Painting a P-51 Mustang

When you start a main warbird construct, you actually need to offer it your full effort. Not solely within the construct, however ending out as properly. And probably the most satisfying end is to color her depicting the prototype hen as carefully as you possibly can. With the nice period of time I had invested within the building the CARF P-51D, I felt I couldn’t skimp on the paint simply to get the job carried out and transfer on to the subsequent undertaking. Just didn’t add as much as go low cost! And by low cost, not likely speaking {dollars} and cents, however in look. I had by no means absolutely painted a warbird with all of the markings however used vinyl “decals” as a substitute. Now, this does save effort and time, however they don’t fairly look the identical as painted-ons they usually could bubble-up below the solar afterward. So, I made a decision to go the “full Monty” and paint the markings over the fundamental paint job and provides it a go. I’m not an artist so I needed to have some assist alongside the way in which.

Paint masks are the way in which to go in case you are like me. Callie Graphics in NM presents paint masks for dozens, possibly lots of of warbirds that are scaled to fulfill the dimensions of the mannequin you might be constructing. The masks embrace the tough gadgets like nostril artwork and personalised plane names which might require an artist’s hand to create. My alternative of paint scheme for the P-51D was Hurry Home Honey, and Callie was capable of furnish a two-part paint masks which duplicated the personalised HHH script completely. I’ll focus on how this works later within the article.

The fundamental paint job requires a number of steps the identical as absolutely anything you might be portray – floor preparation and priming, colour(s) portray, squadron markings, and personalised markings. I selected HHH as a result of she had all of it: silver decrease fuselage and backside wing, olive drab higher wing and higher fuselage, Invasion stripes, stars and bars, white wing and tail flashes, victory marks, yellow rudder, checkerboard nostril, and matching spinner stripes, and naturally, a catchy personalised identify on the nostril; Hurry Home Honey in yellow and purple. I actually couldn’t ask for extra in a paint scheme. But, with all these colours and markings, there was a lot of labor in finishing this paint scheme. The complete job took 2 months of working (virtually) on daily basis to finish. But, contemplating I spent 3 years, on and off, to finish the mannequin, not likely out of line with the general effort.

There are literally two variations of HHH; the WW II model and the present immaculately restored model you possibly can see at many airshows in the summertime months throughout the USA. This mannequin is actually a cross between the 2 variations. I started by finding out the present model however after attending to the ultimate phases of building, I favored giving it the WW II look by configuring the cockpit to point out the complete army outlay of seat armor, radio, battery, gunsight and a few different particulars the present airshow model had deleted to make it a two-place, fashionable cockpit. One factor that (probably) modified someplace alongside the road between WWII and now could be that the rudder went from OD to vivid yellow. The pilot is thought to have flown a number of P-51s on this livery, so, maybe one in all them had the yellow rudder. I feel the case could possibly be made for both.

First a shot of the finished hen to get you within the correct body of reference. Small observe on the historical past of this P-51D. Flown by Capt “Bud” Peterson. Personalized identify on the nostril was chosen as a result of his sweetheart and later his spouse, ended her letters to Bud with “Hurry Home, Honey.” All markings besides the small nomenclatures have been spray painted. Nomenclatures are dry rub-ons and can be found from a number of distributors in numerous scales. I wasn’t capable of finding any paint masks for this stuff. Lead picture and this one by Nancy Abby. The relaxation of the pictures are my very own.

WW II depiction of Hurry Home Honey

I used to be capable of finding a good shot of the scuffed surfaces earlier than priming.

First factor after building is to offer the mannequin a good floor prep after which some primer. I wiped/rubbed the composite materials with 3M Scotchbrite pads to scuff the surfaces and provides the primer some extra “chew.”

