P-51 Mustang WIP

[fritzie101]

They are a bit gray, but don't make them too shiny They are still combat aircraft albeit late war and were probably flown a bit less hard and cared for more than earlier war stuff.

[BLOWHARD]

but don't make them too shiny

That jogged my memory of seeing war time photos of polished metal P-51s. AND...Big Beautiful Doll is one of those as seen in the previous page photo!
Maybe you do need a polished version?

[gamary]

@GFR: I modified the original canopy, of course. Faster and just as effective IMO. The shape is indeed a bit off, probably too bulgy in the rear, so I modified it a bit:


@Joe: here's the updated BBD:

I also added the red intake lip section on the nose, which I'd missed previously. Also, the antenna seems red on the picture, not black, so I modified that as well. This aircraft was probably rather clean, having flown only a few (9? IIRC) combat missions. I therefore made it a little less weathered. Let me know what you think.

And here's another 78th FG bird:

[BLOWHARD]

Yeah, but what about all that polished aluminum???

[GiantFlyingRobots]

Yeah, but what about all that polished aluminum???

Forget the polished aluminum, any jackass can do that!

I'm more concerned about the shape of the 'Dallas hood', it still doesn't look right to me, it seems to be missing the pronounced bulge at the very front of the canopy.

[Jarink]

For what it's worth, here's my versions of the two types of "Dallas" canopies. (There were also 3 different "California" canopies!) They are based on drawings by Charles Neely, so the shapes should be pretty accurate.

Dallas 1

Dallas 2 (as on Big Beautiful Doll)


A quick eyeball comparison of your and mine looks like the front portion is OK, but the back is still too bulgy.

[Vacajun]

Right on, Jarink!!

[gamary]

Since Jarink's drawing seems to be the most accurate, I based my revision on it:

I hope it's OK now. Thanks a lot, Jarink.

As for making BBD all shiny and polished, I'd rather not. She may have seen less combat than other Mustangs and been a CO's ship, I don't think she ever looked like some airshow Mustang? Not on the pictures I've found of her, at least. I've made her cleaner (and might add a little extra cleanliness still) but I just CAN'T make her look like a mirror.

For those who haven't guessed, I'm no big fan of aircraft that look like chromed bumpers...

[GiantFlyingRobots]

I really don't mean to harp on about this but...I reckon that BBD looks to have what Jarink describes a "Dallas 1" type canopy.

As for the shininess of BBD...

[BLOWHARD]

SHINY!

I'm no big fan of aircraft that look like chromed bumpers...

I'm more of a fan of making them match he photos I guess. But I'm sure you can find dull photos of BBD.