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F-6D Cockpit (648600 for Eduard) 1:48 Eduard Brassin Eduard’s new Reconnaissance Mustang, the F-6D went under the microscope here, and now we have a finely detailed resin cockpit to augment the already impressive detail you’ll find in the kit. As is now usual with Eduard's larger resin sets, they arrive in the new deep Brassin cardboard box, with the resin parts safely cocooned in bags, a foam sheet in the bottom and the instructions folded around acting as padding. Inside the box are forty-three resin parts of various sizes, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) that has been nickel-plated and pre-printed, a sheet of decals and a slip of clear acetate with the gunsight glazing shape printed on. The instruction booklet tells you in large red letters to check the table of alternative parts before proceeding, as there are five variations possible with the parts provided, depending on which block P-51D airframe your decal choice was based upon. Get that set in your mind before you continue, perhaps adding notes to the instructions yourself. It’s also worthy of note that there isn’t a pre-printed PE instrument panel in this set, but there are a host of decals for the instruments and placards, which you apply along the way toward a complete cockpit. Construction begins with the necessary removal of kit parts, which is surprisingly simple, although there will be a lot of plastic consigned to the parts bin in their entirety once you are finished. The cockpit floor gets cut almost in half at the step, and has two raised sections removed from the remaining part, while the fuel tank under the radio needs two small segments removing from the forward part to accommodate the details on the sidewalls later on. Two tiny pieces are removed from the port sidewall too. Now the seat is made up using the pre-printed PE 4-point seatbelts, PE support braces, and a choice of three headrests that attach to the seat armour/mount part. The instrument panel has three main configurations, with five further options for the centre panel, which is where many of the alternate parts come into play. Once complete and painted, the decals are applied, followed by the various PE “sticky-out” bits that are present. The new forward floor is highly detailed and is attached to the front of the remaining plastic floor after being fitted out with the control stick, the kit fuel tank, some black-boxes behind the pilot’s seat, and the seat itself. The radio gear is also installed on a support frame, then fitted to the top of the fuel tank, which has filler and level indicators glued in, with a tiny decal for the dial on the level gauge. You’ll need to find a short length of 0.2mm wire to link up with the floor-mounted repeated gauge, which also has its own decal. More wire is routed through the radio pallet, with a concertina tube up each side behind the seat, then it’s on to the sidewalls. The resin sidewall parts are well detailed to begin with, but they are both augmented with resin and PE parts, as well as having their own painting and decaling diagrams to complete the task. The result will be an exceptionally well-detailed pair of sidewalls, with a choice of variant specific instruments, providing you follow the instructions properly. The new resin gunsight has its glass replicated by a piece of acetate sheet, with a tiny pre-painted PE instrumentation cluster on the left, and a back-up ring-and-bead sight on the right of the unit. It fits into the underside of the kit coaming, and is joined by the other kit instruments that are stashed there, then has the new resin rudder pedals inserted into the back of the instrument panel on pegs, with the coaming fitting from above, and the result cross-checked with the side profile diagram supplied. The cockpit and sidewalls are brought together to create a tub, then the fuselage is closed around them and the coaming, kit deck and a new resin lightened canopy stiffener are added to finish the set off. Conclusion A super-detailed set for a super model of a legend of the skies. Excellent use of resin to improve a focal point to your model, with a wide choice of options from the various originator types. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hello gents and ladies! A fella gifted me Airfix's 48th scale P-51D. (The bozooka carrying one, I dropped its link below) I will receive it within a week. I had read that to increase speed, wing upper panels were filled on some planes. I wonder if my plane had filled panels or not. I appreciate if someone can enlight me. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/airfix-a05131-north-american-p-51d-mustang--1015635 Regards from cold Ankara. Cheers.

Hello All This is my latest build, the 1/48 Airfix Mustang Mk IV Painted mainly with Vallejo Metal Color Aluminium & Silver plus various Tamiya acrylics for details. Weathered with Flory washes and Abteilung 502 oils. Thanks for looking Cheers Steve

Hi, The third (and last for a while) of my models, which is a vintage since it is 40 years old and which I refreshed a bit during last week-end. it is P 51 B Mustang, done from a Monagram's racer set (in box besides P 51 there was also a F8F Bearcat). The plastic of model was bright red (!). The Bearcat went to people but P 51 stayed with me for 40 years, as I said already. The painting scheme is fameous Shangri-La of Don Gentile, 336th Sq, 8th Army USAAF, UK 1944. Decals by ESCI. The MGs are from needles for injection - this was my routine already in 1977... During last week-end, after gently cleaning I replaced US Insignia which became very dark and refreshed white strips which were too gray-brown - like a collar on shirt after too long wearing Next was fresh cover of varnish... Below is result. Comments welcome Cheers Jerzy-Wojtek

