I received my Tamiya 1/32 P-51D mustang kit a few days ago.
Here are some thoughts after spending "An Evening with the Kit"!
Once more Tamiya has produced a very well designed and engineered kit.
I think I'll start with the obvious conclusion and then expand a little on the things they missed for those interested.
As could be expected after their great Zero and Spitfire kits they came up with the best Mustang kit in any scale.
The kit is fairly complex, extremely detailed and more importantly truly capture the essence of the P-51D.
The shape compares really well to pictures and Charles Neely's drawings and passes the eyeball test under any angle with flying colors.
Tamiya offers three canopies, a Dallas (part P1), a -2 (part M1) and a-6 (partN1), it is an almost impossible part to measure properly but after comparing them to drawings and pictures I am confident they look the part, including the different cross sections.
All the kit's parts are very well molded with sharp and well detailed features and the surface detail is exceptionally fine and restrained.
If you hold a part just in front of you the rivets will only be visible if you happen to catch the light properly, this greatly contributes to the scale effect, so do the thin trailing edges of the control surfaces.
Based on previous Tamiya kits and the first comments from those who already started building it, the fit is (unsurprisingly) excellent.
Tamiya went further with this Mustang kit than any other injection kit manufacturer before (themselves included) in trying to represent the evolution of the P-51D through its six generations with many extra parts for different options.
The complete list of options has been published many times and can be seen on the Tamiya website.
In theory this one box should allow you to build any P-51D (D-5 through D-30) built in Inglewood or Dallas.
In theory only, as a few things are missing or have been missed, thankfully it is nothing that diminishes the extraordinary quality of this kit but some modelers may want to know what to look for.
With the ambition of "boxing" six production blocks spread over two factories and the hundreds of small or big changes this represents in one package it is not surprising that Tamiya missed some things.
Most are small details having to do with the evolution of the P-51D during its production, others are some odd or poor choices by Tamiya and finally a few things have been omitted.
This is NOT an exhaustive list of things to correct, it would be a full time job to list all the changes seen on the different blocks and how they compare to the kit.
I will not list all the kit's wrong or missing switches or other small errors that only a few guys on the planet know about, just the most visible details that make the difference in my opinion.
I will start by mentioning the two biggest misses I see in this kit, the representation of the Dzus fasteners and the lack of "early" dorsal fin fillet.
The Dzus fasteners on Mustangs are flush, this is not open to interpretation it is an easily verifiable fact yet for some reason Tamiya decided to raise the fasteners in a way that is quite visible depending on the lighting.
This bothered me on the test shots as I could see them, they look wrong and will be a pain to correct with a beading tool on the very thin cowling parts, wrong move Tamiya.
Some will mention that the same thing was done on the Spitfire kits, to which I reply: I don't care, I'm reviewing the Mustang and two wrongs don't make a right...
When the Dorsal Fin Fillet (DFF) was added during production of the P-51D-5 (44-13902) it was originally curved as opposed to the straight one seen later (and in the Tamiya kit).
The curved DFF (referred to as swayback DFF) stayed throughout production until the P-51D-15 (included) which means that a lot of "famous" WWII Mustangs that modelers will want to build should have it instead of the late DFF offered by Tamiya.
As a side note the small square panels for the APS-13 antennas on the tail section w/DFF should only be there for aircraft 44-72127 and subsequent as well as earlier blocks retrofitted with the APS-13.
Another poor feature are the rubber tires, they look fairly good but have a nasty seam line in the middle that will be a pain to get rid of.
We also need to see more tread patterns for Mustang wheels, the diamond pattern wasn't the only one and the block and hexagonal / oval patterns were extremely common and can be identified on many pictures.
In my opinion a separate piece for the swayback DFF do be added to the D-5 tail section of the kit and resin tires (diamond, block and oval) are the most sorely needed aftermarket parts for this kit, everything else is secondary.
Tamiya's many options for the kit sometimes make it look like a toy rather than a model and can present their own set of problems.
For example if you want to add plumbing in the wheel wells how then are you supposed to remove the center rib with the clamshell doors in order to replace them with the closed doors for the In Flight configuration?
I didn't take too close a look at the engine since it's not my thing but if it's anything like the Spitfire you will need to choose between the open or closed position for the cowlings as the fit might not be good enough for a lot of "on and off" action.
Another thing to consider is that the cowlings are not a realistic representation of the real things when off.
Nice photo-etched parts are included in the box (I really like the shoulder harness option for seated pilot) but Tamiya makes odd choices, for example we find parts that will be use in future boxings to details the M10 triple-tube rocket launchers and even a Tiny Tim rocket which basically were almost never used on Mustangs!
On the other hand the PE parts do not include the canopy rails that are quite visible on an open cockpit or gun and ammo doors details such as the gun door handles in the open position or the characteristic "teeth" of the ammo doors used to lock them in position.
Speaking of Gun bay doors, the beautifully molded interior details are only good for the late P-51D's, earlier ones looked different and even though we get two sets of doors, they all are the later model.
A gun bead sight to be mounted on the firewall for the earlier blocks using the N-9 gunsight as well as the extra manual ring sight would have also been nice.
Other missing parts include clear separate pieces for the tail light and the battery sump bottle, locking hooks for the wheels (maybe as PE parts) and a dust boot for the tailwheel.
