Warbirdsim P-51D "Twilight Tear, Then and Now" Released (Payware)

[Bomber_12th]

Another interesting little bit of info about this aircraft:

When the remains of the aircraft (rather complete, but tattered) were inspected before restoration, the serial numbers attached with the wing were found to be from another P-51D that had also served in the 78th FG at Duxford. Tracing the serial number of that plane, they found that it had been involved in a ground accident. Three weeks after that aircraft was involved in a ground accident, 44-63864 ("Twilight Tear") was involved in a ground loop accident. According to the accident report for 44-63864 ("Twilight Tear") from that incident, the entire wing was replaced. This was just one of many pieces of evidence that were used to prove that this aircraft was the true, original, "Twilight Tear".

 

[CP1207]

View attachment 64299
I had this as my desktop picture on my work laptop a year or two ago, so when this was released I did a doubletake. I'm waving goodbye to that company Monday and even though I'm not sure where the next paycheck is coming from, I'm picking this one up. I work/ed for a fairly young & liberal medical center, but every time I connected the laptop to a projector to launch yet another horrible PowerPoint presentation for someone, one or two of the staff would comment on what a beautiful looking airplane that was.

I own a 30+ year old sailboat that has a certain cult following and was built within 200 miles of where I live and it is almost impossible to get accurate data on it and its sisters. The amount of misinformation, downright wrong information, etc is staggering as I try to put some accurate info together.

The level of detail that John has provided for all the releases is amazing. I spent many a dollar on Mustang books years ago that don't come close to equalling what John provides in a single post.:salute:

 

[c87]

John, the texturing of the "then" (WWII) version is exquisite. The oil staining and panel lines are just superb in my opinion. Great job.

 

[modelr]

I don't think anything is wrong either other than Norton Nannyware.

RKinkor is correct, it's just the Norton Nannyware. I keep getting it for all new exe's also. It's just because they are brand new. I also get a "safe" notice from another part of Norton, so (when it checks for virus, etc.) I just close the warning tab with the red "X" at the far right. I did have to tell Norton not to delete, but now I can't remember where I did it. In the settings, somewhere.

The easiest way to stop this message is not to use an "executable" file in the main download name.

 

[THibben]

What is the difference

I am curious as to the difference, except for the pain scheme, betweem this and the Cripes A Mighty. After trying to compare the technical aspects I can find no difference. Am I missing something?

Thanks,

Tom Hibben

 

[skyhawka4m]

will pick this up as soon as my work situation gets better......I hope!!

she looks great John!!!

 

[Bomber_12th]

I am curious as to the difference, except for the pain scheme, betweem this and the Cripes A Mighty. After trying to compare the technical aspects I can find no difference. Am I missing something?

Thanks,

Tom Hibben

Thank you Tom for posting that question! The technical aspects are much the same - they fly similarly, and they all have much the same critical equipment. The differences are in the details and specific configurations. The whole idea behind each project, is to just pick out a single example, and do all that is feasibly possible to reproduce that specific example, in every detail.

If it would help to illustrate the points, I have put these together, for the interior cockpits of the "Cripes A' Mighty, Then and Now" and the "Twilight Tear, Then and Now" products. Keep an eye out to what variant you are looking at it, in any given screenshot, and compared to another variant, in other screenshots. There are also differences, that should be able to be seen, that are not labeled. These differences aren't simply 'made up', but are based on in-depth research of the historical aircraft, and the aircraft as they are today.

First-up, here are the two wartime examples:

 

[Bomber_12th]

And here are the two different restored examples:

 

[Bomber_12th]

Here are some of the external differences (not included, is the fact that all of them have early-wings, except for the restored "Cripes A' Mighty", and also all of them also have the early-type instrument panel shroud, except for the restored "Cripes").

 

[Bomber_12th]

*I'm sorry for the couple of typos in the above illustrations. Hopefully, though, they help to illustrate some of the finer points about the aircraft, as invidual examples.

 

[THibben]

Great bit of information

Bomber,

Thank you so much for that detailed information. That was exactly what I was looking for.

If I was your age with our hobby as advanced as it is, I think I might really enjoy getting involved as much as you are.

Thanks again,

Tom

 

[Bomber_12th]

No problem, Tom! And I'm not presenting just those details as a reason to get all excited about the aircraft, but hopefully they do help to show how they can easily differ from one to the next.

