Completed Review - Tamiya F-51D Mustang, built as a late WW2 P-51D, (60754) - Part 2

Scale: 1:72, RRP - £12.99

I'm going to cut to the chase with this review. Since the beginning of this blog I've been trying to reach a level of building that I'm happy with, and from that point continue to improve. The Airfix A6M2b Zero came close, but this build was the one where I finally reached my goal.

For those of you joining part way through this build I elected to backdate the Korean War F-51D to a late Second World War P-51D, one flown by the late Charles Weaver of the 357th Fighter Group, named "Passion Wagon." The reason for this was I had bought this kit second hand and some (but not all as it happens) of the decals had perished.

In an earlier post I alluded to my belief that sometimes it's worth paying more because you get a better kit and this kit proved to be a prime example. The fit is near perfect, even when I replaced the cockpit with a resin one and had to cut and use original parts alongside it. There's just a touch more class about a Tamiya kit, reflected throughout the whole product. Detailed instructions, poly-caps for the propellers (and a spare set for the alternative propeller) are just some of the things that come to mind.

In addition to this the decal options were varied and although the main reason for me backdating this model to a late WW2 P-51D was a set of perished decals I still found myself able to use some of the originals (not bad for a 10+ years old perished set)! I should add that I was fairly impressed with the Kitsworld decals but I'll follow this post with another about them.

The only additions I felt it was necessary to add were a small bit of clear plastic to the gun-sight and a few leftover photo-etch parts from my Academy P-51B build. The photo-etch seatbelts included in the CMK set I consider a must compared to the decal ones included in the kit, but this kit does pre-date such additions. I'll add wires and the rear view mirror at a later date as I'm planning on mounting this model in a case at some point in the future and those parts are a bit delicate.

So onto the photos:

The only part of my build that I'm dissatisfied with is my filing just in front of the wind-shield (somewhat more noticeable in the photos above than it is to the naked eye). If I can eliminate such mistakes from my future builds I'll be more than happy. But for now I'm hoping this build is the one that leads me onto better things.

Overall Build Score: 4.5 out of 5, for a kit that's more than 10 years old this is still a class above the rest. A perfectly reasonable price for such a clean fitting, precision kit that you'll find a pleasure to build.

Completed Review – Hobby-Boss MiG-3 Easy Kit (80229)

Scale: 1:72, RRP - £5.99

The MiG-3 has been on my wish list for a while now. I had originally intended to build the Zvezda kit, based on the fact that Zvezda are Russian and so they surely must be able to produce a reasonable kit of a Russian icon. How wrong I was!

The Zvezda kit is actually a rebox of the frankly awful Revell kit which looks more like an abominable mix of a MiG-3 and Dewitine D.520. So this left me with the other option in 1:72 scale, Hobby-Boss's Easy Kit version.

I'm a bit sceptical when it come to "Easy Kits". While I appreciate the idea behind them is to get people into building models I do think the concept is somewhat flawed. Assembling a kit is only half the story and in my opinion painting a kit is always the more difficult part of any build. All I see easy kits as being is a quicker option of beginners reaching a point where they abandon a model because no-one provides them with an "Easy Paint" option to accompany the build.

Putting aside my thoughts on the easy kit part I was well aware that this kit was well regarded in the modelling community and so I was determined to see why.

On opening the box I found two large solid parts, the fuselage and the wings, a sprue of smaller parts and a clear sprue. The shape looked good, like a MiG-3 which was encouraging, even if the smaller parts did look a little soft on details and the plastic felt a little flimsy. Decal options were for two aircraft, one winter scheme, one summer scheme (although it should noted there's no way the red arrow decal will fit over the exhausts on the winter option).

To build it was a case of clip the fuselage to the wings, add a piece below the engine and you're just about there! Glue isn't necessarily needed for the larger parts but this isn't a snap fit kit either. There is, to my surprise two canopy options, one open, one closed. However the cockpit is a bit lacking in detail, if you're a scratch-builder then you'll probably feel the need to do something more with it. In my case I opted for the closed version so just chose to add some masking tape seatbelts and left it at that.

Total build time, including cutting and glueing...48 seconds!

