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I wanted to share this link to the exterior stencil "blue prints" for the 51 that appear to be from another Russian copy-cat effort. They look to be very accurate, and the only error I found was "ammunition 8 gun access" where the "8" should be "&". A2A already had that one correct anyway.

http://www.composite-arf.co.uk/Other/P-51%20Decals.zip

I want to give credit to KentuckyColonel, whomever that might be, at this site for his original post:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7804403/tm.htm

I am wondering if these blue prints come from a WW2 P-51 in Russian possession during or after the war. Does anyone know the history behind the high-quality Russian P-51 research work that can be found on the Web? Did they ever manufacture their own 51s, as they did the C-47 and B-29?

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Your 'blueprints' are just decal sheets for a 1:24th scale model and they have a copyright date of 1999. Also, the text isn't Russian; It looks Slavic to me.

I'm sure you know this but third-party decal sheets are common to scale modelers:
Example

But your question about Soviet 'reverse engineering' is interesting. I'm sure it was very possible that examples of P-51s fell into Soviet hands before the end of WWII, especially during the operations over Romania, Hungary, Czechloslavakia, etc. and as the Western and Eastern Allies converged upon Berlin in the final days. But I doubt that replicating the Mustang was was ever a high priority for the Soviets. The P-51D didn't arrive for combat until mid-1944 and by that time the Soviets were fielding 'home grown' fighters that were just as good or perhaps even better--at least for the kind of air war they were engaged in with the Luftwaffe.

The United States didn't really use the P-51 (aka F-51 after 1947) for very long after the war either; by the early 1950s fighter jets were becoming increasingly operational and even Air National Guard units that had been using WWII vintage F-51s and F-47s were transitioning to new F-86s and other production jets.

Regardless, I'm sure there are thousands of pages of data about P-51s in Soviet archives that was collected during the war and afterwards. I have no doubt about that at all.

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I like Thunderbolts! (Link to MySpace tribute page)


120th Fighter Wing, Montana Air National Guard

"The Soviet Union received at least 10 early-model ex-RAF Mustang Is and tested but found them to under-perform compared to contemporary USSR fighters, relegating them to training units. Later Lend-Lease deliveries of the P-51B/C and D series along with other Mustangs abandoned in Russia after the famous "shuttle missions" were repaired and used by the Soviet Air Force, but not in front-line service."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-51_Mustang

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I like Thunderbolts! (Link to MySpace tribute page)


120th Fighter Wing, Montana Air National Guard

A good font for WW2 U.S. aircraft is "stencilia-A" found here:

http://www.dafont.com/stencilia.font

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i7 2600, 8GB, Nvidia 420, 1.5TB, W7, TrackIR-5

The JPG files in the Decals.zip are the best reference I know of for P-51 stencils. There are a couple of errors, though. First, is the serial # in the block of data on the side of the fuselage which is wrong. Every Mustang should show its own unique serial number there on the third line. If you're using A2A's paint kit then you'll want to change the serial number in that block of data to match your bird. Add a ‘4’ to the front of the number that shows on the tail.

Another small mistake is the 4-digit cowling numbers. All Mustangs had individually fitted engine cowlings, and also the stabilizer fairings. To keep these pieces from getting mixed up by the ground crews they stenciled on the last four digits of the serial number.

What’s interesting in the JPG files is that the artist shows these numbers (item #12) to be 4786. This does not correspond with that particular Mustang’s serial, but it does match up with “Lil’ Margaret”, an F-6D (recon P-51) serial #44-84786. If the artist used “Lil Margaret” for his info then that would be a good thing because she won the 1993 WW2 Grand Champion award at Oshkosh.

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