After the scuffing, I wiped the mannequin down with some oil and grease remover to make sure a clear floor. I used #190 cleaner from English Color that works very properly and also will clear your mannequin of spent oil on the fuselage after flights. Next you have to discover a appropriate primer with some fast drying attributes as you don’t wish to wait 24 hours to dry earlier than sanding. I used English Color #301 high-build gray primer – it’s dry earlier than you set the gun down. Layout your items and provides them a good coat of primer. You can sand it down later after all, however don’t over-do it on the primary coat. Be certain to not put a lot on that you simply lose floor particulars like rivets and panel traces. Give the primer a sanding with the 3M pad is one of the best wager because it tends to not put on via the excessive areas as a lot as sandpaper. Wet sanding isn’t actually required both. All my work was sanded dry, except the spinner and checkerboards.

High construct #301 Grey Primer, Medium Dry Acrylic Lacquer Thinner #102 (for primer), Wax & Grease Remover #190, and paint respirator.

Fuselage primed. Be certain to masks off any openings into the inside. I left many inside parts put in as fully stripping it down wasn’t required so long as the fuselage was correctly masked off.

As lengthy as I’m about to speak end colours, I’ll add that I principally used Behr Flat Latex Exterior House Paint except the silver colour. Latex home paint can’t be tinted to look even remotely like silver or aluminum. So, I went to English Color Paint Store to search out some automotive paint to do the job. Any automotive paint vendor can customized combine a colour for you at no extra price together with including flattener to the paint. Most automotive paints could be very harmful to breathe so you’ll want to by a rated paint masks that matches your face tightly. I discovered one which was below $20 and was good for 40 hours use – low cost medical health insurance. Keep the masks sealed within the package deal it is available in and jot down the full time used for every session.

When you go to Home Depot or Lowe’s for home paint, you’ll want to take a WW II Mil Spec paint chip sheet for the pc matching. M&M Models provided one a couple of years in the past, and I used to be fortunate sufficient to get one earlier than they offered out. There are definitely different sources for colour chips, however I don’t have any sources to checklist. I wouldn’t suggest attempting to make use of these pictures for colour chips on the paint shops; I doubt they would supply any usable outcomes.

Here is the place I get the unique Olive Drab Shade 41 colour.

Behr latex exterior home paint.

This is the Devilbiss JGA paint gun used for the paint undertaking. Had it for 30-plus years, works tremendous for primer and paint. Polycrylic clear coat used after paint had dried – evens out the colours and provides a good low sheen.

Once you have got issues primed, you possibly can transfer to your first colour, in my case, the silver fuselage and wing and tail bottoms. I made a decision to color the whole fuselage silver regardless of that solely the decrease half would find yourself silver. I wanted some weight on the tail finish anyway since I had carried out a pre-painting CG check that confirmed her to be very nostril heavy. That doesn’t occur usually – warbirds are often tail heavy.

Fuselage after the silver paint utilized. Note masked off areas, particularly the windscreen and wing connect cradle. Interior of the cockpit and different areas have to be shielded from any overspray high and backside.

Now comes the a part of the paint job that you could take your time with – including the higher colour on high of the decrease. In this case, it’s the Olive Drab Shade 41 over the simulated aluminum silver.

First try at laying out the higher colour masking. I had a downside on the nostril across the exhaust headers. The prototype exhibits the paint line above the header manifold. Didn’t look proper as I needed to make a slight angle-up on the cowl. No matter what the full-scale hen exhibits, generally you must wing it. See the subsequent picture.

In the curiosity of look, I fudged on the road to make it straight from aft to ahead. More pleasing to the attention. The downside began with the sting of the cover body. I needed to decrease the road a contact to keep away from having the underside fringe of the body painted silver.

After including masking paper over the decrease fuselage and rudder, the OD shade 41 was sprayed. Several mild coats have been required because the latex must be thinned out to spray correctly. I exploit windshield washer fluid and Floetrol within the paint to make it a breeze to spray. Let every coat dry earlier than including the subsequent. I used a warmth gun to hurry issues up. But watch out on the composite materials, it may be broken with an excessive amount of direct warmth.

I’m glad I modified the paint line on the nostril. Very pleasing look.

Next week, we’ll masks and paint the cover — the one factor you possibly can’t afford to mess up!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY LANE CRABTREE