I found these nice color photos of Mustangs and ordnance in Korea, 1950- great for reference
Those pictures kind of stick a pin in the balloons of nice shiny NMFs. Unless of course the Mustangs were painted aluminum. Great pictures!
I dont think there was much time for shining up the planes then and there… check out these Sabres
Those are beautiful photos SP, great find there!
I just wish we could get good pix of the Korea Mustangs to see if they were actually still puttied and painted by that stage.
Also interesting to see both the cuffed and uncuffed props being used.
This makes me happy as I don’t have tol buy an AM unfuffed prop for my SAAF Korea F-15 
Theuns
@Thenus
I think the Mustangs by that point in time had either lost the putty or it had become so compressed into the seams that it didnt perform its original purpose. From what I’ve read over the years as well as pictures I’ve seen NMF’s didnt weather well and combat aircraft in combat didnt get the careful treatment they wouldve otherwise received if they were Stateside and in peace time use.
Props, cuffed and uncuffed. Exhausts shrouded and unshrouded. About the only thing they have in common is the very dull NMF, not at all like the stuff you see in a museum, on a warbird at an airshow, or or on most contest tables… Even the F-86s, and those were very new aircraft, showed signs of serious weathering as well there.
That is good info, thanx guys!
Now atleast I can build my Tam 1/32 pony out the box and no-one can say I have the wrong prop or unputtied wings on it.
In the Tam kit they supply 3 different canopies. I assume all were used on Korean ponies?
Sorry for the hijack
Theuns
Considering that the production line for Mustangs was closed for awhile, any spare parts that could be found and used, would be used. So the odds are in your favor that any will do.
exactly what Stikpusher said, from my reading after the budget cuts that followed WWII, all services nicled and dimed everything to extend the lives of what they had, once the Reds came south of the 38th and the DOD looked at what it had on hand and what was still held in inventory and the 51D’s came out of ANG units and the small number of 51H’s went to the ANG units. It was worse with other services, especially the Marines, but I digress
A good example of that is the swapping of canopies for F-82’s. Black edged canopies on NMF birds and vice versa.
Ah that is all good news for OOB build, no expensive AM stuff needed 
Did the USAF not have allot of P-47’s left by then? I would have thought it would make a way better ground attack plane that a liquid cooled plane.
In the top pic, what is the black streak venting from the starbort side just ahead of the wing? Almost looks like the engine’s oil system breather?
I assume all the other UN operators of F-51’s would just have been supplied by the USAF from a “pool” of F-51’s, what ever was available at the time?
Theuns
I wonder if that streaking was due to some sort of since repaired damage?
Yes, the P-47N was far superior and more survivable than the P-51 in the ground attack role. But appartently there were not enough left in the US inventory by the time of the Korea War to equip any units needed and have attrition replacements.