Best P-51H Kit?

[Crossiant Oliver]

I was wondering what the best P-51H kit is in terms of:

 

1. How difficult it is (I want probably something intermediate)

2. Either 1/48 or 1/72 scale

3. Only plastic parts (no resin please)

 

any answer would be wonderful!

 

-Oliver

 

 

[Mike Esposito]

Classic Airframes makes a 1/48 H, but I recall it's a bear.  The kit includes resin partsn cockpit, vacation canopy ect.

 

There is a 1/72 by RS, don't know the quality though.

Edited February 4, 2017 by Mike Esposito

[Greenshirt]

The "best" IMO is the 1/72 CMR resin...but since you don't want to do resin, the 1/72 RS appears buildable with basic modeling skills. 

 

I've built the CMR kit, was one of my first resin kits and not difficult at all. I have the RS kit but have not yet started it. 

[72modeler]

14 hours ago, Greenshirt said:

The "best" IMO is the 1/72 CMR resin...but since you don't want to do resin, the 1/72 RS appears buildable with basic modeling skills. 

 

I've built the CMR kit, was one of my first resin kits and not difficult at all. I have the RS kit but have not yet started it. 

I agree! I have both kits, as well. The CMR is the better of the two and really goes together almost like an injected kit, and the RS kit is also very good- just needs some of the softer detail parts replaced by better ones. I am working on converting one of my RS P-51H's into one of  the three XP-51F's built  that the RAF got for evaluation, FR409- it's a neat-looking little fighter in green/ocean grey/medium sea grey! Oliver- if you haven't built any resin kits, I would get the RS kit; it's pretty fault-free and looks like an H when it's done!

 

Mike

 

https://yooniqimages.blob.core.windows.net/yooniqimages-data-storage-resizedimagefilerepository/List/21631/4f1cfc9b-cdc0-4929-b9d1-f0a34fa7314e/YooniqImages_216312998.jpg

Edited February 5, 2017 by 72modeler
corrected spelling and link

[occa]

Agree with what was said about the CMR kit, that one is a little gem IMO

[tempestfan]

There was another 48th kit by HiPM, but probably released before you were even born, but it sounds like one of their better kits. And there was a 72nd kit by Model News which, well, does sound as if it calls for a certain tenacity. 

Edited February 6, 2017 by tempestfan
auto(in)correct - yet again

[Giorgio N]

27 minutes ago, tempestfan said:

There was another 48th kit by HiPM, but probably released before you were even born, but it sounds like one of their better kits. And there was a 72nd kit by Model News which, well, does sound as if it calls for a certain tenacity. 

 

I have the Model News kit, it looks very rough and will sure require a lot of work. It's one of the few kits in my stash that I'm considering to sell without even trying to build it

[Jonny]

Strange coincidence, but I was sorting through the stash over the weekend and came across a 1/48 'HISToRIC' kit of a  "P.F-51H' Mustang.  Made, says the box, by HaPM Ltd. in Czech Republic.

 

it looks OK.  I cannot remember when I bought it or where.

 

Anyone know anything?

[Don McIntyre]

IIRC, the Classic Airframes and HiPM kits came out around the same time. Apparently, neither is an easy build and there isn't much to choose between the two.

Edited February 6, 2017 by Don McIntyre
Typo

[Graham Boak]

Way back when, wasn't there an Aurora kit of a P-51H in 1/48th or something near?  Or was it just an approximate P-51 that happened to look a bit like a P-51H in fading memory?  Not to be recommended as the best kit of the subject, either way.

[Troy Smith]

the original poster  started two threads 3 minutes apart on the same subject.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235016368-best-p-51h-kit/

 

as this has got more replies, I'll repost this here

Quote

 

for your criteria in 1/48th,  nothing,

 

unless you want to add some detail the the ancient Aurora kit.....

http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/thread/1461792366

 

the others are

Classic Airframes

http://modelingmadness.com/review/korean/cleaver/cleaverp51h.htm

 

HiPM

http://modelingmadness.com/scott/korean/p51h.htm

 

There may have been a vacform as well.  Oh,  the CA review Tom Cleaver notes that Collectaire did a resin one.

 

HTH

T

 

 

 

 

[MilneBay]

20 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

Way back when, wasn't there an Aurora kit of a P-51H in 1/48th or something near?  Or was it just an approximate P-51 that happened to look a bit like a P-51H in fading memory?  Not to be recommended as the best kit of the subject, either way.

 

What also didn't help the Aurora attempt was that IMHO the P51H was a particularly ill-formed looking aircraft anyway. 

Edited February 7, 2017 by MilneBay

[upnorth]

I built the RS 1/72 kit of the P-51H a couple of years ago.

 

It's typical of my experience with RS kits in that it will make you work for a good result. Have lots of sandpaper and patience on hand and you can get it to fit  well and get a good finished product from it.

 

The decals were lovely to look at and work with, but the resin parts were rather mediocre. Happily, most of the resin bits can be bypassed as about 50% of them are rockets and bombs that you can take or leave. The rest of the resin bits can be substituted with equivalent parts from a P-51D kit if you can find one on the cheap.

[stevehnz]

wast of time, answered on the other identical thread.

Edited February 7, 2017 by stevehnz

[Deve]

19 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

 

I have the Model News kit, it looks very rough and will sure require a lot of work. It's one of the few kits in my stash that I'm considering to sell without even trying to build it

 

I vaguely remember a review of this in a late 90s SAMI that was pretty much 'please don't waste your time unless you really want a P-51H'.

 

If it's anything like the Model News Spitfire XII I built at the time, it's more an exercise in carving and filling than anything else.  What an introduction to limited run kits that was!

[Niles]

On ‎2‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 9:59 AM, Graham Boak said:

Way back when, wasn't there an Aurora kit of a P-51H in 1/48th or something near?  Or was it just an approximate P-51 that happened to look a bit like a P-51H in fading memory?  Not to be recommended as the best kit of the subject, either way.

 

Oh yes, there was Aurora.  I had one of those way back in the dawn of time when I was about Oliver's current age.  It was 1/48th and it did look like a P-51H, which was a disappointment because I wanted a P-51D.  It was molded in olive brown plastic.  You could pop off the engine panels to see an engine block and the main landing gear was retractable.  And it had rivets, oh it had rivets.  It was covered with those little plastic bumps that represented rivets back in those days.  The P-51H may have been the fastest P-51 variant, but if the real one had rivets like the Aurora one, it would have been the slowest P-51 ever.  

[Troy Smith]

48 minutes ago, Niles said:

 

Oh yes, there was Aurora.  I had one of those way back in the dawn of time when I was about Oliver's current age.  It was 1/48th and it did look like a P-51H, which was a disappointment because I wanted a P-51D.  It was molded in olive brown plastic.  You could pop off the engine panels to see an engine block and the main landing gear was retractable.  And it had rivets, oh it had rivets.  It was covered with those little plastic bumps that represented rivets back in those days.  The P-51H may have been the fastest P-51 variant, but if the real one had rivets like the Aurora one, it would have been the slowest P-51 ever.  

 

you missed the link above...

http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/thread/1461792366

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

out of curiosity i tried to find  a similar angled shot....

 

 

 

so...perhaps the Aurora kit is not too bad