Airfix/Bandai 1/24 P-51D Mustang

By Craig Quattlebaum

Here is my 1/24 scale P-51D Mustang that is the product of a Bandai/Airfix kitbash with many scratchbuilt parts. I used the Bandai fuselage and Airfix wings and horizontal stabilizers & elevators plus the rudder.

Being by default a 361st FG fan, I wanted to finish it up in 361st colors. Not having a large selection of decals in 1/24 scale (only 'Detroit Miss' available in aftermarket) I had a hard time deciding. As I had received the CAM sheet for Detroit Miss in a deal I finally decided on using those to finish it as 'Phyll', the name given to E2*D after Ben Drew departed the group. I was also looking for a reason not to paint D-Day stripes on too.

So here I was with all the markings on and just needing to make up the name for the nose, when I received a CD from someone I had met at the 361st reunion in October 2003. John W.Johnston, son of 375th squadron pilot John Johnston, told me about a picture his father had, one of which I new had to be out there but had yet to find. one that, when I got the CD, caused me to totally redirect the markings of my big Mustang.

After the hostilities in Europe were over, the Air Force did a little swapping of group commanding officers around. One of those swaps involved the 78th and 361st fighter groups. While there has been a picture published of 'Contrary Mary', the P-51 that Col.Roy Caviness took to the 78thFG with him, no picture of Col. John Landers P-51 'Big Beautiful Doll' in 361stFG markings had ever surfaced; until now!

In this picture, Lt.Bill Street and another 375th pilot are standing beside 'Big Beautiful Doll'. You will notice the canopy frame has been painted in the 375thFS color medium blue and the squadrons code E2 has been painted on. Although the rest is open to interpretation I believe it can be safely said that the rudder would have been painted blue as the other 375th aircraft. And diffidently, that the checker nose had been painted in the groups 'Yellowjacket' yellow.

With that in mind, I used the BBD decals from the Airfix kit, which unfortunately were the only ones I could find. They are a bit oversized and the swastikas on the kill board are little more than ordinary 'X's. In 1/24 scale that's a very obvious sore sight, hopefully I will find something in the future to replace them with.

John and I had discussed the markings and came to the conclusion that outside the repaint of the group nose color, rudder, canopy frame, wingtips and codes, all else was probably left the same. So without further ado, here is my finished kitbash/scratchbuild done up as Col. John Landers' "Big Beautiful Doll" in 361st FG colors and markings. I hope you enjoy it and will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

References Used During this Build

First, a big thanks to a couple of friends in the warbird community who answered questions and sent pictures of some detail not made clear in books: Dana Muelot and Glenn Wegman.

A very big thanks to John W. Johnston, who provided me with the picture of "Big Beautiful Doll" with 361st FG markings.

Books & Publications

© Craig Quattlebaum 2005

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This article was published on Wednesday, July 20 2011; Last modified on Saturday, May 14 2016