My next build is a factory sealed Monogram P-51B: This was a "sorry I goofed up your order" gift from an ebay vendor. I initially wasn't too interested because of the raised detail and all, but now I think I can tackle it and maybe do it a little justice. I'm not a rescriber -- it just looks terrible when I do it, so I have other plans, but more on that later. Can you imagine spending 99 cents on a model? I felt weird taking the shrink wrap off what I figured to be about a 45 year old kit. But, I did it and here's what I was greeted with when opening the box: I remember I had that same catalog when I was a kid! My dad gave it to me after one of his Monogram builds. Now I don't know when the kit came out, but it was probably pretty close to this: So that means the plastic in this box hasn't seen the light of day for around 45 years! I was amazed that decals were just about perfect, even though I won't be using them. So, I have done this kit before. When I was 12 or 13 I swiped it from my Dad's stash, along with the aftermarket decals he bought for it, and created this... erm.... "masterpiece"... That wasn't the first time I'd done "Shangri-la" either -- I'd swiped my Dad's Revell 1/32 P-51B which had "Shangri-la" as the scheme. So, my plan is to make a replacement using these decals: After that I will probably take the old kit, strip it down and re-make it with some other decals I have. Anyway... after that long preamble... The first step I plan to do on this build is to do something about the wheel wells, as seen here on the old model: I will attempt to scratch build some better looking wheel wells. BTW, does anyone know what those tabs sticking out around the opening are? It seems like they would interfere with the gear door.

Hi, I would like to share with you our current project. We decided to start a long time waited for series. Now we have almost all the information and kits to do the North American P51 series. I am still working on the reaserch but I have the preliminary list. Mark Serial Code Sqd Place Time 1 A-36 Apache HK944 C 1437 Strategic Reconnaissance Flight Foggia, Italy nov-43 2 A-36 Apache EW998 NO A&AEE March 1943 3 I AG645 RZ/W 241 Bottisham November 1942 4 I AL995 S 2 RAF Bottisham March 1943 5 I AG351/G Air Fighting Development Unit (A.F.D.U.) A&AEE 9 February 1942 6 I AM106 A&AEE October 1943 7 I AM106 A&AEE October 1943 8 I AM106 A&AEE October 1943 9 I AG357/G A&AEE March 1943 10 I AM101 R 168 RAF B.21 Ste Honorine de Ducy August 1944 11 I ¿? X ¿? France August 1944 12 I AM177 V 241 Bottisham 13 II FD535 X 268 Gilze Rijen January 1945 14 II FR901 Air Service Training Summer 1943 15 II FR908 S 268 January 1945 16 II FR915 L 268 17 III FB181 SZ-R 316 Andrews Field Spring 1945 18 III FB201 QV-D 19 June 1944 19 III FB226 MT-K 122 Andrews Field October 1944 20 III FB241 GA-Q 112 239 Fighter Bomber Wing, Italy 21 III FB260 LW 239 Fighter Bomber Wing, Italy Falerium, Italy jun-44 22 III FB337 AK-A 213 Italy jul-44 23 III FX893 AAE&E March 1944 24 III FZ103 AAE&E abr-44 25 III FZ152 SS 133 Polish Wing Coolham June 1944 26 III HB876 9G-L 441 27 III KH427 GN-V 249 Befernoi, Italy 1944 28 III KH466 9G-Y 441 29 III KH492 PK-U 315 Andrews Field 30 III KH593 CV-A 3 RAAF Fano Nov/Dic 1944 31 III KH616 CV-J 3 RAAF Fano dic-44 32 IV A68-1 RAAF April 1945 33 IV A68-740 SV-R RAAF Late 1945 34 IV A68-751 SU-V RAAF Labuan Late 1945 35 IV A68-1001 RAAF Fisherman Bend 36 IV KH GL-N 5 SAAF Circa Italy may-45 37 IV KH670 CV-A 3 RAAF Cervia April 1945 38 IV KH690 Y2-B 442 RCAF Hunsdon 1945 39 IV KH710 CV-E 3 RAAF Fano 1945 40 IV KH723 CV-K 3 RAAF 41 IV KH774 GA-S 112 Italy 1945 42 IV KH818 QP-V 19 Circa Italy may-45 43 IV KH826 AK-G 213 Biferno, Italy April 1945 44 IV KM|32 FY-S 611 45 IV KM232 JAS Italy 9-may-45 46 IV KM735 India 1945 47 IV TK859 UK 48 XP-51F FR409 UK 49 XP-51G 43-43336 50 X AM208 My father has started with these two. 1) Mustang Mk I AG351/G Air Fighting Development Unit (A.F.D.U.) A&AEE 9 February 1942 2) Mustang Mk I AG357/G A&AEE March 1943 fitted with wing mounted rockets rails Cheers Santiago

Hi folk's, don't get exited not for me Airfix's latest masterpiece but Pegasus hobbies easy kit but before you hit the off button it;s surprising how nice these kit's can look with a bit of care, http://216.187.79.26/2009/reviews/kits/p51bpegasusreviewbs_1.htm And how inspirational can their story be it's just a pity Spielberg didn't do the movie! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen One for later in the GB.

