P-51B fuselage fuel tank & radio rack question

[Hans]

Hi all,

 

I'm currently working (sweating) on the old Revell kit of the P-51B. I want to use the kit decals to build

"Salem Representative", a P-51B-15-NA flown by 1st Lt. Ralph K. Hofer, of the 334th Sqdn. 4th Fighter group 8th AF, serial no. 42-106924 in 1944.

 

So far I have more or less fixed the fuselage of the animal by using parts of the Hasegawa P-51D kit and the fuselage interior is next. From my references (mainly Rodney Williams P-51B build here on LSP, Bert Kinzey's Detail and Scale book on the P-51A to C models and the internet) however it is not clear to me what type of fuselage tank, radio rack and radio was fitted to this specific sub-type of Mustang. Does anyone have information on what these fittings looked like what dimensions they had?

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

Hans

[Chris McMillin]

There are some guys on this forum with parts and erection manual's for the airplane that might help. I have this link to contribute, it might help you. The Weeks P-51C is the airplane closest to stock and best for your needs.

www.mustangsmustangs.net/p-51/survivors/p51listB.shtml

 

 

Chris...

[Hans]

Thanks Chris,

 

That site is an exellent source for detailed pics of the P-51 B/C .

 

 

Hans

[Ridge Runner]

The Kids P51 was a P-51B-15-NA, which means it had the auxiliary 85 gallon fuselage tank located behind the pilots seat, the tank is visible from the pilots seat, in fact on top of the tank it has a 'goose neck' fuel gauge on the front starboard side of the tank which is for the pilots benefit

 

The standard radio setup for this P51 variant, which appears to be that in the picture posted byChris, comprised of: SCR-695, which is the large set mounted on the tray directly behind the pilots head, underneath this sets tray was the battery which is dirctly behind the seat then moving back towards the tail, the large SCR-522 transmitter/receiver followed by its power supply. All of this was operated by 2 boxes on the starboard cockpit wall, they are; the SCR-535 radio control box which is directly ahead of the map case, then its the SCR-522 radio control box which is the top switch panel above two other boxes. Photos of 4th FG P51B aircraft show this type of radio fi.

 

The book 'Escort to Berlin' by Garry Fry and Jeffery Ethell, published by Arco has a picture of QP-L taken as Hoffers taxies out shows just this setup in Salem Representative.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Mark.

 

Are you modeling the aircraft before or after the Malcome hood was fitted?

[Hans]

Hi Mark,

 

Your reply is most helpful in clarifying some of the questions I had, but it raises another: is the radio equipment on the rack placed directly over the battery behind the pilot's seat or is it sitting above the fuel tank somewhat further aft as in the Accurate Miniatures 1:48 P-51B/C kit?

 

I will be modeling the aircraft after the Malcolm hood was fitted. I will have to do more digging as to the exact color scheme I will apply to it, but at the moment that is something far behind the horizon...

 

The Revell kit was the first one I bought after returning to the hobby some four years ago. From the Detail and Scale book by Bert Kinzey I already had it looked like a simple conversion but when I had the book's drawings enlarged to 1:32 scale (the ones with the funny kinked wings) it became clear that the fuselage and cockpit opening were too small. I have solved this problem by cutting the Revell fuselages just forward and under the windscreen and cockpit and in between the tailwheel and supercharger outlet and grafting the so obtained upper and rear halves of the Revell kit to the similarly cut (up) forward and lower halves of the Hasegawa P-51D. To my eyes the fuselage looks much better now.

The project has been dormant for quite some time. Chris' and Geoff's-Ironwing online builds of their P-51B and P-51D however have been an inspiration to continue the work (thank you for that gentlemen ) -I only hope Geoff can repair the damage to his Mustang and finish it!

 

The shape and accuracy problems of the Revell kit seem to arise from the fact that the Revell people measured up a converted air racer (or so I've read somewhere). Looking at the skinny nose, thin wings and it's too small fuselage it was probably a rebuild P-51H. Now how about that for a conversion?

 

 

Hans

[Craig361]

If it had the fuselage tank then it only had the src22 radio and battery sitting on a frame rack above the fuel cell. The other radio/recievers that were mounted below the rack were removed to make room for the fuel cell, then the src22 replaced the larger 695. The src22 became the standard command radio for 8th AF fighter squadrons.

 

I posted a schematic out of the E&M of this setup a long while back somewhere on the site but would probably be hard to find. I'll see if I can find it on my hard drive and post it again. If not then I'll rescan the page.

[Ridge Runner]

Hans,

 

 

If I am able to get my scanner working I will send you the scematics from the North American handbooks I have, I agree with Craig wrt to the radio fit with the aux, tank in place, but reading my first post did not make this clear.

 

Mark.