The Red Tail Mustang is on it's Gear!

[Chuck Gardner]

Sometimes it is good to have compromised skin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Holedigger]

Oh....was there an airplane in that pic?!? I'll just have to look again!

[seaknight15]

HUBBA HUBBA airplane ?

[Jerry O'Neill]

Hey Jim, good thing you keep a spare pair of garters in the ammo bays!
Jerry

[RyanShort1]

What do you guys use for cleaning the exhaust stains? Exhaust does seem to leave it's mark in well-used aircraft (try being the one to clean it regularly!). It can also permanently alter paint.

Ryan

[Hal B]

We do fly it a lot; in 2006 she had 170+ hours on her. If you look very carefully you can see an airplane in this picture and the area where the exhaust has compromised the skin. I know it's hard to see but it's there.

What airplane? Where?

[Randy Haskin]

Yet another vote for compromised skin.

[mustangdriver]

That skin looks good to me. Are those real drop tanks or replicas. Doesn't matter they look great.

[John Beyl]

Nice, but why the grey paint, WWII non-painted Mustangs look so glorious in their natural natural aluminium finish ?

Our first choice would have been NMF, but we are hoping this bird will be on the road quite a bit and a silver painted bird is much easier to clean up than a polished one...

Hi Bryan,

Not to contradict you but polishing was really never considered. The primary reason is because we have a mix of old and new skins. The old skins have, shall we say, considerably more patina than would polish out and look even reasonably acceptable. Plus there are a few small spots of body filler here and there and that stuff is a real dickens to try and polish You are correct about how much we anticipate the airplane to fly though, and about how much easier paint is to keep clean.

I like the beauty of a natural metal finish ala Happy Jacks Go Buggy, but keeping it looking like that...I personally would not want the job! I also believe that paint gives the airplane another layer of protection against corrosion since it goes a long way in sealing up the structure. Paint is a good thing.



Thanks to all who have responded to this thread and the project’s progress so positively. Our goal is to make Oshkosh our first road appearance this year. There were some rumblings about getting it up in the air before that but with the amount of work left to do I think Osh is going to be a butt buster. We’ll make it so though!

Lastly, I would be remiss in my duties (And Rozendaal would surely mention it to me!) if I didn’t add the begging part in this note: Even though the fund raising team has done an outstanding job of finding support for the project, this last major push has really put a strain on the funds and we’re running short. The goal is to have everything paid for before the airplane leaves North Dakota. Keep in mind 100% of any funding help you can offer will go directly to the airplane…plus its tax deductable.

Thanks for your interest in the project and please consider helping us financially if you can,

John