Hi all Started few month ago, finally I finished this kit last night The kit is beautifull and very well detailled espacially when you have exhaust pipe and wheels in resin parts I made an error when I painted the wheels bays. I inverted the colors but see my error too late. I have the royal class box and choose the "shark mouth" scheme I painted the shark mouth, roundels and letters for a best result. The weathering is light because I prefere a plane like this Other pics at this address P-51D Mustang

This is my 1/48 scale Revell Mustang MKIII, which is actually the ICM Mustang. I built it OOB and used Vallejo and Mig acrylics for the paintjob. It was an enjoyable build, I think Mustangs are some of the nicer subjects to build.. even as a plastic model, it just looks and feels right. Hope you like the pictures. Kind regards, Gerben

This thread on building and comparing Airfix P-51 kits really got started in the P-51 STGB just finished this year, where I managed to complete 'Fool's Paradise IV' using the first tooling Airfix kit. I have continued on but since I intend to keep this WIP thread going for some time, I'll include this first build here as comparisons will be made later. For 'Fool's Paradise IV', I've got the Red Stripe Bag 'boxing'... The kit comes in silver-grey plastic, only 30 parts. Raised detail outside but absolutely zero detail inside the cockpit area, other than two pins for the pilot to perch on. That said, the pilot has gone AWOL so I'll need to set up an 'office' that will tempt him back. All the gen on the 'North American P-51D Mustang' - I fancy doing a check on how this lines up with the wealth of reference material made available here. Ditto for the colour scheme given for this particular aircraft... Stand assembled (!) - needed the holes in the base drilled out slightly to get the pins in. Prop spindle into the rear of the spinner/prop (meant to be the 'cuffed' version?) - looks like a much larger hole but if you push the spindle in, it seems to locate into a smaller hole inside. Checked for 'spin' in the dry fitted fuselage halves, of course. Main wing halves assembled and I will be doing this wheels up so undercarriage doors fitted - pins at the top of the doors (there for location if wheels down) were removed as per the 'locate and cement' instructions. Also, the 'strut' across the inboard edge of the wheel wells needs to be removed to let the large inner doors mate up. Stabilisers fitted to the fuselage halves. Large undercarriage doors fitted to the fuselage halves - curved corner forwards to match up with the cut-outs in the wings. Dry fit of the wings was very good. Exhaust stubs fitted to the fuselage halves - they seemed to be along one edge of the 'carrier' plates and I put these so they are along the lower edge of the raised area on the fuselage Drop tanks assembled - I'll need to check that 'smooth' tanks, i.e. without the horizontal seam, are correct. The canopy will show up the yawning hole beneath once the fuselage halves are together so doing something about that will be the next job The 1974 tooling should get mentioned - I managed to lay my hands on one of those as well, 'Cripes A'Mighty'. Cracking on with the ancient kit, I really had some great fun creating some of the missing detail: There is a hole for the tailwheel but no well for the doors. The tailwheel will be up so I cut out the space for the kit doors and glued them in each fuselage half. Will save me making a mess of scribing. For the airscoop, I thinned out the intake mouth and cut in a bit under the fuselage to create the idea of separation from the fuselage underside. For the exit from the airscoop, the aircraft will be in flight, with the moveable exit door 'closed' (so I'll scribe in) but there is still an exit hole which does not fully close up - all part of the 'jet' exit assisting speed, I think. Internal surfaces / rad etc. made up from plastic card. There is also an oil cooler exit underneath 'the doghouse' so I cut a hole in (from looking at the details on some of the excellent build threads in this GB) and put some internal surfaces in using plastic card. Once the fuselage is together, there is a bit of surface shaping detail to go on. Empty coaming area at the front of the cockpit formed from thin plastic card. Floor, seat with cushion and IP made up from plastic card - In a moment of inspiration, after cutting the provided seat pegs off the fuselage interior, I trimmed one of them to act as the seat headrest. Assorted gizmos attached to the sides of the cockpit, hoping some of them look like throttle and flap controls. Radio deck behind the seat made up from plastic card and block. Fuel tank filler (?) is courtesy of a q-tip shaft - looks massive. I think the IP may need to come forward a bit so the pilot can see the dials but hopefully some paint will lend a bit of credibility to this lot. Stick and gunsight will be added later. Paint applied to the cockpit with some red and yellow thrown in to make it more interesting. In the background, 'Cripes A'Mighty' is keeping pace. Why didn't Airfix put the drop tank joins on the sides rather than the top and bottom? I had a brainwave to put seams on the drop tanks using thread - the thread held in place then extra thin cement run along it to soak through and stick to the plastic - one done and let's see what it looks like under paint. The cuffs on the propblades weren't too prominent - it just looked like big thick blades hitting the spinner. I used a file to try to show a change in curve / boundary where the prop blades enter the cuffs and where the cuffs come down to the spinner, as in the pic below. I'll work on this as things progress. Wings, tanks and aerial mast are on and seam filling well advanced! I've built up the coaming at the front of the cockpit so that will need more shaping when it is completely dry. On the