AIRCRAFT: Hey, this is a Mustang. If you build aircraft kits then you know what a Mustang is. Giving you a brief description of a Mustang is like trying to outline the history of the world in 50 words or less.

KIT PARTS: When you open the box you find three trees of parts in a dark green plastic plus a tree of clear bits comprising the canopy (one piece) and port wing light lens. All the detail is finely recessed with almost no flash. I could not find any sink marks, and the canopy is clear and fairly thin.

Of course, the first thing I looked for was the wing root leading edge angle, because this is where almost every other early-series Mustang kit falls down (with the possible sole exception of the old Monogram P-51B kit). Whoop de do, the angle looks exactly right! Mind you, right behind the wing root leading edge are the wheel wells, and they are detailed but shallow. Oh well, back to the search for the perfect Mustang. Actually, as soon as I saw the wing I immediately wondered if it would fit the new Italeri kit of the P-51A Mustang I, but it won’t. The cutout at the rear of the wing is round on the Revell kit and squared off on the Italeri, and the upper wing sections mate differently against the fuselages. You would have to be a really good plastic tree surgeon to make this one work.

The kit is basically simple, making me think of the old Airfix P-51B that I built several years ago, but the parts you get are very well detailed. Of particular note are the underwing bazooka rocket launchers, the cockpit floor with its wood-grain finish, the seat assembly (get a magnifying glass and check the detail of the head-rest!), and the very fine lips on the under-fuselage air scoop. There are separate exhaust stacks for the USAAF and RAF versions, and they are both beautifully moulded.

INSTRUCTIONS: The instruction sheet is a small 12-page booklet. Some of the text is so tiny you will need a magnifying glass to read it (I am NOT kidding) and everything is in 18 (that’s eighteen) languages. Paint codes are for Revell colours, with Revell mixes given for anything non-standard, which means that RAF Ocean Grey is called out as a mixture of three Revell paints instead of just giving its correct name and letting the modeller get on with it.

Construction sequence is in 14 steps, all pictorial but very clearly set out, and with colour guides throughout. There are holes to be drilled out in the wing bottom depending on your choice of bazooka launcher or 75-gallon drop tanks. Exhaust stacks are mounted from the outside which makes painting them so much easier. Tail-wheel doors are moulded as one piece which will have to be cut apart if modelling a wheels-down aircraft. The prop comes with four separate blades but the blade roots have a flattened area to help alignment against the backing plate. The construction guide seems to insist that the aircraft flew with either drop tanks or bazooka launchers but not both, but the box-top painting shows a USAAF aircraft with both under its wings. Check references.

The markings diagrams show details for 2 aircraft, one being "Tex" Hill’s P-51B that he flew with the 26^th FS, 51^st FG USAAF from Kunming, China in 1945. The other is a Mustang III of 112 Sqn RAF flying from Italy in 1944. However, the underside plan view of the RAF aircraft is shown on the page with the USAAF aircraft, and the underside of the USAAF aircraft is shown on the RAF page. One of those "just testing to see if you’re awake" situations?

VERSIONS: As already noted, there are minor differences between the RAF and the USAAF versions in the kit. The canopy is the standard framed version, so if you want a Malcolm hood version be prepared to get a substitute (should not be difficult as a number of P-51B kits have alternative parts for this — I know the old Monogram kit certainly did, as I still have it in my spare parts box).

DECALS: Well printed, in register, reasonably interesting subjects. Interesting that both markings given in the kit are of shark-mouthed aircraft. If you don’t like the markings, please believe me you can easily find alternatives in the after-market sector.

OVERALL: Whenever a new Mustang kit comes out I always think it may be the perfect one, the Holy Grail of WW2 aircraft kit builders. This one is not perfect but it will do for the time being. Recommended.