OK - I'm in.
Here is the Halberd Resins 1/48 P-51C "Beguine" Mustang racer.
A minimum of parts. the cockpit interior is molded to the fuselage halves in full detail.
Surface detail on the fuselage, wings and horizontal stabilizers is the equal of an Eduard P-51D.
The kit is pretty obviously based on the Accurate Miniatures P-51C kit. There was a slight molding "glitch" on the left wing trailing edge, which was filledwith CA glue, sanded smooth and rescribed, no problem.
The airplane was never flown in "Lucky Strike Green." It was a dark blue when flown at the 1949 National Air Races.
"Beguine's" main claim to fame is that after winning the Sohio race, it crashed in the Thompson Trophy Race, hitting a house and killing the family inside. That was the event that killed the National Air Races until 1964 when they began being held at Reno.
Now the Reno Races are over. I hear delusional people saying that they'll find another place to hold it. So far, Winnemucca, Nevada; Pueblo, Colorado; and Casper, Wyoming indicated interest in hosting the races. The problem is, none of them have rooms for 100,000 fans, and 100,000 fans aren't going to show up to a place that isn't Reno or Las Vegas. My wife liked going to the races, but she liked better going to the casinos at night. So did most of the "other halves" of the airplane nuts.
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
