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  • Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.

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RAF Mustang IV's

JensOle

JensOle

SOH-CM-2023
A few wip screenshots of RAF Mustang IV repaints I'm working on. The model is the superb Warbirdsim P-51K/Mustang IV.

Mustang IV "KH655 from no.19 Sqn RAF, RAF Peterhead April 1945.

QVP.jpg


Mustang IV "KH746" from no. 611 (West Lancashire) Sqn RAF, RAF Hunsdon April 1945.

FYR.jpg


Mustang IV "KH765" from no. 154 Sqn RAF, RAF Hunsdon March 1945. KH765 was flown regularly by Flt. Lt. Norman Lee, he damaged a Fw 190 on 27th March 1945 flying this aircraft. This was the same mission as wing Commander Werner Christie got 2 Fw 190s.

HG-R.jpg


Mustang IV "KH790" flown by Norwegian ace and wing commander W/Cdr Werner H Christie of the Hundson Wing, spring 1945. As was the privilege of a Wing Commander, the aircraft bears his initials (WHC) as the aircraft code. Christie was credited with 10 enemy aircraft shot down, 4 in the Mustang (3 in the IV and 1 in the III).

WHC.jpg
 
Great subjects to cover, JensOle! I like seeing roundels on the Mustang. I had been looking at that camouflaged example for a while, KH655 - a very smart paint scheme, as the others are as well. I love them all - attractive schemes, that are also not well known and rare to see.

With the camo example, if you aren't already, you might want to copy the paint layer(s) and apply them to the second, 60% (or so) opaque paint layer as well (above the highlight layers, but below the dark detail layers and panel lines) to mute some of the highlights around the panel lines and rivets (which are at a heightened contrast for the grey of bare metal, rather than paint), but to not erase them completely. Fantastic job with laying out the camouflage, and I also really like the gun stains you've created!

Speaking of RAF Mustangs, the former Scandinavian Historic Flight P-51D "Old Crow" was obtained by a British owner last year, called Zephyr Aviation, and has since been based in the UK at Shoreham. Starting this coming air show season the aircraft will be debuting wearing the well known 112 sqd paint scheme of KH774, and will likely be seen at some UK and European air shows. Hopefully the paint application is more accurate than the illustration they used in their announcement. I think it would be refreshing to see more schemes like those you've done, JensOle, on restored Mustangs today (still holding out hope of there eventually being a restored and flying RAF-marked P-51B/C - it would be awesome to see, especially if based in England).

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Thanks John! Good point regarding the panel lines/edges highlight, I'll look into it. The camo scheme was (as usual) a pain in the a** , but I think it is starting to look half decent. There are plenty of pictures of the Mustang III in RAF service, specially the polish squadrons seems to be very well documented, but the last months with Mustang IV ops right before VE day are very hard to find good pictures from. John, what do you think about using/not using the stencils on the camo scheme?

I can see that I included the red spinner on HG-R, it should be bare metal. Both FY-R and HG-R fits into the time frame when W. Christie was wingco of the Hunsdon Mustang wing.

I did a few RAF repaints of Mustang III from 65, 126 and 234 sqns, but they were never released. i'm looking forward to test them on the updated P-51B model and hopefully getting them released.

We should have kept "old crow" in Scandinavia and painted it up as Werner Christies bird... The Mustang connection with several Norwegian aces flying it in RAF service is a very well hiden secret here in Norway.
 
Regarding the camouflaged example and stencils - I'm about 99% positive that the aircraft was painted in the camouflage scheme while at the North American factory, and thus would have had the stencils applied. I don't believe the RAF painted their Mustangs in camouflage, because you can just look at how many remained bare metal in RAF service late in the war, that were delivered bare metal.

North American had paint guides for finishing their aircraft to the specifications of foreign air forces (such as a unique camouflage scheme they applied to their B-25's that were sent to Russia). This is the actual P-51D/K RAF paint guide (as in use in early 1945), straight from North American. Note how the demarcation lines match up so closely with your work - the camouflage wasn't done with masks, and so there would have been some variation from one Mustang to another. One of the unique aspects to consider, as seen mentioned on the guide, was that while everything was done to British standard, USAAF standard olive drab was used instead of RAF dark green (a bit ironic, as many a bare metal 8th and 9th AF Mustang in England had RAF dark green applied to it in the field (like Bud Anderson's "Old Crows", early on), instead of olive drab, since it was the British that supplied paint to the USAAF units operating in England).

British_Mustang_Paint_Diagram.jpg
 
I should add, however, that any markings applied while in RAF service to the aircraft that aren't seen on the guide above, would have likely covered any stencils in the region that those markings were applied. One of the neat aspects about these aircraft was that they were delivered with their RAF serial numbers already assigned and applied from the NAA factory.
 
Interesting painting guide as it seems to be reversed to the scheme seen on most if not all UK camouflaged Mustang IVs in early 1945. My pictures of Hunsdon and Peterhead Mustangs show the grey switched place with the green. I know that this was done from time to time to switch up the camouflage schemes. Some other variations seen on Mustang IVs flying in Italy.

My "reversed" scheme for QV-P is based on a pretty well published picture of the aircraft on a escort mission from Peterhead in April 1945.

Readjusted panel lines/highlight and the green has been matched clsoer to OD.

Scrshot3012.jpg


Scrshot3032.jpg


Scrshot3062.jpg
 
Thank you Jan! Not quite up to your level, but I have done my best :)

I'll see if I can follow up on your PM question as well.
 
Thank you!

I have a new pc coming next week (my 6 years old fs machine is starting to show its age in the settings it can run. Looking forward to see the mustang come to life with some more computer power :)

John, have you tested your birds in p3d?
 
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