a family P51 skin request

[tmetal]

I know we already have many mustang skins but is there any way I could convince one of you gents to skin a P51D flown by Lt. William Eddins (a distant cousin of mine) during the final years of the war?

Bill posing with his plane


A good shot of Bill and the script style text on the canopy frame


A shot of Bill and his crew chief with a good view of the "Wee Willie" lettering on the nose


here is the best shot we have of the entire plane, the picture doesn't appear to show the entire tail number but we are fairly certain this is his plane


A color photo not of Bill's plane but of a plane with the same nose and tail colors for reference.



I wish I had more photos to post but unfortunately this is all we have.  

Much appreciation and heartfelt thanks to anybody who would be willing to take this one on.
AH skinner's and cheers

[Vraciu]

I don't mind doing it.  I already have a yellow tail in the game as is.

If you get a better offer take it but I am willing to give it a shot.  I realize my style may not be what you are after.

Do you know the tail code and or serial number?

[tmetal]

I'll see if I can turn up more info Vraciu, but for now what you see is what I have.

[Vraciu]

I'll see if I can turn up more info Vraciu, but for now what you see is what I have.

I will do some looking myself.    Either of the above items will reveal the rest.

[Vraciu]

So, can anyone tell me if WEE WILLLIE has the yellow wing stripe or not in the pictures with its pilot?   It seems to be on the wing in the first photo but I can't be sure.

I should be able to have something to show you in a week.

[Saxman]

So, can anyone tell me if WEE WILLLIE has the yellow wing stripe or not in the pictures with its pilot?   It seems to be on the wing in the first photo but I can't be sure.

I should be able to have something to show you in a week.

That's the beauty of machines from the same squadron/fighter group. Or at least those babied ETO planes. Change the numbers, slap the new nose art on there, and ta da!

Try doing that with the battered and oily messes that are Marine Corsairs.

[Vraciu]

That's the beauty of machines from the same squadron/fighter group. Or at least those babied ETO planes. Change the numbers, slap the new nose art on there, and ta da!

Try doing that with the battered and oily messes that are Marine Corsairs.

LOL

 


You are forgetting that my original skin was a single layer.   I have pushed that to nine layers for MOLLY.  WEE WILLIE will probably wind up around 11 or 12 layers.

I have had to go back and make all the panel lines and rivets all over again.  Thankfully I did manage to figure out the benefits of motion blur for flap and aileron gaps.   Still, I have put in enough hours to have done 45 skins on just two.  LOL

[Vraciu]

here is the best shot we have of the entire plane, the picture doesn't appear to show the entire tail number but we are fairly certain this is his plane

The only thing that throws me here is that a prior shot shows his airplane with a tiny bit of the QP code.  It appears to be the hashed version as opposed to the solid.

Do you have any records regarding the squadron he flew with?   We can perhaps narrow down his airplane by eliminating all those we know to find his if there are no pictures of his plane available.   Otherwise this is a shot in the dark/best guess kinda' thing.

[tmetal]

I didn't notice the discrepancy with the QP code until you pointed it out. This leads one to believe that the plane in the foreground of picture 4 isn't the same plane as the other pictures but instead it may be the next plane back with the engine cowlings removed. hmmmmm, I'm gonna have to talk some more with the relatives. Interesting to also note the second plane in picture 4 has the black band of paint separating the yellow tail paint from the forward bare aluminum and the first plane in picture 4 doesn't.

Good eye Vraciu

PS. it appears that the yellow wing strip is there and is on the bottom of the wing as well as the top. I can just barely see it in the photo with Bill sitting on the wing, and it is fairly easy to pick out what might be the stripe under the left arm of the crew chief in picture 3. If I stare at picture 1 long enough I can just make out a change in the grey scale of the photo where the yellow stripe should be. It's fairly easy to see on the first plane in picture 4, but then again it appears that plane is most likely not Bill's.

[Volron]

It is time to call in the lyric1.

[Vraciu]

I didn't notice the discrepancy with the QP code until you pointed it out. This leads one to believe that the plane in the foreground of picture 4 isn't the same plane as the other pictures but instead it may be the next plane back with the engine cowlings removed. hmmmmm, I'm gonna have to talk some more with the relatives. Interesting to also note the second plane in picture 4 has the black band of paint separating the yellow tail paint from the forward bare aluminum and the first plane in picture 4 doesn't.

Good eye Vraciu

PS. it appears that the yellow wing strip is there and is on the bottom of the wing as well as the top. I can just barely see it in the photo with Bill sitting on the wing, and it is fairly easy to pick out what might be the stripe under the left arm of the crew chief in picture 3. If I stare at picture 1 long enough I can just make out a change in the grey scale of the photo where the yellow stripe should be. It's fairly easy to see on the first plane in picture 4, but then again it appears that plane is most likely not Bill's.

My first skin also had the black band on the tail.  I haven't found an explanation for why it is there on some and not others.

Do some digging.   I can add the tail code last. 

[Vraciu]

First day of work on Wee Willie.  

- The W on the nose art is going to be a tough nut to crack but we will get there.  For now I just have a place holder (I am assuming the lettering should be red) to give an idea what it will look like.  

- I need to adjust the size of Bill's name on the canopy and repaint the latch.

- Working my way through the layers.  Hope to have something presentable in a week.

[tmetal]

looks great vraciu! my attempts to find a tail number have come up empty so far and the family member that would be most likely to know is on vacation until next week. If I find anything I'll be sure to post it asap.

[Vraciu]

looks great vraciu! my attempts to find a tail number have come up empty so far and the family member that would be most likely to know is on vacation until next week. If I find anything I'll be sure to post it asap.

No problem, bud.   It will look better as I get into it more.   Tailcodes and numbers can be added later.   Now that I am working in layers we can mess with that stuff to our hearts' content until we get it right.

Just wanted to give you something to visualize while I work on it....

[Vraciu]

It is time to call in the lyric1.