The unique thing about the restored "Twilight Tear", is that it was the actual aircraft to begin with, but with so much missing from the aircraft, those that restored it, and detailed it, really had to probe the original NAA drawings and photos, for the speicific early-batch P-51D-20-NA that it is, to get it so close to perfect to how it originally looked during the war. Really, the only main difference is the polished aluminum. In the case of the restored "Cripes A' Mighty", the actual aircraft is a P-51D-30-NA, while the original was a P-51D-15-NA, so they are quire different, especially because there was such a big dividing line, half-way through P-51D-20-NA production (with a lot of big changes occurring), between early-mid and late examples. As a result, the restored "Cripes A' Mighty" is very much the P-51D-30-NA that the airframe was originally manufactured as, but also has a few things, foreign to a P-51D-30-NA, but included to make it more like a P-51D-15-NA type example.

(Note, that although it isn't fully mentioned, the aerial antenna rollers on the canopies of both the wartime "Cripes" and "'Tear" are of the "early-mid production" types, and typical of what would be found on a P-51D-15-NA and P-51D-20-NA, while the roller on the restored "Cripes" is of the late-type, typical of what would be found on a P-51D-30-NA.)

 

[THibben]

Can't download file

Warbird,

Don't know if you can help on this, but I am not allowed to order until my email is verified. There seems to be no way to accomplish this. It appears I am locked out for some reason.

Any thoughts

Tom Hibben

 

[Bomber_12th]

Tom, if you check your spam folder, and the confirmation e-mail is not there, then a quick message to support@warbirdsim.com should do the trick.

 

[JIMJAM]

Wow

I joke about the simworld not needing another P51,Spitfire,737 or Piper Cub but this is special. I already own 2 P-51s one being one of your earlier releases. The one with the recon version, naca wing and a few other variants. What maybe a year old or so?Caddie of the skies I think.
Anyways, just your very detail explanations, tremendous knowledge of the plane and overall passion temps me to buy it just to support your hard work.

 

[Bomber_12th]

Playing around with the K-14 gun sight. : )

Adjusting the range of the gyro reticle:

Fixed reticle:

 

[Bomber_12th]

Some more cockpit shots from the restored "Twilight Tear":

 

[Odie]

Wow

I joke about the simworld not needing another P51,Spitfire,737 or Piper Cub but this is special. I already own 2 P-51s one being one of your earlier releases. The one with the recon version, naca wing and a few other variants. What maybe a year old or so?Caddie of the skies I think.
Anyways, just your very detail explanations, tremendous knowledge of the plane and overall passion temps me to buy it just to support your hard work.

JIMJAM, even if you have the other Mustangs, these are worth the price of admission! I installed both of them last night around 11:30pm and only had time to take a lap around the island that LGMT is
on, but it's good stuff; visually and flight-wise. Great work, John!

 

[Bomber_12th]

Thank you Odie!! And thank you to everyone who has been so kind to provide your support over the past few years, it is very highly appreciated!!

Here are some further screenshots, exterior this time, from the few flights that the above screenshots were taken from.

"The victim" : )

 

[Bomber_12th]

Arm Rest

Not too long ago, I got a question from someone, that made me laugh a bit, who wanted to know if the arm rest folded down. I realized that I had never taken any screenshots showing it down, so here are a few.

I also took these screenshots to illustrate the unique "Gun & Fuselage Level" stencils and lugs. These two lugs, that the stencils point to, were used to position a level on, when the aircraft was on jacks. For aligning the guns, bore sighting the camera and gun sight, or preparing the assembly or disassembly of the aircraft, you'd check to make sure the aircraft was level using those lugs. This and other stencils use a unique type-face, that I copied exactly, with one of the most unique aspects of it, the specific "&" symbol. The rear lug is almost never seen in cockpit photos, because it is positioned so far back, and in most all depictions of the Mustang in virtual form, the stencils might be there, but the lugs are not - likely leaving people to scratch their heads over what the stencil is pointing to - or none of these details are present at all.

The second screenshot down, shows the arm rest in-transit, starting to fold down, and shows the wrap-around portions at the base, which meet the back-side of the longeron, seating the arm rest at a 90-degree angle to the longeron.