underside, I've put in some plastic sheet to try to get some better shape around the main air intake and the oil cooler outlet. Humbrol 14 'French Blue' is on the spinner and nose but will be masked back and either 66 or 155 Olive Drab put on the anti-glare strip. For the NMF, I'm trying brush coating 191 'Chrome' - looks good in real life and I'll try Silver on the control surfaces to give a bit of variation. Canopy frame painting is in progress, stick is ready to paint and a pilot has been found. More painting in progress on the ancient P-51D - got the Olive Drab anti-glare strip masked off and using Humbrol 155 (a bit greener than 66). Canopy frame, pilot and stick painting in progress and I've done the rudder in 11 Silver since it is a fabric covered surface - thankfully, you can see a difference in shade to the rest of the fin which is my version of NMF. Those old transfers have been given a coat of Liquid Decal Film so fingers crossed..... Pilot and stick are in and I added a rudimentary gunsight using a piece from the kit sprues. Canopy frame painting is complete. Prop blades have their yellow tips. I dotted in the fuel tank filler caps on the wings and port fuselage in red and there was an adjacent detail on the port fuselage which I think is perhaps a coolant or oil filler cap (black). I scribed in a channel behind the cockpit to represent the rail on which the 'hood' slides back. Canopy is now on and this gives a good view of all the key transfers - all behaved beautifully except for the star and bar below the starboard wing. Matt Cote on the prop, spinner, anti-glare strip, exhaust stubs and gun barrels and Satin Cote everywhere else. Wingtip navigation lights were 'dotted on' with the flat end of a small drill bit. I wasn't sure at first but to the naked eye, the Humbrol 14 French Blue is a pretty good match for the blue of the decals. Starboard side view.... The Humbrol 191 has done a decent job of masquerading as NMF. You can't see it here but I had to 'draw in' the front air intake below the spinner with a thin black marker as no detail was provided by Airfix on this kit. Exhaust stubs were given a dry brush with darkened bronze to give a hot/burnt look. The shrouds around the stubs could have been given a darker shade to distinguish from the NMF of the surrounding cowl panels. View of the underside with recognition lights under the starboard wingtip. I also put some black on the intake grilles under the nose - Airfix just have a set of raised dots there rather than holes. No oily stains or sooting around vents or gun barrels on as yet. One of the wing tanks has picked up a bit of grit while the paint was wet but I can give that a smooth off later. Engine run! I think I can call this finished now. I really enjoyed this one and it was engrossing getting into all the P-51 details. The P-51 really is a clean looking aircraft - I'm a confirmed fan, now. While the paints were out for 'Fool's Paradise IV', I took the opportunity to keep 'Cripes A'Mighty moving along. Should be able to get the fuselage closed up now but want to do a bit more detail around that 'doghouse' exit again - I'm sure it doesn't fully close while the aircraft is in flight. More progress on Cripes A'Mighty - looking underneath the fuselage, again, there is no radiator and oil cooler outlets - there are some handy panel lines to work to though and there is the newly arrived 'new tool' kit to compare with. Prop and spinner assembled and fuselage closed up with stick and pilot in. Stabilisers and wings on - good fit all round. Tempting fate by putting on the radio mast at this stage - its broken once already when coming off the sprue. I'm fitting the bombs rather than the long range tanks, just like the box art. Bombs in Olive Drab but requiring some red bands? Exhaust stubs painted and on - makes painting the surrounding shrouds a bit easier for me. Fuselage seams to be sanded and those big grooves along the top flap/elevator joints maybe need some filling. On the underside, I carefully cut out the doghouse exit - I've seen film now of P-51's in flight with the rad door fully closed and there is still an open outlet showing so I'm confident with this mod. However, I managed to cut and make the moveable rad outlet using the plastic already there. Some plastic card fitted inside to fill the gaping hole exposed. Also, card and small bar inside the wheel wells which lack any sort of detail. The rad inlet is molded properly this time showing separation from the underside of the fuselage. Insides painted - used Interior Green in the wheel wells before I remembered that most modellers are doing this in silver - must check this out. I have done the inside of the undercarriage doors in silver. Here's something interesting, I compared the canopy from the 1974 kit with the one on Fool's Paradise IV which we thought was giving that kit the 'cartoon' look - it's the same length but not so tall and with a smaller windscreen section, I think. Looking at the two kits side by side, the subtly lower canopy on Cripes A'Mighty does look better. There are two canopies supplied with the 'new tool' kit so one of them might end up on Fool's Paradise IV. Insides of the wheel wells repainted in Aluminium and part invasion stripes applied to the underside. I've also added in an oil cooler outlet again, trying to follow the 'panel lines' on the kit. Came out a bit oversized but at least it is there. Got the invasion stripes painted on on the fuselage underside - 18" in real life so used 6mm masking tape. Filled the large channel where the upper wing sections locate to the lower and the wing and stabiliers join to the fuselage. Last look in the cockpit before the canopy goes on. Masking in place for the spraying of the NMF. NMF is sprayed using Rustoleum Metallic Silver and leaving to dry before taking the masking off - hopefully no fingerprints!!

