HIGH PLANES 1:72 P-51 "Precious Metal"
'In The Box Review'

Reviewer: Anders Bruun  (taken from rec.models.scale)

The kit depicts the 1988 version of the Griffon-engined P-51. It was equipped with contra-rotating propellers, small canopy and shortened wings. It crash-landed during the Reno Gold Final (nice diorama idea!), but has since been rebuilt. Colour scheme was natural metal with markings mainly in yellow. It is the third kit in High Planes' 1/72 racing plane series (with several more exciting kits to come, check the website http://corryong.albury.net.au/~hiplanes !)

This is a simpler kit than their earlier RB-51 "Red Baron". It does not have any optional separate flaps and wheel well inserts, and the inner landing gear doors are moulded in closed position. I prefer this, since it is the way I would have built it anyway - closed landing gear doors are almost always seen together with raised flaps, and I like to built racing planes in "clean" configuration.

As with most High Planes kits, the first look at the kit parts is a bit daunting. There is quite a bit of flash around most parts and some of the moulding gates are pretty thick. However, when you start removing the parts from the sprues and dry-fitting them it starts looking better - with one notable exception. The surface detail is very good: discreet recessed panel lines, sharp and clean. Trailing edges and similar parts are thin and sharp.

The only major problem area of the kit is the radiator scoop. The separate inlet part will not fit in front of the fuselage moulding and the kit instructions do not give any assistance. After looking at photos, my conclusion is that the part of the scoop which is moulded together with the fuselage halves must be shortened at the front by 4 mm (a little bit less than the length of the inlet part) before the inlet is added. It's a good thing the scoop was silver-painted fibre-glass to the panel line aft of the trailing edge, and not polished metal as the rest… The outlet area is a bit rough and no effort is made to reproduce the outlet tunnel.

Quite a lot of material has to be removed from the bottom wing half before it fits around the radiator scoop. The rest of the kit goes together pretty well. You will have to do a lot of dry-fitting before attaching the wings, but I prefer this to a loose fit that leaves gaps. You will also need to do some adjustments to the nose, which is not perfectly circular, and open up the supercharger inlet.

The wheels and a couple of other detail parts are a bit soft, but adequate after a clean-up. The cockpit interior is simplified, but unless you want to display the model with open canopy I think it is adequate. The kit includes two good vac-formed canopies, which are intended to fit in a recess in the fuselage. The decal sheet is well-printed and the markings have been sensibly simplified without losing the feel of the original. Some microscopic pin-striping, which would probably have been impossible to print in correct scale, has been removed, but its absence is not noticeable. I'm not so happy about the colour of the "Air Camel" logos though, they look a bit too red. They can be left off, however, since they were added during the races.

The kit looks accurate. When I first looked at the kit parts I thought the nose is too short, but after checking against photos I think it is almost perfect. If it is too short, it is by less than 1 mm. The wing tips are correct as moulded, don't be fooled by the drawing in the kit!

Conclusion: Apart from the flash and the radiator scoop problems, this is a high quality short run kit. The air racing enthusiast must of course have it, but I can also recommend it to other people who want a model of an extreme and unique Mustang and who are not afraid of doing some work themselves. It is not the kind of kit which you can assemble on Friday night and paint on Saturday morning - cleaning up and dry-fitting the parts will take some time. If you hate that kind of modelling, don't buy it!

Anders Bruun
IPMS Air Racing & Record-Breaking Aircraft SIG

Related reviews:  Italeri 1/72 F-51D Mustang  :   Monogram 1/48 P-51D Mustang
            Accurate Miniatures 1/48 P-51A Mustang  :  Monogram 1/72 P-51B Mustang
            ModelNews A-36A Apache  :  Condor 1/72 A-36 Apache (Bill's Review)
            Condor 1/72 A-36 Apache (Tim's review)

Related Inbox reviews:  Revell 1/72 P-51B Mustang

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