Lt. Johnny Cloud “The Navajo Ace” (P-51D Mustang)

The finished model:

In the comics:

Lt. Johnny (Flying) Cloud, aka “The Navajo Ace”, first appeared in the DC Comics All-American Men of War #82 (1960).  A member of the Navajo, Flying Cloud was named after a cloud resembling an Amerindian brave riding a horse. Johnny often saw a cloud in this shape when he was a boy, and imagined himself to be the rider in the cloud. From a child onward, Johnny Cloud faced racial prejudice. He later joined the U.S. Army Air Force during fight in World War II.

I was actually first introduced to Johnny Cloud in the pages of G.I. Combat, usually the stomping grounds of another favourite of mine, “the Haunted Tank”. After All-American Men of War was cancelled, the Navajo Ace was a frequent guest star in Haunted Tank stories in G.I. Combat before eventually landing another gig as part of the group called “The Losers.”  I just really liked seeing that gleaming P-51D Mustang come screaming out of the sky to help smash a Tiger or two, so it seemed like a no-brainer project to kick off my DC Comics 1/72 project.

If this one looks a bit familiar to you, it might be because of the famous Roy Lichtenstein painting, titled “Whaam!” that was completed in 1963 – the year after the Lt. Johnny Cloud story titled “The Star Jockey” first appeared in DC Comics All-American Men of War #89 (1962).

You can read all about it here!

The kit(s):

• F-51D Mustang with Ground Vehicle “Korean War” by Academy

The build:

Of course, it also didn’t hurt that I happened to have a few Academy P-51D kits just kicking around without really a project to call home. That was the beauty of living in Seoul, you could sometimes find really great deals on Academy kits.  So when I saw another boxing of the P-51D Mustang “with Ground Vehicle” sitting on the shelf at Neighbour Hobby for about $5… well, I just couldn’t resist.

It also seemed like a good kit to get me back in the groove after my move back to Canada.  Trying to (re)settle into a new country, with a new job, and lots of home renovations made finding time for model building a bit of a challenge.  Even when I did have some time, the lack of model building supplies (some lost in the move) and the unfamiliar work space, made it even more of a challenge.  So I figured that a cheap and easy kit from Academy was just what the doctor ordered.

All in all, there wasn’t much to it. I happened to have an extra small (but not 1/144 scale tiny) DC motor, so I incorporated it, but that’s about the only special upgrade. Otherwise, it’s more or less out of the box. Once I got the motor in place, I did have a thought to use the hairspray technique to do some paint chipping, but I really didn’t like how it turned out, so I stripped it off the propellor and started over.  Turns out it was a better idea.

I also had to create a few homemade decals for the “Flying Cloud” logo on the side of the plane, but they turned out to be surprisingly easy as well – just what the doctor ordered for a “get your groove on” build.  I created the logo by lifting an image from the pages of the comic book, redrawing it in Adobe Illustrator and then printing it off on decal paper. Usually that’s a bit tricky to do, but over a bare metal finish, it works quite well.

I think it turned out, but feel free to lend me your comments below:

The Tamiya paint :

• XF-1 (Black) – front fuselage
• XF-7 (Red) – nose/tail
• XF-71 (Cockpit Green) – cockpit
• XF-16 (Aluminum) – wing/tail edges + bomb
• XF-56 (Metallic Grey) – engine