P-51D Mustang -
Cripes A’Mighty 3rd
The incentive to
build this exact model came from owning a mirror with the image of Cripes
A‘Mighty 3rd, which I won at a fairground years ago.
As famous as the
Mustang is, you barely hear about Preddy. Yet, he is the top scoring pilot in
the North American P-51D Mustang.
Preddy's second P-51
serial no. 413-321 was one of the first bubbletop Ds delivered to the 352nd FG
and carried the name "CRIPES A'MIGHTY 3rd".
This is one of the
most recognisable P-51s of the war as it was photographed at several publicity
photo sessions of Preddy with his groundcrew staged after his famous six 109
kills in one day on 6th August 1944.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Colour paintings and
black & white photos suggest the colour
of the nose to be a light shade of medium blue, (much lighter than the standard
dark blue worn by most of the "Blue-Nose" Mustangs of the 352nd FG in
late 1944/early 1945). "CRIPES A'MIGHTY 3rd" was an "early"
P-51D, easily identified by the lack of the fin-fillet at the fuselage/tail
join, and wore an overall natural-metal finish. With Allied air superiority
camouflage became a minor issue for pilots and many fighter aircraft were
stripped of their camouflage schemes or left in their natural-metal delivery
finish.
Modellers should use
any of the Hasegawa P-51D/K kits as the base for "CRIPES A'MIGHTY
3rd", and any other "early" D, as the fuselage parts have been
specifically tooled for easy removal of the fin fillet plastic.
I used the excellent
Eagle Cals Decal 1/48 Set for this model which also comes with a superb 24 page
booklet which provides all the modelling and painting detail and decals for any
of the different aircraft that George Peddy flew .This is well worth the money
for the great detail it gave me.
I also used the
superb Resin ULTRACAST Engine exhausts which provide much better detail and are
already hollowed out , plus the poor Hasegawa Pilots Seat was replaced with the
ULTRACAST Mustang Seat ( without Moulded on seatbelts ) as I prefer to attach
the Eduard Seatbelts for extra realism.
I used the Eduard
Photoetch set throughout (which is one of their very best in my opinion ) and
this made a huge difference to the Model , for painting I used the Alclad paint
with an unglossy surface , as I wanted this aircraft to look weathered through
hard use . I first of all built the cockpit then assembled the model , and
covered the fuselage with Black Paint Undercoat , then applied the Natural Metal
finish Overcoat Alclad Paint.
I used paint masks
to apply the underside D-Day Markings to the underside of the aircraft , as the
decals provided are less easily to weather.
I finally applied
the accurate decals from Eagle Cals and the stencils provided by Hasegawa , and
the Model was finished.
I recommend the book
“ George Preddy “ by Noah and Sox for a full biography and combat record of
this wartime pilot.
David Walker
Click on
images below to see larger images
|