is this a 51D painted like a p40 warbird?
 

what do you think
thanx
Tim

RE: is this a 51D painted like a p40 warbird?
 

Well, it is a P-51D. But lots of other planes had shark mouths on them, not just the P-40. And not all P-40s had shark mouths. I think I read that the germans were actually the first to put a mouth on the front of a plane.

Not a bad looking model. Take it out and give it a fly...

RE: is this a 51D painted like a p40 warbird?
 

I have seen sources that credit the British in North Africa with being the first to paint a tiger's mouth insignia on their aircraft.

RE: is this a 51D painted like a p40 warbird?
 

had wondered, when i first got the plane i thought wow, prett nice 51D but a few details were amiss.... the paint scheme was one that threw me off. but the under fuse piece at the rear of the Wings is what made me think p51... but the nose seems longer than a typical p51, i thought maybe it was a hybrid type... thanx for your input.. anyone else care to comment about the nose?
Tim

RE: is this a 51D painted like a p40 warbird?
 

You are probably right that the nose is "too long" but then, it doesn't appear to be a truly scale model of a P-51D anyhow.

The other comments about the "tiger/shark mouth" nose art are right - we associate this with the P-40 only because of the fame of Claire Chenault's "Flying Tiger" squadrons that supported the Nationalist Chinese army against the Japanese in the early part of WWII. Such art was even used on a few bomber types - I've seen a B-24 with the grinning teeth below the nose turret.

RE: is this a 51D painted like a p40 warbird?
 

Hi Tim,
I think the markings are unusul and probably innaccurate.
However, the 112th British Squadron did have olive drab paint with the sharks mouth on their P-51B 's.
Also, the American 23rd Fighter Group had the Tiger Shark mouth on their olive drab P-51D's.
The markings on your plane look like the builder was just going for Close'nuff scale.
He probably used whatever decals he had on hand, that looked good to him.

Still, with a little work, you have a great sport scale P-51D.

As for the plane itself, it is a Sig Kwik-Bilt from the early 1980's.
I have built 2 of them. They fly very well!
Doug