P-51K Mustang Mk.IVa, 3 Squadron RAAF, Italy, 1944/45.
This was originally intended to be the Tamiya 1/32 kit, but I got distracted when I just opened it's 1/48 cousin & at the same time came across a wealth of reference material for this squadron on the internet. Pretty much straightforward build but I was tempted to replace the guns with brass tube & to use the Hasegawa 'Aeroproducts' propeller without the cuffs most commonly used by the 'K'. The only other 'tweaks' were the filling in of the flap cut outs where they fit under the fuselage/wing fillet, hydraulic lines on the undercarriage & lastly, I thought I'd try to correct the wing main spar as it incorrectly follows the rear edge of the wheel bay opening. This was not at all difficult & I wondered why I'd never done it before on earlier builds. Anyway, here she is...
Very nice, Tony.
Thanks Rob. This is my fourth Tamiya build of the Mustang/ Three more to go, plus the new Airfix kit which should be interesting.
Excellent finish on this, Tony, I especially the tail fin/rudder decoration.
Thanks George. The tail Southern Cross & codes are from Red Roo decals. The serials are Tally Ho & the roundels Tamiya & Xtradecals.
Nice work, Tony...I like it.
Thanks Craig.
Hard to believe that the Tamiya kit has become a classic. But, the classic's ring true. Two thumbs up.
Thanks Stephen. The new Meng P-51D is pretty good as is the latest Airfix one. Both address the matter of the main spar/wheel well accuracy (which you won't see unless you turn the model over!) but this is easily fixed & the surface detail & fit on the Tamiya kit is still hard to beat.
An excellent build!
Thank you Robert. I'm now part way through the 1/32 Tamiya Mustang. Lovely kit but sooo fiddly.
Outstanding, Tony! It's a beautiful bird in RAAF colours. It looks like a larger scale kit.
Kind words Jeff, thank you. The big one's in the workshop as we speak.
Nice looking build Tony!
Many thanks Greg.