discussion Steve's 1/72 'D-Day Fighters'

[stona]

Lateral stability was lost as power increased. It became an issue when the switch from the Allison V-1710 to the Merlin V-1650 increased the power due to the Merlin's very much superior supercharger design and increased power at altitude, so from the P-51B forward. The dorsal fin extension or fillet was developed to counter this because it did not interfere with production and could be retrofitted, whereas a larger vertical stabiliser would have been an impractical retro-fit.
Modifications introduced during a production run were a major cause of delay and delivery shortfalls. If you look at the Spitfire, it got larger and larger fins rather than strakes/fillets as it got more power, but they were design modifications introduced for specific Marks or batches.

 

[stona]

Three Down -Two to go.

I'm calling this one done, though I noticed when I took the photos that I'd forgotten a couple of drops of paint for the navigation lights.

So, this is in the markings of George Preddy's P-51, as it would have appeared on and about D-Day. You can see Preddy's aircraft a couple of posts above, and my first photograph is an attempt tp replicate that, despite the obvious differences between the two aircraft. Preddy was the top P-51 ace of WW2, credited with 26.83 victories, and the eighth on the list of all US aces. Preddy was killed on Christmas Day 1944, a cictim of so called 'friendly fire'. Lest we forget.







Just the two British fighters to go!

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Fabulous!

 

[Jim R]

That's a superb result.

 

[stona]

This 1/72 malarkey might not be good for me old eyes, but you can build an entire airshow line-up and put it on a base a foot square!

So far:

 

[Steven000]

Lovely models Steve, keep 'em coming :thumb2: cheers

 

[minitnkr]

Beautifully rendered & presented.

 

[A_J_Rimmer]

Three superb builds Steve.

This is why I prefer 1/72 for aircraft, they take up a lot less space!

 

[stona]

Four down- just one to go.

This a Spitfire IX, operated by No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron. I found one picture of this very aircraft, supposedly taken on 11 June '44, which was useful. I did not expect the special markings to obscure the national markings - something expressly forbidden.



The kit is by far the worse of the four so far. It has less internal detail than the Bf 109 (i.e. none) and doesn't fit terribly well either. Anyway, here's my effort.

 

[adt70hk]

Great work Steve. Sorry I got behind. They have all turned out beautifully!!

ATB

Andrew