The Red Tail Mustang is on it's Gear!

[spookythecat]

[ChrisDNT]

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

[Warbirdnerd]

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...

[Mark V]

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...

Maybe it would be easier to keep a painted aircraft clean compared with a highly (mirror) polished finish but with a simple NMF (ie: not polished) ther is really no difference. We keep Jumpin' Jacques in NMF (fuselage) here in the UK with no problem and she flies all year round.

Well done on getting the old girl back on her feet BTW!

[Alan Brooks]

Can't wait to see this,

with this!


Hey Chuck, how many different B/C models could you put in your logbook? How many hours do you have in the Mustang now?

Alan

[Holedigger]

She is starting to look like this again!

[ChrisDNT]

....but with a simple NMF (ie: not polished) ther is really no difference.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I agree and I'm for instance thinking of the Swiss P3's....

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled ... e46812557d

..... which flew during their entire military life in natural metal, without any problems and most of them are still flying now in civilian hands, still in natural metal, without any problems.

The problem with natural metal aircrafts painted in grey is that they look almost like replicas, even if they are 100% original.

[Jim Beasley]

The one problem that I've seen with natural metal planes is that unless the exhaust stain is promptly cleaned it seems to interact with the metal. I've seen that with Princess (patina) and Bald Eagle (super shiny). Rich tells me we're going to have to (in the future) reskin Bald Eagle in part because of this.

....but with a simple NMF (ie: not polished) ther is really no difference.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I agree and I'm for instance thinking of the Swiss P3's....

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled ... e46812557d

..... which flew during their entire military life in natural metal, without any problems and most of them are still flying now in civilian hands, still in natural metal, without any problems.

The problem with natural metal aircrafts painted in grey is that they look almost like replicas, even if they are 100% original.

[Django]

That sucks Jim. How much will you have to replace? Just in the exhaust stream?

[Jim Beasley]

Don't want to hijack this thread since it's a really important one. Can't wait to see the Red Tail C model flying again. But -- that section will definitely have to go and other parts, like the ailerons, which have suffered from over enthusiastic polishing.

That sucks Jim. How much will you have to replace? Just in the exhaust stream?

[Chuck Gardner]

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that there are 7 flying (ish) B/Cs of 8 left in the world just off the top of my head.
Boise Bee and Tuskee Airmen are under restoration and should both fly this summer. Excaliber III is holding the ceiling down to the floor at NASM and never to fly again. Betty Jane, Ina the Macon Belle, Princess E, Old Crow, and Impatient Virgin are all proudly flown by their owners. I doubt that any one one pilot will ever get to fly all of the remaining razorbacks but I sure would put my name on the short list.

[Pogo]

Oh baby, now that's a seriously cool looking airplane y'all got there, even with a bunch of stuff missin' off it.

[Old SAR pilot]

Super job on the rebuild, guys!

...Speaking of one person flying all of them, it would be kind of interesting, if someone could do it, then note afterwards the diference in flying characteristics between them...

[Mark V]

The one problem that I've seen with natural metal planes is that unless the exhaust stain is promptly cleaned it seems to interact with the metal.

Hi Jim, thats a new one on me and does not sound good. We keep JJ pretty clean, but I would be exagerrating if I said she was cleaned completely after every flight so we do get a build up of exhaust staining from time to time. it looks pretty good actually but there is never a problem in cleaning it off and it has certainly never left any permenenant stain or damage (and that is on the original 1944 metal). Maybe you are making longer flights than we can in the UK and that allows the staining to somehow eat in to the metal?

[Jim Beasley]

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.

The one problem that I've seen with natural metal planes is that unless the exhaust stain is promptly cleaned it seems to interact with the metal.

Hi Jim, thats a new one on me and does not sound good. We keep JJ pretty clean, but I would be exagerrating if I said she was cleaned completely after every flight so we do get a build up of exhaust staining from time to time. it looks pretty good actually but there is never a problem in cleaning it off and it has certainly never left any permenenant stain or damage (and that is on the original 1944 metal). Maybe you are making longer flights than we can in the UK and that allows the staining to somehow eat in to the metal?