Home » P-51D Profile – “Winged Ace of Clubs”

357th FG Profile

Winter thru Spring, 1945

Modeler Tips:

Side View Notes:
A. Rear red band on propeller boss extends onto spinner to leading edge
of blades when in neutral pitch. Determine width of yellow band by dividing
remainder of spinner evenly.
B. Winged Ace-of-Clubs in black & white, card itself has a deep red
border. The card has no “A”s in the corners. Glare shield is dark olive green
and occupies entire upper engine covers down to first panel seam.
C. Victory Board. 15 black swastikas in red discs, 5 columns of three.
Top row adjacent to panel seam. Last column lines up directly beneath lowest
point of side windscreen.
D. No mirror.
E. Pilot’s name was rendered straight, scribed on canopy frame
parallel to bottom edge. Height of letters equal to 2/3 width of canopy frame.
F. There were no antenna wires installed on this aircraft. Tail Number-
black “472” on fin, yellow “244” on rudder.

Upper & Lower View Notes:
G. Width of checkers reduced on underside in order to fit evenly on the
narrow surfaces of the chin scoop area. H, I, J. Red, Green, Yellow navigation lights- circular and flush
with wing panel.
K. Formation Lights- Red (Port) and Green (Starboard)
Overall Modeling Tips:
*Paint on the flat colored glare shield first- then mask it off and
paint the remainder of the aircraft in natural aluminum color. Most
metal colors will be marred or removed by masking materials and should
therefore be applied last. Note that this aircraft did not wear any recognition
stripes, after the New Year 1945 most Mustangs in the ETO adopted a cleaner
appearance by omitting theatre markings.
*After building several 357th A/C over the past 30 years, I recommend
painting the nose area forward of the exhaust cutout yellow when the flat
features are painted. Then when decal time comes, carefully cut away the
yellow squares from the checkerboard decal and apply the remaining strip
of red checkers to the nose. This method significantly reduces the potential for bubbles, and wrinkles
plus it makes exact alignment of the decal easier.
*Prior to assembly, wash clear plastic parts with a mild glass cleaner
and gently wipe dry. Then use a Q-Tip to evenly spread clear liquid floor
wax (Future Brand seems to get the best results) on both inside & outside.
Protect from dust and let dry for at least 2 hours. The wax fills in
microscopic flaws and creates an even gloss that is clearer & shines
brighter than the original plastic underneath.

Note: Don flew several different Mustangs: 43-6963 “Alice in Wonderland” (May have been Mary Alice at one time), 42-103041 “Speedball Alice” (This aircraft was lost on 8 Mar 44 with another pilot), 44-13681, 44-15422, 44-72244 all no name, Winged Ace of Clubs. Click here to read about the B Models of Don Bochkay.

SuperScale Decal Sheets SS48-453 and New SS48-731

 

Bullseye Model Aviation Decals – Courtesy of Scott Brown

BMA481009 1:48 Bulleye Model Aviation Decals – P-51D – Yoxford Boys #3