Morning folk's well here goes for my long awaited crack at a 1/48 Blitzbuild,Enzo gave the thumbs up for the slight head start as the cockpit was painted thinking about it these aircraft were original P51's rather than the later US version so I left it in green.So 8 o'clock and here's the parts. This will be an hour session so here's progress. Beautiful fit not a jot of filler needed I've just painted the wheels and prop while I let the rest dry,I was perusing images etc of these SAAF Mustang's and a lot of folk seem to point to the fact these aircraft were painted in a kind of metalic gray there's a preserved aircraft on the circuit that is to so time to mix some paint.One hour done.

Hi all, It's been a while since I started new project and have already made some progress but decided to share build process here. Hope you will find it interesting. My plan is to build nice and shiny fourth generation Ford Mustang from mid '90s. I made my mind long time ago and want to have it in bright yellow with black and white interior. Something like this: So this is what we have to start with - quite simple and descent quality kit from Tamiya. Nicely moulded body with some minor issue required a bit of sanding. Model can be build in two ways hardtop or roof can be cut off to get convertible version. Large sprue with bumpers, chassis and interior parts: Smaller one with suspension, exhaust and some other parts: Really nice tyres and wheels. The are not too shiny - exactly as it should be. Sprue with clear parts and yellowed decal sheet. Luckily there are only couple of emblems and dashboard required so won't be a big problem. First of all I did a dry test assembly to see how all parts sit together. A bit worrying about huge gap between body and rear compartment. Hope it will be hidden with window installed. Obviously this is not the top quality kit from tamiya so some work on removing pin marks and putty needed. Also I decided to glue fenders. Looks much better to me. When I started sanding and preparing body Usually I prefer to re-scribe panel lines as deep as possible but in this case body has mirrored panel lines at back side which caused extra headache. First thick layer of primer to see imperfections: Painted exhaust and suspension parts: The most annoying part of the build so far was masking and painting chassis with engine imitation: Thanks for watching.

Hello all; Here's my latest effort. I tried something a bit out of my comfort zone on this and used Bare Metal Foil for the NMF. It was both easier and harder than I imagined it would be, but overall I am pleased with how it turned out, and more importantly I ended up quite enjoying the process. I made enough mistakes for it to take almost two full sheets of foil to cover this one Mustang, but I learned a lot and am looking forward to the next one. The decals came from a twenty year old SuperScale sheet which behaved surprisingly well, though the larger ones had a preponderance to split and all resisted Micro Set/Sol; I resorted to Mr. Mark Setter for the more stubborn ones. As usual, comments and critiques are welcome. Cheers; Mark.

North American F-51D Mustang Korean War 1/48 Special Hobby 48102 Supermarine Seafire Mk.II Torch & Avalanche 1/48

And Bronco Models is the most original 2019 kit prize winner with... No, it's not a joke. Bronco Models is to release a new tool 1/48th North American P-51D-25-NA Mustang " Red 3" PLA Air Force - ref. FB4010 Bronco and Mustang Sources: http://www.moxingfans.com/new/news/2019/0809/6153_2.html http://www.moxingfans.com/uploads/allimg/190809/1_190809163831_9.jpg V.P.

Hi all, The Australian Capital Territory Scale Model Society (ACTSMS) here in Canberra runs an annual competition called "The Kittyhawk Cup", where all participants must build the same kit, out of the box. This year, the kit selected is the series of Airfix 1/48 Mustangs (any of the boxings). Kits must be built OOB, with the option to utilise other decals. I haven't entered the competition for a very long time, and have no real idea about Mustangs (being mainly a WW1 aircraft guy), but I decided to enter anyways. Not only that, but I also foolishly decided to build not one, but two Mustangs, both at the same time.... eek! I selected their P-51D and Mustang IV. The Airfix kit really is lovely, with few vices. The cockpit and wheels wells are a treat out of the box. The complex fuselage / inserts presented no problems. I had some problems with the fit of the undercarriage bay, which messed with the fit of the under-nose / inboard lower leading edge piece; this was probably my fault, but it did necessitate the use of some filler, some sanding and some re-scribing. The let down with this kit are the wheels – the diamond tread stops well short of the centre of the wheel halves, and this area requires a bit of clean up and re-scribing (which I did a rubbish job on). The only other slightly odd thing in this kit is the canopy – no amount of mucking about could get it to sit right, so I settled for “good enough”. Anyway, the two ponies are now across the line! Onto the final results… The P-51D was originally going to be an OD / Grey camouflaged machine, but eventually was built to represent “Contrary Mary”, 44-474251, flown by Lt.Col Roy Blair Caviness, Commander of the 78th Fighter Group, Duxford, England, August 1945. The decals came from the Lifelike Decals set 48-052. These decals were fantastic, conforming nicely and responding very positively to decal softener. All of the checkerboard markings were masked and sprayed… though I now have a new-found appreciation for compound curves, the result was less than perfect, but it’ll do. The NMF was attempted by using Alclads (6 or 7 different shades in total), which looked lovely, but various clear coats dulled them down a little so it all now just looks ‘silver’. Oh well. There is only one known photograph of this machine, and it wasn’t heavily weathered, so I kept it relatively clean. The Mustang IV was built to represent KH745 “BAE”, flown by Group Captain Brian A Eaton, previously of 3SQN, Royal Australian Air Force. This was his personal aircraft while the head of Number 239 Wing, based in Cervia, Italy, April 1945. He flew this aircraft frequently with 3SQN, RAAF. This machine carried the perforated engine grills, similar to US machines. The decals came from the Freightdog Models “Keeping the Peace Pt.I” set, FSD48009. Again, these decals were lovely. NMF was again Alclads. The pictures of this machine also show relatively little weathering, so I dirtied her up a little, but not too much. So, the two ponies are done. Apologies to all of the Mustang aficionados out there – I know very little about Mustangs so there is no doubt I mucked up plenty of things. I feel the need to paint something drab now…! Thanks for looking, and all feedback welcomed! Cheers, BC

