I am finishing up the basic paint job of an F-51D.
A couple of options given in the directions is yellow tips and a yellow nose cone.
The other is red tips and a yellow cone. This seems wrong to me. Not knowing history or doing a google search, it would seem that the nose color should match the wing tip color.
Is this the case?
I’m not a “colors and markings” expert, but it is possible the Group used the Yellow for the nose and and the Squadrons used different colors on the wing tips for identification. It’s just a “wag”! I’m sure there is someone out there that will “set the record straight”.
ngc I’ve been doing some research on P-51’s lately and there seem to be many combinations of colors and markings. The FG’s usually had similar nose colors but the other colors (nose, wingtips, etc.) seem to vary from FS to FS.
Thanks.
This is all a situation of not having Chrome yellow (gloss) to paint witth. I have Italian Red and a few other gloss colors and I wasn’t able to find any variety on the web. When I did a search for “F-51D” I got lots of references to the models and thus no where. Academy even has one with both Blue and Yellow.
I suppose I could do almost any color. (“kelly green fading into Chartruse around the edges” comes to mind) [:p]
Let’s start with the basics…what are the call letters on the fuselage?
It was common practice during WW2 for Fighter Group markings to share similar styles, and the individual squadrons would often use different colors within the same pattern.
For example…a famous P-51 is the 78th FG Big Beautiful Doll, flown by John Landers. All of the 78th had the black and white checkers on the nose, but hte ruddes for each squadron were different colors…black, white with red outline…etc…(I can’t remember the 3rd).
Korean War era is a little more difficult, but, if you get me the squadron or group, I’ll do what I can to help out.
Jeff