Eduard P-51D Mustang Royal Class Boxing (R0020) 1:48

[Mike]

P-51D Mustang Royal Class Boxing (R0020)

1:48 Eduard

 

 

The P-51D was developed by the North American Aviation company as a possible fighter for Great Britain, but due to the poor performance of the engine initially fitted it wasn’t all that good.  Luckily they strapped a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine into the airframe and it brought out the best of its design, which included the energy efficient laminar flow wing that gave it the potential to escort Allied bombers all the way to Berlin with the addition of drop-tanks and a lean mixture when not in combat.  It was flown in this guise as the Mustang III in British service, and as the P-51B/C in US service, then as the P-51D with the bubble canopy and cut-down aft fuselage, with an additional fin-fillet added later to improve stability that had been reduced by the new shape and fuel tank location.  This is the Mustang that most people think of when they hear the name, unless they’re more of a petrol head or a bit horsey.

 

 

The Kit

We were treated to the initial release in ProfiPACK form of this new tooling and it’s now everyone’s favourite Mustang in 1:48, with (so far) two variants with filleted and unfilleted tails to differentiate them.  We’re now able to get our hands on this stylish blue Royal Class boxing, which includes a huge decal sheet with 15 markings options, plus sprues for two kits and the option of an unfilleted fuselage.  In total there are 12 sprues in grey styrene plus a base of Perforated Steel Planking (PSP), which is rendered in styrene of the same colour.  There are two clear sprues, two bags of resin wheels, one bag containing two sets of exhausts, four frets of Photo-Etch (PE) brass with nickel-plating and much of it pre-printed both in colour and with clear instrument faces, three decal sheets and a thick instruction booklet with all the markings options printed in the rear in colour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with some choices of which decal options you are going to build, remembering that only one of the unfilleted options will be possible, although you can build both as filleted tailed versions.  This results in you following one or other build steps using one set of PE or the other to complete the cockpit, which although broadly similar, have subtle differences between the earlier and later filleted airframes.  The seat is built up first with PE belts, then the cockpit floor, tanks and radio gear are added in, with sidewall framework dotted with PE parts on both sides.  It shapes up to be a well-detailed cockpit, and the PE parts are numerous and impressive.  The tail-wheel bay is made up, the radiator pathway and a spinner backing-plate are all slipped into the fuselage along with a PE grille and exhaust backing panel before they are closed up.  Take care with the small changes between the two fuselages, which are marked out in red, but as they are quite small they’re possible to miss.  This is also the case with some of the smaller parts in the styrene cockpit where PE details are to replace them.

 

The wheel bays are built up next with some advice regarding colour added along the way, splitting the bay down the middle and bracketing it front and back with bay walls that have partial ribs added once in place.  This assembly is fitted to the full-width lower wing and joined by backing panels to the spent brass chutes, a central insert that shows through the bay, and a clear part for the identification lights.  The wing tops go on and the ailerons fit into tabs in their recesses, with some room for offsetting if you wish.  On the leading edge is an insert for the guns, and for a number of the decal options you’ll need to use the supplied template to scribe an extra panel line under the nose, and for others a small hole is drilled nearby.  There is also a small section of the leading edge with a hole in it that will need opening up into a square hole for two of the decal options, so have a sharp blade to hand.  The wings are mated to the fuselage, and tiny clear wingtip lights are slotted in on long stalks, then the tail fins are begun.  The filleted fin is a separate insert and the elevator fins with their metal flying service are inserted into slots horizontally, while the fabric covered rudder can be fitted at any sensible angle.  The filletless tail has fabric flying surfaces all-round and of course no fillet.

 

You may have noticed the lack of comments about the instrument panel during building of the cockpit, but we’re getting to it now.  The finished coaming and rudder pedals drop into the fuselage, but are first decked out with a multi-layered instrument panel made from pre-painted PE, and differing – you guessed it – depending on which decal option you’re building.  There’s another panel to scribe with the help of a supplied template near the tail, but again… only for a couple of options.  You’ve really got to keep your wits about you with all these options!  The two radiator doors under the tail are fitted at the same time as the tail strut with its fancy resin wheel, with bay doors and closure mechanism added along the way.  Inside the main bay a pop-up landing light is slotted into its mounting point, a PE divider is added to the exhaust intake lip, and chin-scoop plus the correct panel under the nose (yes, decal choices again), then it’s on to the main gear legs.  You have a choice of rectangular and diamond tread wheels with hub caps added before they’re fitted to the struts, which have separate styrene scissor-links and door struts slotted into place.  The flaps are each made up from two styrene parts with a tiny piece of PE added to the inner end of each one and a decal on the curved leading edge after painting.  You’ll have to remember to add these yourself, as I’m no use!  Those are all slotted in place on the underside along with the rest of the bay doors and some antennae, and at that point you can sit ‘er on her wheels.

