American
Mustang MK. IVA. 48th scale, Tamiya
By Randy Lutz. IPMS Canada
Oct 19, 2006, 09:16

As was customary in the RAF for Wing Commanders, it displays the pilot's initials, or in this case JAS (which is short for James) in dark blue with light blue edging in place of the squadron codes and has the Wing Commander's pennant on both sides.

Randy Lutz

The pilot's seat armour plate was absent from JAS, however, the radio gear and fuselage fuel tank were still present, as Storrar was in the process of converting KM232 into a two-seat Mustang, at the time of the May 9, 1945 mission. KM232 was also fitted with the AN/APS-13 tail warning radar on the vertical fin. Entries in Storrar's log book confirm that his ground crew kept this aircraft highly polished. An interesting note, according to the RCAF Details of Operations Form 541, was that Storrar only flew this particular aircraft on one mission with 442 Squadron, which was May 9th, to provide top cover during the liberation of the Channel Islands. It is at this particular time period that I chose to represent Storrar's Mustang and as such is fitted with the 108 gallon compressed paper drop tanks.

Randy Lutz

Randy Lutz

Randy Lutz

Randy Lutz

Construction
The model was built with the following improvements and additions:

Fuselage
- perforated cowl vent panels covered with louvred panels
- all lift points and vent holes drilled out
- exhaust pipes replaced with Ultracast parts
- Ultracast seat added
- headrest removed from seat armour plate
- propellor blades modified to represent an Aeroproducts propellor
- AN/APS-13 tail warning radar added from fine wire

Wings
- raised rivets in the area of the landing gear above and below wings removed
- landing light replaced with MV Products lens
- 108 gallon drop tanks added along with fuel lines
- wing gun barrels drilled out

Landing Gear
- oleo torque links drilled out
- shock portion of strut covered with metal foil
- tow rings drilled out
- wheel hubs drilled out

Painting and Markings

The airframe was painted with various shades of Alclad II, Xtracolor X106 Insignia yellow FS13538, X122 Insignia Blue FS15044 and X160 Synthetic Haze Blue FS15190.
All markings are from IPMS Canada decal sheet 442 squadron Mustang IVs.

References
- photos of actual aircraft obtained from the Storrar family
- Famous Airplanes of the World No. 79, P-51D Mustang
- Aero Detail No. 13 North American P-51D Mustang
- Model art No. 401 North American P-51 Mustang
- Squadron Walk Around No. 7 P-51D, by Squadron Signal
- P-51 Mustang, by Squadron Signal

Closing Comments
In closing, when 442 squadron was disbanded, Storrar gave his Mustang to the then Station Commander at Molesworth, Group Captain John Wray, to be used as a "hack" for senior officers. At that time it was painted with his initials JBW. In mid November of 1945 while being flown in poor weather from Digby to Hendon, Wing Commander Derek Walker perished when he stalled in on his approach turn and burned up on impact. This marked the end of KM232.

As a footnote, Hasegawa as they are reknown for doing, has released a re-release of a re-re-release of a Mustang with these same markings. Only, they did not get the details right, as they forgot the dark blue ring and chin scoop on the nose, failed to identify the light and dark areas of the anti-glare panel and do not show the yellow leading edge bands. So, if you want to build a more accurate model of W/C James Storrar's Mustang, get the IPMS Canada decals.

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2004, Randy Lutz. First published on Hyperscale

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