nheather Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 My aircraft niche is British WWII (and pre-war) aircraft in 1:72. Looking for recommendations for an RAF Mustang, an earlier Mark preferred. I just build OOB so not interested in anything where I would need to buy after-market parts or decals. Not too uptight about accuracy but would prefer to avoid highly inaccurate classic moulds. Also looking for sensible prices, not these that look great but cost more than a good 1:48 model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Define early. If you mean Allison-engined, then only the Academy kit is worth looking for, but you will need to look for transfers for the RAF. Other kits range from old and simple to based on the Merlin-engined fuselage so plain wrong. The Italeri might be a half-decent compromise, not so sure about the Special Hobby. For the P-51B then Arma Hobby, but others are decent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Revell has a Mustang III boxing of their mid 90s mould. I am aware it has some deficiencies, but I think builds up well enough, and should be available at a decent price. The "intermediate" (1974ish) Airfix P-51D came with the Aeroproducts prop for a IVa and RAAF decals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Nothing beats an Arma Hobby P-51B but it's an expensive kit. If money is an issue then I'd go with the Academy kit. The decals in this however may or not be of good quality. Decals in older Academy issues were often bad to the point of being unusable (very stiff and almost transparent). More recent issues should have better decals. Otherwise Revell or may better the KP kits, some of which come with RAF decals. I would prefer the KP only because the transparencies in the Revell P-51Bs were already often bad 15 years ago, more recent issues may have suffered further. Revell's decals on the other hands are better than KP ones. For a D I would wait for the Eduard kit. It may take a while to hit the shelves and who knows when a box with RAF decals will be issued but promises to be a very good kit at a pretty good price Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nheather Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 I get a little confused by the Mustang version numbers - particularly how the USA letter versions relate to the RAF Roman numeral versions, but yes I would prefer the earlier ones before the bubble canopy, the earlier the better. I have seen the Arma Hobby ones and they do look nice but as you say they are quite expensive, plus there are standard and the expert editions - and naturally I am attracted by the expert editions which are even more expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 B/C = III; D = IV, K = IVa I better say nothing re anything earlier, as I can neither keep the US versions in my brains nor their proper correlation to the RAF Mk numbers... If I'm not mistaken, there was a pretty decent Ia (?, the one with four wing cannon) by a Czech manufacturer in the mid 90s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Mustang I - no US equivalent Mustang IA - P-51 (no suffix, as was the US norm for the initial production version at that time) Mustang II - P-51A Mustang III - P-51B and C Mustang IV - P-51D with HS prop Mustang IVA - P-51K with Aeroproducts prop P-51F,G lightweight Mustangs redesigned to UK load factor requirement, tested in UK but not adopted for UK or US service P-51H production lightweight Mustangs for US only. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Thompson Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 2 hours ago, Graham Boak said: Mustang IV - P-51 with HS prop Should be P-51D with HS prop, no? John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beard Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Special Hobby did Mustang I/ II but I doubt it's cheap and, looking at the one I have in the stash, that easy to assemble. Do not, under any circumstances whatsoever, buy the Model News Mustang I. It's the only kit I've ever had that's gone straight in the bin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 John: I saw that and corrected it - I thought. Have now. I still don't think of the B as an "early" Mustang. Have I recently recommended Matt Willis's book as an excellent guide? Beard: re MN kit - ditto. I still get it mixed up with Condor (which was an MPM/Special Hobby sub-label) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brewerjerry Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 (edited) Hi some info here on early mustangs https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/raf-p-51-mk1as-preferably-rcaf.51345/ of interest what was the old frog mustang like ? cheers jerry Edited January 31 by brewerjerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck1945 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 It’s gotta been 50+ years since I built one. Product of its time but Frog accurately portrayed the fuselage depth. There was some critic at the time in a letter to the editor claiming they had bungled the fuselage, but it turned out Frog got it right and he was wrong - wonder if he subsequently designed the Brengun kit 😎 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 So, are we talking Allison-powered or Merlin-powered? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wm Blecky Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Hasegawa released a few 1/72 Mustang Mk.III (P-51B/C) kits. They can be found on eBay. Earlier than that, you might need to follow some of the suggestions that other members have posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Russell Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 15 hours ago, Beard said: the Model News Mustang There was a review in Mushroom Models Monthly wherethe reviewer said words to the effect - "Model News continue in their quest to make a really poor model of every Mustang variant". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 6 hours ago, Wm Blecky said: Hasegawa released a few 1/72 Mustang Mk.III (P-51B/C) kits. They can be found on eBay Reboxed recently by Hobby2000, so at least you're not dependent on dodgy Hasegawa decals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denford Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 6 hours ago, Wm Blecky said: Hasegawa released a few 1/72 Mustang Mk.III (P-51B/C) kits. They can be found on eBay. Earlier than that, you might need to follow some of the suggestions that other members have posted. Beware! The wings use the same sprue as their D, namely with forward extended chord at the root. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 5 hours ago, Ed Russell said: There was a review in Mushroom Models Monthly wherethe reviewer said words to the effect - "Model News continue in their quest to make a really poor model of every Mustang variant". Had one of their Mustangs, a P-51H... fortunately I found someone willing to give me a tenner to take it off me. Never ever looked at any Model News kit since... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 The Academy, Revell and Hasegawa ones came out at about the same time. All were advances on what was available before, all had their supporters, none were quite right. I did the Hasegawa, because the fuselage looked the best (but also because the "Bald Eagle" boxing was a Xmas gift from my ever-loving but cheeky son). Which is why, despite a fair plethora of options, the P-15B was one of the most requested types on model sites. The Arma Hobby one seems to have hit the spot. If you are only ever going to make one P-51B, this is the one. You don't have to use all of the tinier etched pieces. If the price seems high, just wait until next year... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 On 1/30/2024 at 11:50 PM, Giorgio N said: For a D I would wait for the Eduard kit. It may take a while to hit the shelves and who knows when a box with RAF decals will be issued but promises to be a very good kit at a pretty good price You're making it sound as though there are no decent Ds available already Giorgio. To my mind, the current Airfix kit & Japanese Tamiya & even Hasegawa kits are respectable. I've stumped up for some Arma Hobby Mk IIIs/P-51B/Cs but probably won't bother with the Eduard Mk IV/P-51D as I'm happy enough with the Ds I already have. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Railfan87 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 (edited) While I haven't seen one in person, I do have a Brengun Mustang in my wish list. Has anyone had any hands-on experience with one? Hannants lists four variants of early Mustang/Apache by Brengun. I have it my mind to one as an RCAF version down the road. Chris Edited January 31 by Railfan87 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalkeEins Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 25 minutes ago, stevehnz said: probably won't bother with the Eduard Mk IV/P-51D as I'm happy enough with the Ds I already have. you say that now, bet you won't be able to resist! the KP kit seems to fit the OP's original requirement..early RAF etc... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redboost Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Yes Chris, the Brengun kit is nice, I'm just building the Mk.I out of 414.sq. A few things needs to be updated, though, very useful reference is Colin Ford's book (also active on BM). Cheers Libor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 4 minutes ago, FalkeEins said: you say that now, bet you won't be able to resist! I did say probably, but in saying that, I'm struggling to think of what it could offer that was so much better than the Ds I already have which might tempt me. As @Graham Boak said above; all the B/Cs which OKish have issues that the Arma ones did address, so what issues are there in the Airfitamyigawa ones that so need fixing. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 I understand that the Brengun Allison version has the incorrect fuselage depth of the P-51B. As mentioned above. You might also like Matt Willis's book, though it doesn't go as far as the redesign for the Merlin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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