Here's Academy's 1/72 P-51C "Red Tails" which came with markings for two aircraft flown by the Tuskeegee airmen. Quite a few years agi, I had done most of the assembly and cut out the flaps, scratchbuilding the part that's exposed when the flaps are dropped, then airbrushed the whole thing with Metalizer Buffing Aluminum. Then I decided to repaint the wing aluminum dope, like the real thing. I masked off the wing, then it went to the Shelf of Doom.
When I revisited it, the first thing I did was to airbrush the wing with Rustoleum Aluminum, of which I have a gallon can, using a Paasche Model H I bought on clearance at Hobby Lobby. This airbrush works great and is a breeze to clean up, being external mix. I do more airbrushing now, since it's hardly any more hassle than a paintbrush. I also chose the markings for Capt. Ed Toppins of the 99th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group.
I masked and airbrushed the red areas and yellow stripes. The kit comes with decals for the stripes, but the decals were really weak near the edge and needed two coats of Superfilm to hold together. They also don't stick well. I discovered the problem starting with the national markings. The one on the left side of the fuselage flaked off so I replaced it with one from an AeroMaster sheet. Common sense would have had me replace them all, but instead I touched them up with paint. This started the snowball rolling, and unfortunately it was pretty much all downhill after that.
I free handed the canopy painting. The framing is in sharp relief, so it was less trouble than masking but the results are just as good. I also painted some scotch tape to make seat belts that you can't see very well with the canopy closed. I used fine wire for the aerial, then broke it while weathering and redid it. As a result the tail is a little messed up where the aerial is attached.
The coup de grace of model ruination was the exhaust staining. I did this with some Metalizer exhaust that had totally dried up and which I revived using lacquer thinner, and sprayed through my Paasche VL. Despite the thinness of the metalizer, it started sputtering and made a horrible mess on the model. I went back and cleaned it up as best I could with some brush and Q-tip application of Metalizer buffing aluminum, then lightly brushed on some Vallejo black. The result is still a godawful mess.
You'll notice a second, lower streak I added on the right side of the cowling. I have seen this in photos (some P-51s have this on the left, maybe some on both). It looks like oil, and it originates from a hole on the side of the cowling. I expect this hole is some kind of crankcase vent. I'll need to do more research into this feature of the P-51.
Anyhow, you will probably never find any photo of a P-51 of the Tuskeegee airmen that's this dirty, unless it came back with engine problems. Photographic evidence convinces me that they kept their birds clean.
Postcript: this kit (No. 2225, since re-released as 12501) also contains a jeep. If you remember, Academy's first 1/72 P-51 kit had the bizarre inaccuracy of seven exhaust pipes per side. They fixed that since, but their penchant for miscounting wasn't over. The jeep's grille has ten slots instead of nine.
