colors, having been the product of more recent research. Every example you see today of a 361st FG Mustang painted with blue top surfaces, was the result of 1970's and 1980's restoration/research. Many owners of these aircraft today, stick to the schemes, not because of their lack of accuracy, but because of sentimental reasons, and in the case of Jim Beasley's "Bald Eagle", they sometimes just look good. I'm sure over time, as these examples pass through new owners, they will be receiving either completely new schemes, or a corrected version of the same scheme.
 
bazzar said:
Hi Mud, trust you are well too?:engel016:
Click to expand...

Not really......life has knocked me pretty low lately! But life goes on, etc. Hope life isn't treating you like a baby's diaper Baz and you and yours are all well! I for one am enjoying my new stang!!:applause:
 
bazzar said:
On the blue/green debate, we will probably do an Olive Drab version. The references we have are either those indistinct colour shots or shots of restored examples which are definitely blue.

Why would one restore a 2 million dollar machine and paint it thus?

Many books depict both colours too. Seems to be a debate without end...:engel016:
Click to expand...

Hey Baz, seen both in reference books that I've read, too, but personally prefer the blue....just seems to go nicely with the yellow nose....:icon_lol:
Just got the new pony loaded out and it looks and flies great !
 
G'day Odie,

We will definitely do a drab green one, it isn't a big deal.
Glad you like her and find the little extras fun.:engel016:
 
bazzar said:
Why would one restore a 2 million dollar machine and paint it thus?
Click to expand...


Well..to quote the late Charles Church (whose Spitfire wasn't exactly painted in correct shades) "because I can afford to"...

Thats' the trouble with a lot of restorations IMO, the owners
wishes take precedence over historical facts.

ttfn

Pete
 
Sprung for this one: and probably going to ask for a refund and wait for A2A's accu-sim'ed version. After I buy their F-4 that is.

Problems w/ the F1 Mustang

1.) Flaps are animated to deploy assymetrically.
2.) Cartoonish textures
3.) I was able to start and fly with the magnetoes off
4.) Big gaps in the model around the aircraft's nose

Also, I was hoping the P-51 had an inertia starter, but I found that is not the case. That's my bad. I guess I'll have to wait for somebody to make a great P-40 to get that starting procedure.

Btw, does anybody besides me really really really want an Accu-Sim P-40E or P-40N?
 
bazzar said:
G'day Hans,

I have been travelling overseas mate. I am giving your addy etc. to Mungo over at Flight One, however, probably best if you go through him anyway.

Of course, he has posted a few around here under "REV"if you wish to get in touch that way.

Salutations my friend, I trust you keep well.

Baz.:engel016:
Click to expand...

Thanks Baz, I'll contact him.
 
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