Hi all,
In growing frustration waiting for a Mustang that’s probably lost in the mail, for the P-51 GB, I thought I’d cast my net wider and look at some subjects in my stash. I find I have markings for some Israeli Mustangs in a variety of schemes, including the desert camo ‘41’ which operated at the time of the Suez crisis.
Can anyone suggest color references for these shades? A blue-green slightly darker than FS 35109 is given in the decal instructions (a sheet by Ventura of New Zealand, V7257), plus an upperside Dark Earth coded 20140 (which sounds like a misprint to me on my understanding of the FS 595a system) and an underside gray ‘similar to RLM 76.’
This is not a lot to go on and my guess is that the IAF at that time would have been using paint stocks from wherever they could be found, so the odds of anything approaching standardization are remote. I guess I’m looking for pointers – has anybody built this subject previously, and are there any recommended primary references for the period?
Best wishes,
Thunderbolt379
I don’t believe that I have much in the way of original photos showing Israeli Mustangs, but will dig around and see what I can see. I also have no pointers for decent references, unfortunately…
Several years back, Dave Aungst built a very nice Suez-era P-51… take a looksee HERE…
Fade to Black…
Hi Blackwolf 3945 – Thankyou so much, this was exactly the information I needed! Yes, the mixing sugestions for the nonstandad camo sound exactly the way to go. The David Aungst model is just what I had in mind and his finishing is superb, a marvelous standard to aim for.
I have the old Ventura sheet in 1:72, and Hasegawa released their Mustang in Israeli markings for this unit and period, I’m lucky enough to have that issue, albeit buried deep in my stash. I’m thinking something very spectacular could eventuate for the P-51 GB.
Thankyou again,
Best wishes,
TB379
during this time period the IAF just needed able aircraft thus there was no standered paint or camo. some even flew in whatever paint they arrived in. Most of the IAF mustangs/bf109/S-199 were painted in RAF and RLM colors. you will find that the green color could have been either RAF dark green or RLM export color RLM 68 in most cases. it could also have been a mixture of the two. The brown color was usually RAF dark earth. The lower color could have been RAF med sea gray or RLM 76. Some P-51’s that arrived in bare metal werre also flown this way. Keep in mind that t he heat and sun really faded the paint bad.
Hi Pheonix,
Many thanks for the photos and paint info – it’s certainly one of the lesser-trod paths in modelling. I’ve a good mind to pull out the Hasa 1:48 for the GB!
Here’s something IAF fans might know – did the shade of blue in the national insignia vary over the years? In the color shot (I’m assuming that’s the IAF museum lineup) the Star of David is the same shade of blue the eye expects to see in modern times, certainly from the 1960s onward. The Ventura sheet features a much darker blue, which also appears, I believe, on their IAF Spitfire sheets – was Israeli insignia blue equivalent to US insignia blue in the early days??? Unless there was historic variety in this area, I’m thinking an AM sheet of insignia would be the way to go.
Cheers,
TB379