Lt. Russell I. McNally - P-51D "Morphine Sue II" (YF*J) - 355th FG, 358th FS

[Vraciu]

1st Lt. Russell I. McNally
P-51D-5-NA "Morphine Sue II" (YF*J)
S/N 44-13659
355th FG, 358th FS
Steeple Morden, June 1944


This is First Lieutenant Russell I. McNally's P-51D-5-NA "Morphine Sue II" (S/N 44-13659), coded YF*J, of the 355th FG, 358th FS out of Steeple Morden.   Lt. McNally would later go to the Scouting Force (Experimental) flying 15 of his 28 SFX missions in this aircraft, bringing his total to 77 when his 355th FG sorties are added in.   The YF fuselage code was underlined to distinguish it as a Scouting Force aircraft.   

After McNally finished his tour on 18 August 1944, "Morphine Sue II" remained with the SFX.   She suffered a mishap on 31 August 1944 at the hands of Capt. Dwight W. Hartman and wound up tilted over onto her nose.

Lt. Merrill J. Dumont eventually took over this Mustang.  After a repaint into SFX colors, it was christened "CHIP" and given the code 9H*J.

It is depicted here while still with the 355th FG.   Thanks again to Oboe for his excellent pilot figure which was used as the basis for this one.

__

This one shows the earlier version of the 358th FS P-51 markings without the painted rudder.

Devil5O5 wanted a 352nd FG Mustang with Invasion Stripes.   Had to pick a different group to do it...but here you go.








I couldn't decide which one of these two was a better representation of the metal power value so I am posting both.

[lyric1]

 

[Greebo]

Great job on the skin Vraciu, looks excellent. WRT different power values I prefer the last screenshot version to the one above it.

[Vraciu]

Thanks guys. 

Got it G.  I was afraid it was flaring too much.   Many thanks.

[JimmyD3]

Again, excellent job V. 

[Devil 505]

Nicely done.

I agree with Greebo. The bottom pic has the better flare.

[Vraciu]

Thanks guys.

Is that 21 pieces of [flare], Lundberg?



I'll go with that.

[oboe]

Looks fantastic!  My favorite shot is the high rear view.  Just perfect.  Nicely dirtied invasion stripes too.

Regarding flare, sometimes it helps to go external in game and just pan around  and watch how the glare behaves on the metal- sometimes it just pops out at you which is better. 

I prefer the bottom pic over the next one up, but more because the glare off the antiglare is more subdued.   For glare off the metal, I'm preferring wider, less intense glare patches over narrow, intense ones - but there are other factors to - like if you are doing a heavily weathered, dirty metal, the broader, weaker glare might look more realistic...

[Vraciu]

Thanks, Oboe.   I had your wider flare in mind while messing with this.  I'm gonna try it on one of my updates that had no stripes to see how it behaves on the wing.

[FTJR]

great skin V..

[Vraciu]

Thanks, bro.

[Banshee7]

This skin might get me back in a Pony 

[Vraciu]

Thanks, B7.