Evening all! Lockdown has been pretty productive for me so far - this is the 2nd build I've completed after my F-15E. This time, I went for a 1/48 P-51D Mustang from Meng. I chose this kit as it is oen of their new "glue free" models so hopefully it would be a simple build - just what I need after the rather complex GWH F-15E. Also, my dad had been asking me to build him something with a metal finish...so, two birds, one Mustang So, here it is! For the NMF I used MRP metallic lacquers for the first time - They were really great to work with; sprayed very well, good coverage in thin coats, and they dried quickly to a very tough finish! I'd definitely recommend them, and I'll be using them again for my next build - the Hasegawa F-22 Raptor. The other colours were painted up with Tamiya acylics - I had a bit of trouble trying to match the decal yellow with the painted yellow on the prop, but I think it's turned out okay? A famous view - scary too if you're the enemy! I also tried an in-flight pose for this build - It worked out pretty well but I think next time I will use a stiffer rod than brass - this is a bit wobbly and I had to wait for it to stop shaking before every photo. Oh well, we're in the midlands and there aren't really many earthquakes here, so I'm sure it'll be fine at my dads. The BarracudaCals decals were excellent, which was unsurprising since they're printed by Cartograf. I chose "Glamorous Glen III"...well mostly because it was the easiest scheme to paint in the decal set Something interesting in the decal sheet is that it's printed as Amorous Len III with separate "Gl" & "G" decals to add yourself - I guess there is some copyright issue here, but I thought it was a nice solution. And I don't know who Len is, or why he's feeling amorous No decal film, and they conformed into the panel lines and rivets really easily, with a little help from Mr. Mark Softer Neo You can even read the "Hamilton Standard" logos on the prop And, finally, even though you can barely see any of it, here is a shot of the IP - It's not accurate by any means, but it's enough for me - even brought a small smile to the Queen's face Cheers for looking, and comments are always appreciated!

Hi all, The Australian Capital Territory Scale Model Society (ACTSMS) here in Canberra runs an annual competition called "The Kittyhawk Cup", where all participants must build the same kit, out of the box. This year, the kit selected is the series of Airfix 1/48 Mustangs (any of the boxings). Kits must be built OOB, with the option to utilise other decals. I haven't entered the competition for a very long time, and have no real idea about Mustangs, but I decided to enter anyways (and I also needed a nice OOB build after my last build, the Lindberg Bristol Bulldog, here -https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235070808-148-lindberg-bristol-bulldog/). But not only that, I also foolishly decided to build not one, but two Mustangs, both at the same time (insert recipe for disaster here). I've selected their P-51D and Mustang IV, and will build a USAAF and RAF/RAAF machine respectively. So far I have been very impressed with Airfix's engineering. The parts fit together nicely (including the separate vertical stabiliser), and the cockpit seems nicely detailed. I am not sure how accurate the seat back or seat belts are, but as this is an OOB build, there's not much I can do. I have followed the painting guide in the instructions, so I make no apologies if I have the colours wrong somewhere (did I mention I pretty much know nothing about Mustangs?). Here is where things are at right now - the cockpit is painted up and ready to go. The instrument panel was done with a combination of decals and dry brushing, and I applied a splash of white glue on the dials to represent glass faces. I think i'll be able to get away with fitting the seat / seat back and radio boxes after painting is done (to aid with masking with the canopy off). here are some pics: The interior colour was Gunze Interior Green, with a bit of dry brushing. Humbrol Leather was used for the seat back as per the instructions, and the wooden floor was done with oil paints. Next step is fitting the interior, radiator / coolers and getting the fuselage together. It looks like this should be relatively trouble free from my test fitting. Anyone have any tips with building the Airfix Pony? All comments and feedback welcomed. Cheers, BC