 

The prop is made from two paired blades that fit perpendicular to each other in a choice of two types of spinner, some more antennae around the tail (decal choices again), and even a choice of three canopies depending on your decal choices.  Someone really spent time on the research for this boxing.  The canopy has a couple of interior parts added, and some options have a back-up ring and bead sight added to the coaming, while a few other options have a round rear-view mirror on the canopy top.  There’s only one windscreen thankfully, then you’re back choosing whether to fit a small PE bead in front of the windscreen, and whether you want wee tiny tubular exhausts or the more prominent style.  There’s also another optional aerial on the spine for four of the decal choices.

 

 

My head is spinning from the choices right now, but we’ve got more ahead of us, but just the weapons and drop tanks.  There are four pairs of tank types that all share the same type of pylon, although two types have flat supports either side of the pylon, hiding some nice anti-sway braces that are glued into the pylons earlier.  For one solitary marking option you fit a set of six rockets under the wings, which you’ll have drilled out the flashed-over holes before you closed up the wings, or take an educated guess at based on the flood swirls that are visible on the surface until you prime or paint them.  The rockets have separate tails and moulded-in launch-rails and fit three per side.

 

 

Markings

By now you should have your decal choices locked in.  You have a lot of choices, and a lot of them are really colourful.  The three sheets are separated between the individual markings, standard stencils and national markings, plus an addendum sheet for a set of blue lines from option N, the originals being a little too curved.  From the box you can build two of the following with the caveat that you can only build one filletless bird:

 

• P-51D-5, 44-13317, flown by Capt. Donald R. Emerson, 336th FS, 4th FG, 8th AF, Debden, United Kingdom, September 1944
• P-51D-5, 44-13500, flown by Capt. Robert J. Goebel, 308th FS, 31st FG, 15th AF, San Severo, Italy, 1944
• P-51D-5, 44-13561, flown by Maj. Richard E. Turner, 356th FS, 354th FG, 9th AF, Orconte, France, September 1944
• P-51D-5, 44-13693, flown by 2nd Lt. Bruce W. Carr, 353rd FS, 354th FG, 9th AF, Orconte, France, October 1944
• P-51D-5, 44-13837, flown by Lt. Richard Ozinga, 343rd FS, 55th FG, 8th AF, Wormingford, United Kingdom, September 1944
• P-51D-10, 44-14798, flown by Maj. Joseph Broadhead, 357th FG, 8th AF, Leiston, United Kingdom, January 1945
• P-51D-10, 44-14467, flown by Lt. Gordon H. McDaniel, 318th FS, 325th FG, 15th AF, Rimini, Italy, March 1945
• P-51D-15, 44-15080, flown by Capt. Amos H. Bomberger, 361st FS, 356th FG, 8th AF, Martlesham Heath, United Kingdom, December 1944
• P-51D-15, flown by Lt. Charles White, 301st FS, 332nd FG, 15th AF, Ramitelli, Italy, January 1945
• P-51D-20, 44-64124, flown by Capt. Leroy V. Grosshuesch, 39th FS, 35th FG, 5th AF, Okinawa, August 1945
• P-51D-25, 44-72628, flown by Lt. Ralph R. Coltman/ Lt. James E. Coleman, 458th FS, 506th FG, 20th AF, Iwo Jima, July 1945
• P-51D-25, 44-72671, 457th FS, 506th FG, 20th AF, Iwo Jima, June 1945
• Mustang Mk.IVA, KH774, flown by Fl/Lt. Ellis F. Blanchford, No. 112 Squadron RAF, No. 239 Wing RAF, Italy, April 1945
• Mustang Mk.IVA, KH729, flown by S/Ldr Mitchell Johnston, No. 442 „Caribou“ Squadron RCAF, RAF station Digby, United Kingdom, June 1945

 

 

 

 

 

Decals are printed in-house with good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas.  The stencils are dealt with over a couple of pages in the instructions to prevent clutter and replication of effort.  Seems reasonable!

 

 

Conclusion

We already know the quality of the basic kit, and this box includes two of them, some resin, PE, a huge decal sheet and base to put one of your finished models on that makes it a lot more fun.  You just have to narrow down the decal choices to two… or get some Overtrees maybe?

 

Very highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[Paramedic]

Lovelly box, I´ll make sure to pick one of these up before they are gone. The Enchantress is just too cool. I built a Tamiya P-51D and used Kagero´s decals but wanna make a new one..

 

Oh, Allison Mustangs weren´t all that bad, at low alt..

[treker_ed]

Finally managed to pick one of these up myself - it's winging it's way to me as we speak (or rather type...)

 

(Royal Mail track & trace says it will arrive sometime on 17/08/2020 😊😊😊)

Edited August 16, 2020 by treker_ed