I just ordered Alclad polished aluminum for the P-51D I plan to do soon, and the guy at the shop told me I should be using silver for the NMF, and the aluminum colour on certain panels only. That is contrary to what I have read, but I would like some other opinions.
Thanks
Rob
Hey Rob,
I used Alclad’s aluminum on the fuselage and duraluminum for the wings for my Stang. As for the various panels, I am sure you can peshade the panels with different tones of gray and even white.
I am not sure if you are aware, but you have to use Alclad’s base coat black for the base coat/primer.
Well actually you do not need the base coat but it does help bring out the true colours of the alclad line.
As for what he was referring to I am not sure… NMF a/c are polished metal which yes silver can replicate it but polished aluminum and or tester’s metalizers can do the job just as well. Besides, working with silver can be a bear!!
Hope this helps and if you have any questions, please feel to PM me or email me. Falcon42177@yahoo.com
Looking forward to seeing your build.
Flaps up,
Mike
Rangers Lead The Way
Rob,
The fuselage of a NMF P-51 should be natural aluminum…the wings had the panel lines filled and were then painted with silver paint.
This was needed due to the laminar flow aerofoil - essentially, the wing was the same shape on the top and the bottom - an oversimplification, and not entirely correct, but close. This aerofoil required as little airflow disturbance across its surface as possible to maintain design efficiency. Filling the panel lines and applying a smooth coat of paint significantly reduced the disturbance of laminar flow over the wing surface.
In the field, the wings could end up stripped of this paint…but generally, they were painted silver. It’s possible that just about every P-51 left the factory with wing panel lines filled and wings painted silver - it was a standard requirement for the wing design.
The panel around and behind the exhaust stacks was stainless steel…a bit darker…have a look on the web for pics and you can spot the difference.
Cheers!
[#ditto] like he said… my understanding is thaton NMF Mustangs the wings were done in aluminum lacquer to maintain the laminar flow and the fuselages were unpainted aluminum.
JMHO, but only Warbirds would have polished aluminum… Operational Mustangs in NMF would be a rather dull finish of oxidized aluminum…
This can be debatable… I tend to agree but I also have seen photo’s that show more of a sheen on them or I should say more in general all NMF a/c.
For instance, there is a family friend who flew with the 78thFG and has one pix in particular of his a/c along with a few other Stangs lined up and they are mighty shiny!!
I would say it all depends on how the a/c were kept up and factoring in many other elimates as well… So either way, you would not be wrong.
Flaps up,
Mike
Rangers Lead The Way
True enough that… I brought it up so as to let it be known that one doesn’t have to achieve a mirror-like polish on operational birds to look authentic… Plus, I think that when you scale down the planes, you need to scale down the finish as well… Otherwise a NMF’ed bird has a tendency to look like a die-cast toy to me…
I remember watching Baa Baa Black Sheep with Dad many moons ago and in the episode we were watching, there was a news crew badgering the pilots and one scene wth Casey had him polishing his Corsair to “add a few extra knots”… I asked Dad if he ever polished his Mustang and he said that it wasn’t worth the effort unless the press was gonna be around to take pictures or a VIP wanted to look at “purdy airplanes”… The newer crew chiefs were the ones that decded to polish the aircraft at any rate… The old CCs didn’t care about that stuff, just the engine, guns, instruments, and oxygen system. They let the “miserable Brit climate” wash the planes and leave it at that, lol…
One need not use the Alclad black base to achieve good results. In fact, it’s recommened to avoid it because it has a reputation of never drying. Use Krylon gloss black for your base coat. Also remember that Alclad only recommends using the black base if you are using either the chrome or the polished aluminum paints. The other colors don’t need it. Let the base dry at least overnight before applying the Alclad over it.
For most of my Alclad finishes I use a primer over all the body work. Once satisfied with the primer I’ll polish it up with some 1500 paper and my jeans then spray the Alclad or gloss black if I’m using polished aluminum.
Like mentioned above, mustangs had painted wings from the factory and bare aluminum fuselage. Google “Happy Jack’s Go Buggy” for the best, most realistic view of a historically correct warbird bare aluminum finish.