P-51D Mustang Canopy Set for Revell Kit. 1:32 AeroCraft Models There was little doubt that once the new Revell 1.32 P-51D is a great kit, however one of the areas that lets it down is the overly thick canopy. Ali has worked on this with a new resin canopy. This new canopy is very thin for a resin one, and this reviewer at first thought it was vac form. The canopy is thin and as distortion free as it can be while still keeping all the lines needed for masking. Indeed for masking internal support will be a must. The caopy shown here is as it comes and the clarity is good, but will no doubt be improved with a light polish, and or dip in your solution of choice. Review samples courtesy of

P-51H Mustang (4817) 1:48 ModelSvit The P-51H was the final production version of North American's famous fighter, and probably the least well known. Designed with all the experience gained with the production and experimental aircraft,, and powered by the new V-1650-9 engine it was the pinnacle of the types development. Compared to the more famous P-51D as well as a more powerful engine the H had a longer fuselage with larger tail to reduce the tendency to yaw. A new radiator served to streamline the aircraft, which as well as being lighter enabled to aircraft to reach 472 mph. Access was also improved to the guns and ammunition storage from lessons learnt during war time operations. 2000 of the aircraft were ordered, however due to then ending of WWII the orders were cut back. While some were issued to operational units none saw combat in WWII. 555 Aircraft had been produced before production was stopped. The aircraft would eventually be used by many Air National Guard units and would not even see combat in Korea. Even though it was a better aircraft than the P-51D, the D was a combat proven aircraft and a know commodity for the USAF, this along with the fact that there was a large number of available aircraft, spares and combat trained pilots would ensure the P-51H would not see any combat action at all. 1 Aircraft was sent to the RAF for evaluation. Even though not a successful aircraft its legacy lived on in the fact that North American were able to use many of the aerodynamic advances made in its development in its development of its new jet aircraft. Certainly the FJ-1 and the initial non swept wing prototypes of the F-86 can trace its linage back to the P-51H. Kit This is the eagerly awaited new kit from Modelsvit. The kit resembles a high quality shorter run kit with fine surface details. While the parts resemble some more main stream manufactures in appearance they will no doubt need more care in the assembly. In the box we get 8 sprues of grey plastic, a clear sprue, a PE fret, masks, an instrument panel film; and two decal sheets. Construction starts in the conventional way with the cockpit. The seat is made up with PE belts supplied. The sidewalls get a variety of parts and the area behind the pilots seat gets armour and other parts. The instrument panel is a plastic/PE/Film sandwich. The complete cockpit can then be put together and the seat installed, Moving on to the main fuselage, the exhausts are added at the front, then the rear wheel well is built up as the rear exit for the radiator. Once these are done the cockpit can be installed and the main fuselage closed up. Once this is done a few parts are added to the front and the gun sight is added. Construction then moves to the wings. The flaps and ailerons are built up and put to one side. The main gear well is then built up into the lower one part wing. Once this is done the left/right uppers can be added along with the rear parts which cover the flap areas. The main and tail landing gear is built up at this time, with the rear being added into the fuselage along with the rear scoop for the intake. The ailerons are added to the main wing and then this is attached to the fuselage. Then the tailplanes and their control surfaces are added as well. Now we are on the finishing straight. The flaps are fitted, along with the main landing gear and the gear door. The propeller is assembled and added. Next up the canopy is fitted. Here Modelsvit proved a one part canopy if you want to model the aircraft with it closed, or a two part if you want it open. The prominent aerials are then fitted. Lastly drop tanks and rockets are supplied if the modeller wishes to use them. . Decals There are 4 schemes provided in the kit; the decals are well printed with no obvious flaws, there is one sheet with most of the colour on, and ten another with all the black codes. From the box you can build; 44-64561, 182nd FBS, Texas ANG (as per the box art) 44-64347, 101st FIS, Massachusetts ANG 44-64351, 132nd FIS, New Hampshire ANG KN987, Evaluation aircraft provided to the RAF Conclusion It is good to see a decent model of the P-51H available, this should build up to make an eye catching model if care is taken with the build. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi guys and girls I'm back again this time with a mustang. I wanted to do one in a British livery and also try out some metallic paint for the first time and opted for the AK xtreme metal range. I used the black base, polished aluminium an aluminium left it about a day and a half. It was dry to the touch so picked it up to carry on and after a few seconds the paint seemed to start to go soft thus ruining the paint job, so rubbed the areas back and tried again. All was well until I tried to mask off panels for the variation and ruined the paint again. After about 4 attempts I have a finish that's ok if you dont get too close haha. I snapped the port side tailplane off twice and the antenna was just a blob of flash and was unsalvagable so was whittled out of a match stick. The aftermarket wheels which stated, they were for Airfix didnt fit as they have small round holes and the kit legs have a block shape which snapped when the wheels went on. To be honest the whole undercarrage part was a struggle for me, I have clubbing off the fingers and it's a challenge I can tell you. Anyway enough with the things that went wrong, fun build, it'll stay in the display cabinet as long as it holds up lol. One word on the Xtradecal X72131, either they are wrong or I have messed up. The roundels on the wings state to have the small ones on top and the large on the bottom. Hopefully I'm right. Here it is..... Thanks for having a look, Stay safe. Dave.

