During the Second World War, the Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons
flew many different types of aircraft including the Packard Merlin
powered Mustang III. This particular aircraft was turned over to
443 Squadron late in the war and it was used in a variety of missions
for a short time.
The P-51B/Mustang III was field modified during its
short career and this represents only one of those mods...the Malcolm
hood canopy.
The IPMS Canada newsletter carried an excellent article
by Randy Lutz on this particular aircraft but that was after I had this
model painted and awaiting the decal sheet from the Sweating Beaver and
I was not about to mess with the natural metal finish to add the other
modifications in Randy's article. So no dorsal fin or vent grills
on this one although sources say that they were added prior to the end
of hostilities.
The Tamiya Mustang kit was a very quick build with no fit problems
what so ever. But then the decision had to be made as to how I
would achieve a natural metal finish on a weary war horse.
To get the
right look, I sprayed a couple of light coats of Model Master Gloss
Black enamel and gave it a day to set-up. While still slightly
tacky, I applied SnJ Aluminum powder using a Q-Tip followed by a rough
polishing with an old cotton sock. The tonal changes in some of
the panels came about as a result of being a little too rough in the
polishing. The fabric covered control surfaces received a light
coating of Alclad II Duraluminum.
Decals were applied directly over the SnJ powder finish.
Weathering was done using pastel chaulks applied with a Q-Tip and the
careful use of a pink eraser on the well worn wing root sections.
This latter technique implies just the right amount of scuffing that
would be seen on the real thing.
