1/48 Tamiya P-51D

by Tomasz Gronczewski 

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Here is my latest Tamiya P-51D finished as the mount of the second highest Checkertailed Clan ace Harry Parker (13 victories).  Little is known about the serial or even exact version of that Mustang.  All Parker's victories were scored with P-51D-5-NAs, even the final kills in March 1945. Though the fin fillet seems to indicate later built P-51D, it could have been retrofitted to P-51D-5 as well. The presence of the inner yellow bands on the wing roots is unconfirmed. The photo of the real thing had been made under strong sunlight, and the entire upper wing surface looks like a solid white spot.

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The model is a plain, ordinary, immortal Tamiya P-51D. I have built is straight from the box except for the sliding part of the canopy taken from the Squadron set. The NMF finish has been done using venerable Alclad IIs with White Aluminum as the main color. The victory symbols and the stenciling were decals. The rest of the markings, i.e. checkerboard, national insignias, number "57" and ID bands were sprayed with use of vinyl masks.
The full build article (albeit in Polish language) with more photos and sketches can be found at
www.pme.org.pl website. Direct link to the article is http://www.pme.org.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=226&Itemid=42

Tomasz

Photos and text © by Tomasz Gronczewski