Hi All: I just ordered the 1.5m E Flite P-51D painted up as Lou IV. I plan on doing some reasonable changes to it to look more like the WWII version of this plane, like painting out the blue camo patterns to OD or Dark Green colors.

The WWII plane was an early version of the D model P-51. And it did not have the triangular fillet between the bottom of the vertical fin and the fuselage as later aircraft had. On the full size plane, the fillet was added for increased longitudinal stability, although I don't know if a little model benefits all that much with this structure molded in.

I'm just raising a question, if I was to cut out that little triangle on the foam vertical fin for better

scale look, is that going to hurt stability inflight, or reduce the strength of the vertical fin significantly? Appreciate any thoughts/ comments on doing this minor "surgery" to the model.

Thanks

I went ahead and did the "surgery" to the tail to remove the fairing on the leading edge of the vertical fin. Came out pretty well, I think. Have mostly finished repainting the stock E Flite P-51D to what it looked like in WWII. Have about 6 flights on it now, Flies great, still working on some directional control issues on landing roll outs.

I flew my modified E Flite P-51D 1.5m yesterday in light to moderate winds and some turbulence aloft. The new mod of cutting down the vertical fin worked great, no difference in performance or strength to the tail area that I could see.
There are a number of possible early D model P-51s that maybe someone is considering doing a repaint and tail mod to look more like the real thing. For instance, I'm thinking of a top ace in the P-51, Henry Brown of the 355th FG, who flew an earlier D model without the fairing on the leading edge of the vertical fin. This plane model could certainly be converted to one of those planes, if anyone is of a mind to do so. Just sayin.'

Flew my modified E Flite P-51D today on another test flight. I'm still learning the SAFE/ AS3X modes that come with the E Flite planes that I have never used before, and they work great. I took a few pics out at the field under better lighting conditions than those of my shop. Still waiting on a few more graphics embellishments from Callie, but it should be totally completed in a couple of weeks.

Nice work. It looks pretty authentic now.

Thanks, ElectriMan. I am planning on eventually sending it to a museum in England, to be on display there at the old Bottisham Air Base, near Cambridge. I plan to offer it as a tribute and memorial to the Group CO, Col. Jack Christian, Jr., who flew his final mission from this base, and perished on a bombing mission in this airplane LOU IV, over France in 1944. This photo was the last one taken of him, August 12, 1944, just prior to starting engines for a raid on a rail marshalling yard in France. He didn't make it back from that mission.

Coming up on the end of the rework of this LOU IV/ATHELENE model. Today I decided to repaint the yellow cowl; the factory paint job was too "orangey" for me. I found some paint closer to what the WWII photos looked like and resprayed it. I like the more yellow cowl appearance now more than what it looked like before.

I just maidened my second EFlite P-51D this morning. Went ok, still weak on takeoffs and the landing rollouts, but I'll work on those. In flight, it was a delight to fly scale maneuvers like the real plane did and was capable of. I'll attach a few pics of this second plane, which is nearly identical to the first plane that I did in previous posts and is on its way to a museum in England where this unit operated from in WWII.

One interesting note: the small silver patch looking strips are simulated paint that popped off the airplane along rivet lines, presumably from being stressed during maneuvering on previous missions. I hadn't really seen that on other airplanes before, or at least didn't notice it, but they were definitely on this aircraft, and a few others in the fighter group.

LOU IV prior to maiden flights this morning

ATHELENE was the wife of the crew chief painted on the right side of the cowl on all the planes that Col. Christian, Jr., flew.

A 3/4 shot from the left rear of the plane. The maiden was flown without the drop tanks, and the other flights this morning were with the drop tanks installed About 10 flights done today