Got back into building models today, figured I had so much dead time on my days off (Weds and Thurs) that maybe I should start building again…went down to my local hobby store and was perusing the 1/48 scales warbirds when I came across what I THINK is a glaring inaccuracy….there was a kit labeled as an F6B Mustang recon plane, but it was an ‘A’ model Mustang with a Malcolm hood on it! Last I knew (and I’ll be the first to admit I could be wrong) the F-6’s had Malcolm hoods and MERLIN engines, not Allison engines with carb scoops on top of the engine cowlings, like P-40’s! I know the Brits and Yanks flew early A-36’s and P-51A’s with Allison engines and carb scoops up top and such, but in combo with a Malcolm hood AND being a photographic plane to boot? Who knows more?
Incidentally, picked up a nice F4F Tamiya kit that I now get to start on…
Mark
By: Andy in Beds - 24th February 2005 at 08:14
Mark
go out and buy yourself a Trumpeter 1/32nd scale Corsair. Either a -1 or a -4.
I’ve a -1 and it’s a really nice kit. Build it with the wings folded and it makes it more managable.
Cheers
Andy
By: Swiss Mustangs - 24th February 2005 at 07:46
Mark – all’s in the green here…..
As Steve already pointed out, the F-6A designation was given to the repossessed P-51 (Allison engined) and subsequently the F-6B was the photoship version of the P-51A (Allison engined. When switching to the Packard V-1650 Merlin and with the opening of another Mustang production line at Dallas TX, i.e. P-51B (Inglewood, CA, production) and P-51C (Dallas, TX, production), the next photoship variant of both the P-51B and P-51C was designated F-6C….
But there indeed were a number of F-6B’s deployed to Europe that also were retrofitted with Malcolm hoods – 107th and 109th TRS, 9th AAF.
43-6046 AX-B comes to mind.
Martin
By: Steve T - 24th February 2005 at 05:27
Hi Mark–
I’ve been getting into modeling a bit more lately too after a break of several years (currently about three quarters of the way through a 1:72 diorama of a section of the Walter Soplata property as it was in the early 80s)…
Your styrene F-6B isn’t the cause for “alarm” you might initially think. F-6 was the designation for PR Mustangs, and unfortunately the letter suffixes do not, at least in the case of “B”, match those for the P-51 series: both the F-6A and the F-6B were the early Allison-engined version, while the PR variants of the B/C highback Merlin ‘stang were all designated F-6C (irrespective of which factory they came from–in contrast to the P-51B/C, which were both Merlin-engined and a B was a B because it came off the Inglewood line while a C was a C because it was built in Dallas)! Why? Who knows…The bubbletop F-6s did match the P-51s, though, an F-6D being a PR P-51D and an F-6K the PR version of the Dallas-built, differently-propellered P-51K.
The Malcolm hood on an F-6B was probably a field modification; I know that quite a few Bs, Cs and F-6Cs had the Spitfire-like canopy retrofitted, and indeed the improved visibility would be even more desirable for an Allison bird which would be operated predominantly at low level…
Cheers
Steve
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February 24, 2005 at 12:42 am