This was sort of a not planned build. I sat down to work on my Vietnam era Navy Skyraider and it dawned on me that my last three projects have all been naval, so it was time to do something different. Looking at my stash, this one just jumped out at me. For some reason I have seven Twin Mustangs in the stash; five in 1/72 and two in 1/48. More on that later...

The first kit I pulled off the shelf was the Revell Germany issue of the Monogram kit, which turned out not to be such a good thing because half of it was missing! The second box was all there, so I sat down and got started. Three hours later, I had this:

I remember having built this one when it came out in the early 70's and being very excited that it was a new issue that wasn't another Mustang, Spitfire of Bf-109! I was 14 or 15 then. The owner of the hobby shop I frequented got two of them for me. It was pretty much as I had remembered. The main assembly went pretty quickly as the cockpit is pretty basic and I decided not to display the guns in the wing center section. The wing fit pretty well, but the fuselage molds are showing their age and required quite a bit of putty. The huge slots for the sliding canopies were filled with plastic stock and will be sanded smooth as this progresses. There's just enough cockpit detail to be acceptable under closed canopies.

The F-82 has not been well represented in model form. The Monogram kit was the only game in town for decades. Special Hobby issued H and G models in 1/72 recently, and while the engraving and cockpit detail are much better, these models have serious shape issues, especially the radar pod, props and the tail. The only other Twin Mustangs are the 1/48 scale Model Craft kits, which are absolutely awful. I will take one of those on after I decide to start drinking, popping pills or sniffing glue (oh, wait, I already do that...) again.

This model will be in night fighter black, haven't decided on which airplane yet. An F-82 of the 68th FS flown by Lt. William "Skeeter" Hudson claimed the first air to air kill of the Korean War on June 27th, 1950, when he shot down a Yak-9.

Hello Jaime, @jetmex The F-82 is a great subject that is sorely neglected by the model manufacturer's. As for the Model Craft, well you might want to consider doing all three at once. Saves time... Looking forward to the builds.

Spent this morning sanding putty, which is not my favorite thing in the world. The model is pretty much assembled and in the waiting for glue to set mode so I can start touching up the seams. Will add the radar pod soon and she'll be just about ready for paint. First choice of color schemes right now is an F-82G s/n 46-477 called "Night Takeoff" which features some girly nose art, always a plus for me!

I'll try to post some more pics tonight.

Robert, I have two of the Model Craft kits, a B model and an E model that I'm converting to a G. They also issued a G night fighter, but they must be made of unobtanium because all the ones I've been able to find are being held hostage by the dreaded hoarders who think that "collector kit" also means screaming expensive! I spent about a year getting pieces parts together for it - resin radar pod and exhausts, the Eduard PE cockpit set, Squadron canopies and various bits from other models to correct the landing gear and props.

Hi Jaime, great selection for this group build. I was going through my kits to see what I can offer and the F-82 was on the possible list. I’ve got one F-82 and it’s the 1/72 Monogram kit, so I’m really looking forward to see how this progresses.

Did I mention I don't like sanding putty? Spent a lot of the bench time taking care of that today. Radar pod is installed and tomorrow I'll get the canopies on and try to paint. For the first time in quite a while it won't be raining!

Robert, the decals you sent a while back are finally going to get some use...

Every time I pick this thing up I remember why I don't do 1/72 scale any more! 🙂

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

Hey Jaime ,Welcome aboard to the GB, you chose an interesting subject , I'm looking forward to seeing it come together ,I wouldn't attempt this if I had a 1/48 version in the stash !.

Love the nose art, the build looks like it coming along nicely @jetmex.

looks great already, @jetmex!