#P51 COCKPIT GAUGES MANUAL#

Near as I can tell, from asking around (from the 'experts'), the notion that the floor was BLACK arises from a few lines in an EM manual that instructs that the floorboards be painted with non-skid paint. If you look carefully at the photo you can see the IG specs on the floorboad. In it are some very good shots of the cockpit of some P-51D that has had it's original IG pit painted Black. Do you happen to have the Aerodetails book # 13? So if I have made some sort of error - I hope I didn't offend you.īut I do have a question regarding the black floors. Hey Greg - thanks for weighing in! I most certainly am an armchair sort of expert as I have never seen a WWII era P-51 let alone worked on one. Under this floor you'll find basicly the coolant lines, control stick yoke, fuel tank gauges, and the upper wing joint. Now this is what I can offer you on mustang floor boards first they are made from aluminum divided into four sections and bolted into place these sections have 3/8 birch plywood decking attached them they were not primered (in most cases) and only had black nonskid painted on them. Take it for what it's worth and have a good laugh at the armchair experts. This A/C has less than 1200 hours on the airframe and has never undergone any restoration to this degree.

when we pulled the wings the wingbox is a yellow zinc and friday after we pulled out the main fuel tanks and found the cavaties were painted a light brown. the right boom is in 'a' green zinc from the factory while the left boom has never been painted and still bears the alcola spec numbers on the bare skin. For example we are currently doing a restoration on a P-38. IMHO I think alot of it was based on what (paint/primer)was available at the time of manufacture. I've seen alot of unrestored parts that were painted different colors. Now that the Mustang’s together, I need to clean up a few of the seam lines, throw some paint at the wings to make sure the seams are properly filled, and replace some of the brass gun tubes I accidentally knocked into the wings while sanding the filled seams.Take what you read with a grain of salt when people talk about colors. Tamiya’s Mustang is the epitome of great fit, and if you’re careful you can get it together with a minimum of fuss. Once the wings were taken care of, the P-51 literally flew together. Surfacer 500, then sanded it down with 400, 1000, and 1200 grit sandpaper. After taping off the gun doors and the few lines that had to remain, I dabbed the exposed lines with Mr. Most Mustang kits, the Tamiya included, retain the original panel lines.

To that end, North American Aviation filled all of the flush rivets and panel lines on the forward sections of the wings right on the assembly line, and painted them over with aluminum lacquer. In order to wring the most efficiency out of the wing as possible, drag had to be minimized as far as possible. The Tamiya kit’s representation of the P-51’s gun tubes is rather poor, so I drilled them out and replaced them with telescoping brass tubing.Ī lot of the Mustang’s speed and range came from it’s cutting-edge laminar flow wing. Once the cockpit was installed and the fuselage closed, I moved on to the wings. After painting and weathering, I used Airscale’s 1/48 instrument panel decals to punch up the gauges. Ultimately, my displeasure led me to steal the instrument panel from another Tamiya P-51 I have in the stash.

#P51 COCKPIT GAUGES CRACKED#

When I cracked open the P-51 box, I was hit by a slew of aftermarket accessories I’d ordered once upon a time: Ultracast gear doors, seat, prop and spinner, Squadron vac-form canopies, and an Eduard PE set.Īfter painting the cockpit areas with Lifecolor Interior Green, Vallejo black and Floquil weathered black, I opted to use the Eduard PE set in the cockpit, and was immediately unhappy with the quality of the instrument panel. However, with the failure of willpower that culminated in my pre-order of Tamiya’s forthcoming 1/32 Mustang, the 1/48 kit has taken on a new urgency as something of warm-up build for that kit, and a perfect platform to work on my natural metal techniques and masking the 352nd’s distinctive blue cowls. My original intention – to use Tamiya’s 1/48 P-51D as something of a decompression build between the Sopwith Pup and Spitfire Mk.VIII – has foundered somewhat on the twin rocks of advanced modeler’s syndrome and the sheer epicness of Tamiya’s big Spit.

P51 cockpit gauges