From then on it was simply a case of finishing of the model prior to painting. Landing gear was a little on the weak side and I decided to leave off the rockets and only attach the launchers to the wing. All was fairly straight forward, living up to the easy build. Detail wise it's almost spot on, they even included the asymmetrical oiler coolers on each side of the engine! The only accuracy issues that I really noticed were a few missing panel lines and the doors to the tail wheel (there should be a leather cover rather than the doors).

As for painting I touched on that in a previous post, including my first airbrushed canopy. As it happens this model was actually serving as a tester for my new airbrush and so I picked a colour scheme similar to that of the P-51D I was working on. For the top colours I used several coats comprising of Tamiya's XF-62 (Dark Green) and XF-51 (Khaki Drab) and mixes of the two. For the underside I didn't really have any paints to hand that reflected a light VVS blue and so I used AS-7, Grey, which probably isn't as accurate as it could be.

Finally the decals, they were surprisingly good. There are two complete sets so the leftovers are going in the spares box, a man can never have enough good quality spare red stars!

The final result:

So I have say this kit far exceeded my expectations. Bearing in mind this is an easy kit and so I have to judge it on that basis Hobby-Boss have managed not only to produce an easy kit, but one that is more accurate than it's mainstream competitors. For this they have to be commended. Out of the box this is more than passable kit, and it's one with plenty of potential for extra detailing (albeit scratch-building).

I will hopefully revisit this kit at a later date as I practice working on panel lines, but for now it's done.

Overall Build Score: 3 out of 5, a complete surprise! Expensive for an easy kit but accurate beyond any of it's (non-easy kit) competitors. Either a good simple build or a more than worthy foundation for detailed build.

Incomplete Review - Academy P-51B Mustang, Old Crow, (#1667 or #12464) - Part 2

Scale: 1:72, RRP - £6.99

I know what you're probably thinking. "Incomplete", this isn't going to be a good review, but stay with me.

The non-completion of this kit is more due to my own mistakes, all of which were avoidable, rather than the kit itself. I'd made the rather stupid mistake of using the wrong glue for the rear windows which had caused them to fog and to be honest I was never happy with the replacements that I'd made. Also as I was building Tamiya's F-51D at the same time and it was progressing better than this build I've decided to call it a day with this one.

Despite my personal failure with this kit I do have some positive thoughts about it. For a start it's the most accurate P-51B that I've come across. I also have a limited edition 1:72 scale Hasegawa RAF Mustang combo kit (2 aircraft in one kit) which retails at around the £30 mark, (so £15 per aircraft) and they have the wrong wings, those of a P-51D! As a result my Hasegawa kit is probably heading off to eBay some time soon...

When it comes to decals and marking options I think the 3 options are good range. Two USAAF options, one with the standard hood, one with the domed Malcolm hood and an RAF option, again with the Malcolm hood. For a budget kit this an excellent selection. The only issue is, as always, the decals are a little on the thick side.

Detail wise, it's a little lacking in places but the shape is correct and with the availability of 3rd party accessories it can be as simple or as detailed as you like. The Eduard photo etch set (SS250) which I used is highly recommended.

The only real let down were the ever present Academy fit issues, the cockpits never seem to fit easily on all the kits I've tried and I'm sure the wings for this kit wouldn't have fitted if you tried to fit them as the instructions say.

But overall I have say, I like this kit. If I didn't have so many other kits to build at this I would just buy another one and start again.

Overall Build Score: 3 out of 5, for a budget kit it's an excellent representation of the P-51B with a good choice of decals and alternative canopies. As long as you are prepared to deal with some fit issues!

WIP - Academy's P-51B Mustang & Tamiya's F-51D Mustang

Carrying on from where I left off I realise that my Christmas Mustangs project is rapidly becoming an Easter Mustangs project.

So here's some work in progress shots, both kits are painted and ready for decals. Since getting my new airbrush I've managed to actually paint the white stripes on the wings of the Tamiya model while the Academy one was painted with my old airbrush.

Academy's P-51B

Academy's P-51B

Tamiya's F-51D (as a P-51D)

Tamiya's F-51D (as a P-51D)

Actually; I couldn't resist starting on the decals for the Tamiya kit before writing this post...