Broken Shangri La Mustang

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Don Gentile was a leading Ace in WW2.

On April 13, 1944 he was stunting for the press over an airfield in Briton when he crashed and totally destroyed his P-51 Mustang.

This is my journey to model that aircraft. So buckle up and join the ride.

Before:

After:

A quick seardch told me a detailed Merlin engine was going to cost me more than I wanted to pay for the project so I was very happy when I found This:

This allowed me to plan things out

Not surprisingly a kit with the appropriate markings was available.

So time to dig into the plastic

So everything that needed to be mangled or missing is cut off. Pretty much doubled the parts count of the kit!

Then put it back together. Sort of.

Since the aircraft was only in service a few weeks before he crashed it the cockpit was done up loking new(ish)

All closed up and interior painted. Brace in place to throw tarp over. Torn skin not on until ready for exterior paint.

Since the cowel will be off I need someplace to put the nose art. Sooooo

Base coat on. Bubble canopy is for masking purposes only

Torn and buckled aluminum is made from … well … torn and buckled aluminum. It is the heavy aluminum tape used for duct wok. Base coat is covered with tinted Future (Pledge) to start weathering and give a good foundation for decals.

Decals on and more weathering added.

Standing on her legs.

All tarpped up and prop in place.

And with canopy. Most of a canopy. Half of a canopy?

Tail.

And salvage pile of removed parts on a dirty tarp.

And done! Or so I thought.

2

LOL I ran out of space in my long post!

So here I was all proud of myself when I stumbled across a picture I had not seen in all my research.

There in all their glory are the oxygen bottles. I thought they were further forward so had not included them. That would never do so

3

Great job!reminds me of the old Revell 1/32 offering!Did the pilot survive?

4

Walked away with some bruises.

5

That’s good ,I wonder if he got into trouble for Hot Dogging the Mustang resulting in the destruction of the aircraft ?

6

The unit CO, Don Blakeslee, immediately grounded Gentile as a result, and he was sent back to the US for a tour selling war bonds.

Gentile stayed in the AF after the war, eventually serving as a test pilot at Wright Field. He was sadly killed in a T-33A crash in 1951.

7

IIRC, he got a chewing out over this but nothing worse. He was one of the top US aces in the ETO at the time, so he was allotted a little leeway compared to some unknown butter bar no kills new guy. PR heroes get some breaks.

8

Fantastic job! I have this plane in the stash. I really like the finished product.

9

What a creative and well executed build. I especially like how the fuselage halves are torn. Bravo!

10

Thanks. The funny part was that I originally had the straight tears along the panel line like the real photos show but it didn’t look “realistic” enough on the model so I made them more jagged.

11

It was supposed to be his last combat mission anyway. That was why all the press were there when he crashed. The “grounding” and return home were sort of redundent.

12

Great job. The torn metal looks perfect.

13

W O W! Great work! [:D[ [t$t]

Stay Safe.

Jim [cptn]

14

Nice job! And I would never have thought of that.

I remember when I got my first Monogram B-17 in the 1970s, and the diorama insert suggested a wrecked B-17 torn in two. I was horrified as a kid that someone would do that to such a nice model haha!

15

[quote user=“Planegeek”]

Nice job! And I would never have thought of that.

I remember when I got my first Monogram B-17 in the 1970s, and the diorama insert suggested a wrecked B-17 torn in two. I was horrified as a kid that someone would do that to such a nice model haha!

/quote]

Coming soon

16

Excellent work! Thanks for sharing. Blakeslee’s famous words…“he who prangs his kite goes home”.

17

Great work. I would love to see more of this and I need to do more of this myself. Again, excellent work.

BK

18

Quick poll before a spend the exuberant amount of money on a 1/48 deuce and a half.

Would the addition of a recovery truck in the background enhance or distract in a diorama?

I am gathering materials for a base but haven’t decided how large or small to go yet.

19

Outstanding build! I remember reading about Gentile cracking up “Shangri-La” after completing is last mission. A book I have on Mustangs has a shot of him buzzing the field just before he crashed. I built my Revell P-51B in his markings, too

Personally, I would leave it out and keep the focus tight on the wreck. I would add a couple of figures, though, to add a little more interest to the scene.

20

Yes there will be a figure on a ladder working with the tarp. It adds life and gives an idea of size.