Airfix 1/24 P-51 D Mustang "This is it" decals

[hruijter]

At the age of 5, my grandfather built me an Airfix 1/24 Mustang P-51D in the scheme of the 352nd, and flown by Col. Mason with "This is it" on the nose. I have special memories sitting down with Grandpa, brushing this plane with cans of Humbrol paint (when there were 2-3 colors of green) which felt like it took forever to finish. The model unfortunately didn't survive the many relocation and is just a pile of plastic parts.

 

A couple of years, he passed away, and in his memory I want to build the same plane using the Tamiya 1/32 P51D kit. But, in exactly the same "This is it" version which was at that time on the boxart of the Airfix kit (and if I am correct, AMT released the same). I am desperately looking for a scan or copy of the decals used if anyone knows a source where to find it, and if possible the paint scheme in the instructions.

 

 

 

 

I plan to use my Silhouette cutter, for the paint mask, and if I may, have a couple of questions and ask for help:

 

1. I only found one historic picture of this plane. Anyone have more pictures and background on the history of this plane? I only found this link: https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/usa/aircrafts-2-3/p-51-mustang/352nd-fg-p-51d-this-is-it-44-14911-pz-m-in-england-1944/ 

 

2. UPDATE: I received a scan of the original decals. To make the design of the paint mask more accurate, are the original decals (which I will resize to 1/32) still available, or an accurate scan of the same. I am even willing to buy the kit if available still. Any source and direction is highly appreciated and would be very thankful.

 

3. Is there an accurate reference to the correct blue paint used on the nose/cowling? Likewise for the yellow at the tail section.

 

Herber

 

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by hruijter
Update or ask for decals. Found them!

[Kagemusha]

Artwork

[GrahamF]

I've got the original Airfix set. And what I've learnt over the years about matching colours is to look at the period paints most likely to be available, I would think they would have used a British Standard 381c colour and it's not a massive range, the only contender I can see is BS381C 110 Roundel Blue, all the others are a bit greener or far too bright. I regularly drive past their old base on the way to Suffolk.

Graham 

 

[hruijter]

2 hours ago, GrahamF said:

I've got the original Airfix set. And what I've learnt over the years about matching colours is to look at the period paints most likely to be available, I would think they would have used a British Standard 381c colour and it's not a massive range, the only contender I can see is BS381C 110 Roundel Blue, all the others are a bit greener or far too bright. I regularly drive past their old base on the way to Suffolk.

Graham 

 

Thanks a lot Graham, very helpful. I will follow your recommendation to use BS381C 110 Roundel Blue as the reference point. In the only reference pic I found so far, it looks it's indeed a darker blue. I will probably start mixing colors using Tamiya's XF8 as a starting point.

[hruijter]

5 hours ago, Kagemusha said:

Artwork

Thanks a lot Kagemusha for the find. Nice catch.

 

In parallel to your reply, someone on the Airfix forums send me a hi-res scan of the original decal. I probably start tracing the decal in Illustrator, import it in Silhouette Studio, and start cutting masks. I will use the Tamiya 1/32 P-51D kit as the basis for this build. 

 

For those who are interested, I will share the digital files with the members of this forum when I feel they are good enough.

[dashotgun]

 there is a scalemodelmask forum by our own kevin futter which is dedicated to    silhouette and cricut cutters you  may want to join and post   your  copies there also already made stars and bars and    letter for codes sets there also available

[hruijter]

1 minute ago, dashotgun said:

 there is a scalemodelmask forum by our own kevin futter which is dedicated to    silhouette and cricut cutters you  may want to join and post   your  copies there also already made stars and bars and    letter for codes sets there also available

Thanks for the recommendation. I found it and already downloaded the roundels which I definitely will use. I will also share the Silhouette Studio files that I plan to create on that forum too, using the scan of the original decals that someone shared with me last night.

 

Am still scanning the interweb for historic pics of the planes, but barely anything I could find.

[hruijter]

On 12/13/2020 at 8:26 PM, hruijter said:

At the age of 5, my grandfather built me an Airfix 1/24 Mustang P-51D in the scheme of the 352nd, and flown by Col. Mason with "This is it" on the nose. I have special memories sitting down with Grandpa, brushing this plane with cans of Humbrol paint (when there were 2-3 colors of green) which felt like it took forever to finish. The model unfortunately didn't survive the many relocation and is just a pile of plastic parts.