Started a couple of weeks ago building my Favourite Xmas gift, Eduard Royal Class P-51D. Like you probably know this Edition always comes with 2 complete kits, and this one also spares to build a third if you have the wings and elevators available in your stash. So it’s also a dual build, the goal is to complete both a D-5 and a later D model (with fin) at the same time.

P-51D 110gal & 165gal Fuel Tanks (648531 & 648532) 1:48 Eduard Brassin Mustangs used a few types of drop tanks when they were accompanying the bombers or ranging far and wide during the latter stages of WWII, and although some were made of compressed paper, others were stamped metal. We’ve got two highly detailed resin sets here. As is now usual with Eduard's smaller resin sets, they arrive in the new shallow Brassin cardboard box, with the resin parts safely cocooned in bags, and the instructions folded around acting as padding. P-51D 110gal Fuel Tanks (648531) This set contains two tanks (one for each wing. Shocker!), plus four anti-sway panels all in resin, with a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE) circular valves to replace the moulded-in resin representations that may or may not get obliterated during the removal of the casting blocks. Eduard even include a scrap diagram with distances in case you completely sand them away, allowing you to replace them easily. The tanks fit onto the kit pylons with a brace on each side that fits into a slot in the tank, plus a short piece of 0.6mm wire from your own stocks to portray the feed tube. A small sets of decals are included for stencilling, and you can see the paint and decaling instructions on the front of the booklet, using Gunze codes for the paints, as usual. P-51D 165gal Fuel Tanks (648532) Ostensibly the same in terms of construction as the set above, only larger to accommodate the increase fuel load and with different seam lines. There are no drain valves on the bottoms of these tanks though, so no PE parts are needed. The seam runs vertically around the tanks too, and has a different layout of the stencils, which is visible on the front of the instructions again. You’ll need some 0.4mm wire to play the part of the hose too, so remember to get something in stock before you begin. Review sample courtesy of

I need a bit of help with the depiction of the name on Bud Anderson's P-51D 'Old Crow'. Was the name - and the engine cowling - repainted when the plane was changed from camouflage finish to bare metal? These are the only photos I've found in books and the web; This has already been discussed on the P-51 Mustang STGB IV Chat page. But due to the problems with the only low-res photo of the camouflaged plane, no conclusion could be made. @gingerbob and @Toryu have been very helpful, and Michael provided me some useful background on the plane's history; The side view above is also presented in Merle Olmsted's 'The Yoxford Boys' with the following caption: "... It was received at the 8th Air Force depot at Wharton in the first week of September, 1944, just off the freighter from Newark N.J. It would have arrived at Leiston a week or two later, where it was apparently immediately painted in RAF green and Anderson flew it like that until winter came on, when his crew stripped it back to bare metal. It was eventually scrapped in November, 1945." When the paint was quickly removed in late 44/early 45, it would make sense that they'd have left the name. Why bother stripping the paint and the name? And from what I've read it was done in a hurry overnight. But the individual characters of the name look 'fatter' on the camouflaged plane, and the SuperScale decals I've just got provide two versions stipulating to use the 'slimmer' one on the NMF plane. Photos can be deceptive, and although the name looks 'fatter' on the camou photo, this may not necessarily be the case. Its very low resolution and the white of the name may have 'spread' due to the size of the pixels. And exposure and printing can make a difference to how things look in photos. Does anyone have access to a better photo? Any thoughts or advice gratefully received. I have one week left to complete it! Cheers,

North American P-51D "Yoxford Girls" (ED48008) 1:48 Exito Decals Polish company Exito are fairly new to us, and have launched their brand from their website where they also sell general modelling "stuff" such as kits, tools, books and so forth. They have sent us this new sheet for the P-51D Mustang operated by the 357th Fighter Group fro RAF Leiston. They were known as the Yoxford bouys after the nearby village of Yoxford, and this sheet is a play on that with aircraft suitably adorned with female nose art. No kit is mentioned but the should fit any of the readily available kit.s They arrive in a slightly larger than A4 releasable bag that is stiffened by a large piece of card, a sheet of paper front and rear, with the decals hiding in the back, and a set of side profiles on the front advertising what's inside. Inside are the decals of course, plus a page devoted to each option, which is printed on heavy glossy stock on both sides, with three-view profiles, a photo of the aircraft in question, and other information that may be of use to the modeller. Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. There are sufficient national decals on the sheet to model each of the three options (which is a good idea), with a dotted line encompassing each option. From the sheet you can decal one of the following: P-51D-5-NA, 44-16391 "Passion Wagon" flown by Lt AJ Roberson 362nd FS, 357th FG Autumn 1944. P-51D-5-NA, 44-13712 "Reluctant Rebel" flown by Capt RW Fory, 363rd FS, 357th FG July/Augist 1944. P-51D-20-NA, 44-63629 "Shady Lady" flown by Lt JA Miller, 363rd FS, 357FG Spring 1945. Conclusion What a professional and attractive package this makes. As well as some cracking decals, you get profiles of all the options that are of such high quality that they could be framed or incorporated in the display of your finished model. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of