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Let's try this one again! A new kit, with new tooling, a new thread and some decals kindly donated by a member! I will be building the Mustang flown by Lt. Jorge Thomasset, Grupo de Aviación No.2 Caza, Uruguay in 1955. After the last debacle with the Revell junk, this looks to be a much better kit indeed. Here are the prerequisite opening salvos... Nice looking plastic...excellent detail compared to what I had struggles with before. Some decals... And the info sheet from the LF Models decals. I will try to combine the best of both, imho. Airfix has supplied some excellent decals too. I will be using the stencils. I have found they add a level of detail that, for the monoplane and jet, reminds me of the rigging on a biplane. Now that the Stuka is off the bench I have some room to move. I'll dig into this one this evening after work. --John

North American P-51D Mustang 1:72 Airfix The North American P-51 Mustang is one of the most famous and easily-recognisable of Allied types to have served during the Second World War. It was originally designed to a British requirement for a low-altitude fighter, and because it was designed around the Alison V-1710 engine, it had limited performance at higher altitudes. This shortcoming was famously addressed by the marriage of North Americans airframe to the Rolls Royce Merlin aero engine. Once so equipped, the Mustang was able to take on Luftwaffe fighters on equal or better terms up to 15,000 feet. In common with later Spitfires, the D model of the Mustang employed a cut-down rear fuselage and a bubble canopy, giving pilots superb all-round vision. The outstanding feature of the aircraft was is range, which enabled Mustangs to escort bombers all the way to Berlin and back. This prompted the famous quote from Reichmarshal Herman Göring: "When I saw Mustangs over Berlin, I knew the jig was up." Airfixs Mustang has only been around for a few months, but in that time it has garnered a good reputation in terms of fit and accuracy. The kit is part of Airfixs series one range and as such as a fairly simple kit, made up of just fifty three parts spread across two sprues of grey plastic and a single small clear sprue. The mouldings are clean and crisp and moulded detail looks good. The panel lines look pretty fine to me, but some will no doubt find them a little too deep. In my opinion they arent too broad though, so treatment with primer would seem to be the way to go here. The cockpit is assembled on top of a large floor piece which also acts as the roof of the radiator tunnel. Onto this are added an instrument panel (with a decal for detail), a gun sight, control column and seat. Sidewalls and radio kit is moulded in place. The inner sides of the fuselage have some nice raised/recessed detail which helps to add a sense of realism to the cockpit. Overall impressions are very favourable, particularly for a kit in this scale and at this price point. If you want the airscrew to be moveable, you will have to assemble it before the fuselage halves have been joined. This will make it a bit of a nuisance to paint though, so I would recommend adding it later and fixing it in place. Whichever route you choose, once the fuselage halves are joined then you can add the wing. The lower wing is moulded as a single span, which will help you achieve the correct dihedral. The main gear bays are boxed in and feature some convincing structural details. The tail planes are moulded as solid pieces, but the rudder is a separate part, so you can finish it in a deflected position if you so desire. There are separate flaps too, which is a bonus. The Finishing details show that Airfix has put some care and attention into the design of this kit. The mouth of the radiator inlet is moulded as a separate part, saving you the trouble of cleaning up a visible seam. The cooling air exhaust is also a separate part and can be posed in either open or closed position. The undercarriage doors are detailed on the inside and the landing gear itself is also very nice. The tyres have a cross-cut tread and subtle flat spots moulded in place. Two drop tanks are provided to hang under the wings. Two canopies are provided, but only the bulged version is used for the decal option supplied with this kit. The frame of the rear canopy is a separate part too, and of course the canopy can be posed in open or closed position. As this is a series 1 kit, just one scheme is provided on the decal sheet - the aircraft flown by First Lieutenant Spurgeon Ellington, Tuskegee Airmen, 100th Fighter Squadron, Ramitelli, Italy, December 1944. The decal sheet is printed by Cartograf and includes a full range of stencils. Conclusion Whilst the subject is one that has hardly been ignored by model manufacturers, this is a neat little kit and Im very glad that Airfix took the decision to release it. The level of detail is surprisingly good for the scale and price, and it looks as though this should build up into an excellent model. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of