Monogram 1/48 P-51D Mustang

MONOGRAM 1:48 P-51D MUSTANG

mono_p51d_48.jpg (13277 bytes)

Reviewer: Andrew P (rec.scale.models)

This is my first review to be posted on Mark's excellent web site and I am sure it won't be my last. This will become a great source for modellers if enough give it support and put in their own reviews. But enough of that, I am providing a quick review of the Monogram P-51D kit and the verdict is - be wary but be pleased!

There's enough paragraphs about the P-51 Mustang to have volume-bound so I won't go into it all again here, other than to say this is quite possibly one of the greatest aircraft ever built - obviously in consideration of its time. The Monogram effort is not one I will be going through again - that's not to say it's inaccurate, because it is very accurate - but the construction was not easy and very time consuming.

The injected moulded plastic is quite good quality, nice and clean, and contains quite detailed raised panel lines throughout which even include screws on the engine cover up front. It certainly looks nice in the box as it does when it's completed. Plenty of detail in the cockpit including a wooden panelled floor with nicely executed guages. Trim wheel and instrument panel are also included and both look superb when painted. Wheel wells are also fairly deep and contain a good amount of detail. The canopy includes a slide-pin for optional positioning of the canopy but the pin looks too large and inadequate for the mechanism it is trying to replicate.

The decal sheet contains one marking for an 8th AF P-51D with nose art "Detroit Miss" but they don't look particularly good quality and as I later found out it's probably best to do your own version and seek an alternative set of decals from one of the many aftermarket sources who have provided plenty of choices.

Then came the heartbreak - the fit of this kit is terrible to say the least. Other components are also of no help, you have to attach the tailwheel to one fuselage half before adjoining to the other and the canopy was not all it cracked up to be. Engine exhaust stacks have to be fitted from inside the fuselage which makes detailing and painting quite difficult. I painted that part of the fuselage and inserted painted stacks to overcome this. A word of warning though, you will still have to give it another coat to take care of any scratches and glue marks from affixing the stacks.

All the parts then presented more headaches in terms of getting them to fit properly and you will find you will be relieved of a few sheets of sandpaper and half a tube of putty once your done. They really are not very good. Wings presented some real moments of frustration as well as tailplanes and the undercarriage. Having altered the model quite a bit, to achieve the polished aluminium finished I wanted, I ended up giving the model a light coat of low grey to grab onto styrene and puttied plastic alike. Once done I then airbrushed the metal finish and it look spectacular.

The finished model with some Aeromaster aftermarket USAAF decals looked almost perfect - in fact the only imperfections were related to construction and if I were (but won't) to have another go it would look even better. This is a very accurate scaled down version of the Mustang but the frustration and hassle of construction pretty well put me off getting another version. Next time I will be calling on the more expensive but better engineered Tamiya offering.

Overall, for a low-priced kit this one is excellent before and after construction. It is not recommended to beginners and intermediate modellers are likely to be frustrated into making a one-way flight path for the model into the nearest wall. But if you can handle all the challenges the engineering of the kit provides this is certainly a recommendable low alternative product to the Tamiya. As mentioned above, I wouldn't be looking to get another one in a hurry, one session of continual fitting challenges is enough for a while - but alas, the end product was well worth the effort!

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