 

A couple of years, he passed away, and in his memory I want to build the same plane using the Tamiya 1/32 P51D kit. But, in exactly the same "This is it" version which was at that time on the boxart of the Airfix kit (and if I am correct, AMT released the same). I am desperately looking for a scan or copy of the decals used if anyone knows a source where to find it, and if possible the paint scheme in the instructions.

 

 

 

 

I plan to use my Silhouette cutter, for the paint mask, and if I may, have a couple of questions and ask for help:

 

1. I only found one historic picture of this plane. Anyone have more pictures and background on the history of this plane? I only found this link: https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/usa/aircrafts-2-3/p-51-mustang/352nd-fg-p-51d-this-is-it-44-14911-pz-m-in-england-1944/ 

 

2. To make the design of the paint mask more accurate, are the original decals (which I will resize to 1/32) still available, or an accurate scan of the same. I am even willing to buy the kit if available still. Any source and direction is highly appreciated and would be very thankful.

 

3. Is there an accurate reference to the correct blue paint used on the nose/cowling? Likewise for the yellow at the tail section.

 

Herber

 

 

 

 

UPDATE: A person on the Airfix forum was nice to share the original decal: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/723883340102772792/

[Kagemusha]

Would be nice to see the model, especially when complete, such a classic box art, and to see the marking adorning the Tamiya kit would be great.

[Panzerwomble]

I love this old artwork and have fond memories of it from the 1970's as well , though never built the 1/24 . I did consider having a crack at "This is it !" on a 1/32 myself but went another route as I couldn't find out much about the aircraft , be really interested to see your build and learn more . Thought that the box artwork suggested Italy rather than France perhaps . 

[hruijter]

6 minutes ago, Panzerwomble said:

I love this old artwork and have fond memories of it from the 1970's as well , though never built the 1/24 . I did consider having a crack at "This is it !" on a 1/32 myself but went another route as I couldn't find out much about the aircraft , be really interested to see your build and learn more . Thought that the box artwork suggested Italy rather than France perhaps . 

Thanks! I just ordered quite some after market resin (mostly Barracuda and some Eduard), books with reference pics and my colleague in the UK will continue to connect with Hornby if there is more info available.

 

For Christmas, I probably get a photo booth, and will start sharing the progress I am making in the forums. Next weeks, I will share the retraced masks in Silhouette and PDF format so anyone else can use them.

 

I am quite excited to start this project.

[hruijter]

1 hour ago, Kagemusha said:

Would be nice to see the model, especially when complete, such a classic box art, and to see the marking adorning the Tamiya kit would be great.

I read that this what Airfix called 'Superkit' was released in 1972. I was born in 1967, and 5 yo when my Grandfather start building it. She he bought quite shortly after it was released. I still remember the smell of the paint, and how long it took to dry. As I was an impatient little kit, there were several finger prints of me on the plane.

 

Good sentiments, and memories. Which are at least to me, very special.

[GrahamF]

Yeah I remember doing this kit in about 1973 I was 9, I think it was the second big kit I did, the Hurricane was before this,I was living in Germany my dad was in the Army and we got posted to Iserlohn and our local Naafi always had stacks of Kits. I still think this was one of the best possibly beaten by the Stuka which had even more detail.

Graham 

[Pete Roberts]

The 352nd used two different blues for the noses of their Mustangs. There are several discussions on this; a google of '352nd FG blue' will bring up several, including this:

 

https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,392648.15.html?PHPSESSID=u02sea9hpln9s7jhp5627g13s7

 

I think Mason's a/c would have had the later blue.

Edited December 15, 2020 by Pete Roberts

[dashotgun]

 from the eagles edition for cripes a might they have various  color mixtures and paints to duplicate  give me a day and I will   put it up here.  1 problem is most of it is model master paint but you can use the various color paint conversion to match it.  I  tracked the paint down  and bought some before they disappeared.  There is a story about Helen another 352 bird where they actually  found a era appropriate  nose piece and a mechanic who told them what paint he used do a google search on that. I will see if i have that reference squirreled away.