AirDave' Marek Mustangs - News, Mods, Updates
 

I was never a big fan of the P51 Mustang.

Don't get me wrong, its a beautiful plane, an accomplished Fighter and what I consider to be the "Hot Rod" of the skies"
When it comes to WW2 Fighters, I'm English, and that automatically steers me toward the Spitfire and Hurricane among others.

But then I got caught up in the amazing history of the Tuskegee Airmen,
was lured by some of the "rare and unusual" Paint schemes of other P51s,
enticed by the Fiddlers green contest
and got pleasantly roped into doing some "ACES" for ecardmodels.

And ...to date, I have "repainted" at least 28 different Mustangs!! haha
(a couple not released yet)
...hows that for not being such a big fan of Mustangs! lol

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So, since I continue to keep producing these Mustangs, I thought it might be a good idea to dedicate a thread to news, updates and part mods (for the Marek Mustangs).

And if you get one of my Marek repaints, and have any trouble or questions or just need help with a part modification, you can post that here too!

New Wing Root Fairings
 

My first bit of news is...
I have redesigned the Wing Root Fairing for the 1/33 plane.

There have been a few complaints about the look of the fairing, with its many cut lines (that allow it to curve to the wing shape).
Also the fact that it fits with a right angle fold rather than a gentle curve.

http://www.papermodelers.com/gallery...medium/471.jpg

The curve on the Mustang B/C model fairing is not as extreme as on say, on Spitfire or even a P40...but it is definately curved.

It is also made up of about four panels, so some of the vertical 'seams" do make sense.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...CWingRoots.jpg


Anyway, I have designed a new fairing that I have already given to Chris (Gutzmer) to try.
His version is coloured to match the Lambie II kit,
I have not adapted them to any other kit yet.
...not until I see how well they will work.

I won't put it out for everyone to see yet, until I am sure it works.
But if you are building any of the Marek Mustangs and would like to test fit some new fairings, I would love the feedback.

mine looks really good! I can vouch for that - prolly get it put on in a month or two ;) I am slow....
Chris

okay, sent out the new Fairing design to three different people...
hopefully I will get some positive feedback and if so, I will release to all.
It will be a FREE update available through ecardmodels (and me)

wait and see....
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P-51B 43-6425 MARGIE MARU
WW2 ACE Maj Jack T Bradley, CO of the 353rd FS

This is the latest Mustang I am working on for the ACEs ecardmodels series.

But I am stuck.
Everything is done, and I just need some crew info.
I need the names of Bradley's Crew Chief and Armament guys.

Their names are shown on the fuselage, just near the cockpit
(Pilot, C/C, Arm)
and I need the correct names to finish the artwork.
...or even just a good photo that clearly shows the painted names?)

Can anyone help...I have exhausted every avenue trying to find this info.
I will leave the names off, rather than include incorrect info.

Nice one mate. Looks like you have put a lot of time in here. What can I say about the wing root fairing other than "OH MY GOODNESS" What a difference. I am sure that this has to be one of the hardest things to get right. Nice job Dave.

Cheers
Jim

just wanted to clarify something, in case it wasn't obvious.
my earlier post about the new wing fairings (above)
shows three photos of a plastic scale model
which I used as reference for the design of my paper wing fairings.

It showed me the details better than any photo I could find.

I don't want anyone to get the impression that what you see is a card model, or my design
or even one of my scale model projects!
These are just three found images of someone's scale model build.

I am sure somewhere out there on the internet, there is one of those photos with jack bradley sitting in his cockpit with the ground crew plate visible.
Have you tried contacting the former 353 CTS historian? Found at top of page at this link
Photo History of the 353rd FS/354th FG/9th AF in WWII

yes, well I can't find it!!!
and I have lots o' people lookin'!!



I can't for the life of me, find this "CTS Historian" link you mentioned.
Only link I see is 354th.com, which takes you to a page about "Home Insurance Plans"
...so none of that is any help.

The link is in my post abve yours. At the top of that page it says TSGT James Bollinger, former 353 CTS Unit Historian. If you contact the owner of that website to forward an email to that historian, iyou may have some luck. If not, the 353 CTS is now at Eielson Air Force Base which has a factsheet on the unit at Factsheets : 353rd Combat Training Squadron and more than likely will also have somewhere on that website acontact for the unit historian, maybe even at the base museum there.

Whoa, no sooner that I post that above, I find this page: Individual Aircraft Record Cards which leads to the Air Force Historical Research Agency. Unfortunately though, it appears that the individual aircraft cards do not have info on markings of the individual plane. However, there maybe unit photos available through them or the Smithsonian online database photo search. You just never know.