Thank you Seawinder for posting some of my previous comments about the wheel wells finish but new information has come up since I wrote them.įrom the very beginning Mustangs wheel wells were a mix of Yellow Zinc Chromate, tinted/Green ZC, Interior Green, Dull Dark Green and unfinished (Aluminum) parts.įrom Allison Mustangs to F-82's the evidence (factory and field pictures, finish specs, T.O.'s, footage etc.) shows that Mustangs didn't usually get a single unified color finish in the wheel wells. I haven't seen evidence of that during WWII, but it could have happened."īased on the above, for a P-51D, it'll most likely be either unpainted wells with Yellow Zinc Chromate for the spar (early) or overall YZC (late). If, for any reason, a second coat of primer was applied to the wheel well, it would have been green zinc chromate (by that time, the same as Interior Green). I know for sure that this happened late in P-51D production. Since there were several grades of aluminum present, this led to corrosion issues on the Mustang, and at some point (I've not been able to pin down a date or place in production) wheel wells began to appear in overall yellow zinc chromate. "As part of the cost- and time-savings measures, all other non-cockpit interior areas were left in unpainted aluminum finish. There is a chance that some early Bs and Cs were delivered with unpainted spars, but I've never found more than a slight possibility of that having occurred. The main wing spars were generally primed with a single coat of yellow zinc chromate to protect the alloy spar itself, to avoid dissimilar metal corrosion in the areas where the spar contacted the inner faces of the aluminum skin, and to reduce static electricity buildup on the aft face of the spar (where the main tanks were located). "In 1942, before the Merlin-engined Mustangs entered production, North American was granted permission to build Mustangs without interior primers as a means of speeding production. The second is from Dana Bell, whose credentials are well established: All the factory footages show late Mustangs, mostly P-51D-25s and 30s (even a few Hs), so they have a ZC finish. Starting with the P-51D-20 production block the wells were entirely coated with ZC. It appears this remained the case for early P-51Ds. Wells on P-51B/Cs were left unpainted except for the main wing spar (ZC). While these pix show this had been done on some aircrafts I don't think they reflect the factory finish. "The aluminum painted wells theory (for P-51Ds) is based on one or two pictures. The first is from Christian A., an established Mustang maven: On the topic of wheel well colors, here are a couple of quotes. I know it can be a minefield when manufacturers start basing their kits/data on preserved examples but it would be very helpful to know what is correct….I have loads of P-51 references but all seem to offer contradictory info which is not helpful either. Tamiya amongst others) got it seriously wrong ?. I'm building the 1:32 scale Tamiya kit for which the instructions advise me to paint everything (cockpit, gun bays, undercarriage bays etc) in the 'Interior Green' color utilizing 2 x parts Yellow to 1 x part Green….yet….other builds I have seen here and elsewhere, including in the 'How to model the Tamiya Mustang' by ADH publications, show examples of the aircraft with an Interior Green cockpit but other areas (notably gun and undercarriage bays) finished in Zinc Chromate Yellow….Are both types of interior schemes correct and its dependent on where/when the aircraft was manufactured or has someone (i.e.
Please forgive me if this question as already been asked/answered but I am getting a little confused over interior colors for the P-51D Mustang in USAAF Service.
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