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.