This new kit like all those that came before suffers from an identity crisis, even with all the optional parts it is obvious that Tamiya studied a P-51D-30 and that's pretty much what you get in the box except for the missing square tipped Hamilton Standard propeller and the fact that the BC-966 (parts D51 D52) IFF transceiver is not to be used on most WWII Mustangs.
Without those what you actually get is closer to a P-51D-25.
Either way you get an easy out of the box late P-51D, for any earlier block you will have to do some extra work.
For the record, the BC-966 mentioned above is the main component of the SCR-695 IFF set that was installed at the factory on P-51D-30's (that's why it's in the box) or as a field mod on a few earlier blocks such as some of the P-51D-20's and 25's deployed on Iwo Jima (also on many P-51B/C's and some Allison Mustangs but that's another story).
Contrary to what the kit's instructions say the inertia switch (part D53 behind the headrest) should not be used, it is a part of the SCR-695 IFF set and unless you build a Mustang that used it this part just like parts D51 and D52 should be left out.
Another feature that only belongs to late P-51D's are the underwing attachment points for HVAR rocket pylons, they should not be on any aircraft before 44-72227 (they come with the pilot's switch-box part D48) .
In the same manner the underwing attachment points for the drop tank fuel lines were different on earlier blocks than what is presented here (under parts A9 A10).
Surprisingly no plumbing for the drop tanks is included.
Other differences between early and later models include:
- The gun camera opening on the port wing root was round up to the P-51D-15 block when it became square like the one seen in the kit.
- The canopy opening handle was square (instead of elongated) on early P-51D's, that would include all the -2 and some of the -6 canopies, check your references.
The square handle was only on the port side but the later elongated one represented in the kit was on both sides.
Here are some thoughts after spending "An Evening with the Kit"!
Once more Tamiya has produced a very well designed and engineered kit.
I think I'll start with the obvious conclusion and then expand a little on the things they missed for those interested.
As could be expected after their great Zero and Spitfire kits they came up with the best Mustang kit in any scale.
The kit is fairly complex, extremely detailed and more importantly truly capture the essence of the P-51D.
The shape compares really well to pictures and Charles Neely's drawings and passes the eyeball test under any angle with flying colors.
Tamiya offers three canopies, a Dallas (part P1), a -2 (part M1) and a-6 (partN1), it is an almost impossible part to measure properly but after comparing them to drawings and pictures I am confident they look the part, including the different cross sections.
All the kit's parts are very well molded with sharp and well detailed features and the surface detail is exceptionally fine and restrained.
If you hold a part just in front of you the rivets will only be visible if you happen to catch the light properly, this greatly contributes to the scale effect, so do the thin trailing edges of the control surfaces.
Based on previous Tamiya kits and the first comments from those who already started building it, the fit is (unsurprisingly) excellent.
Tamiya went further with this Mustang kit than any other injection kit manufacturer before (themselves included) in trying to represent the evolution of the P-51D through its six generations with many extra parts for different options.
The complete list of options has been published many times and can be seen on the Tamiya website.
In theory this one box should allow you to build any P-51D (D-5 through D-30) built in Inglewood or Dallas.
In theory only, as a few things are missing or have been missed, thankfully it is nothing that diminishes the extraordinary quality of this kit but some modelers may want to know what to look for.
With the ambition of "boxing" six production blocks spread over two factories and the hundreds of small or big changes this represents in one package it is not surprising that Tamiya missed some things.
Most are small details having to do with the evolution of the P-51D during its production, others are some odd or poor choices by Tamiya and finally a few things have been omitted.
This is NOT an exhaustive list of things to correct, it would be a full time job to list all the changes seen on the different blocks and how they compare to the kit.
I will not list all the kit's wrong or missing switches or other small errors that only a few guys on the planet know about, just the most visible details that make the difference in my opinion.
I will start by mentioning the two biggest misses I see in this kit, the representation of the Dzus fasteners and the lack of "early" dorsal fin fillet.
The Dzus fasteners on Mustangs are flush, this is not open to interpretation it is an easily verifiable fact yet for some reason Tamiya decided to raise the fasteners in a way that is quite visible depending on the lighting.
This bothered me on the test shots as I could see them, they look wrong and will be a pain to correct with a beading tool on the very thin cowling parts, wrong move Tamiya.
Some will mention that the same thing was done on the Spitfire kits, to which I reply: I don't care, I'm reviewing the Mustang and two wrongs don't make a right...
When the Dorsal Fin Fillet (DFF) was added during production of the P-51D-5 (44-13902) it was originally curved as opposed to the straight one seen later (and in the Tamiya kit).
The curved DFF (referred to as swayback DFF) stayed throughout production until the P-51D-15 (included) which means that a lot of "famous" WWII Mustangs that modelers will want to build should have it instead of the late DFF offered by Tamiya.
As a side note the small square panels for the APS-13 antennas on the tail section w/DFF should only be there for aircraft 44-72127 and subsequent as well as earlier blocks retrofitted with the APS-13.
Another poor feature are the rubber tires, they look fairly good but have a nasty seam line in the middle that will be a pain to get rid of.
We also need to see more tread patterns for Mustang wheels, the diamond pattern wasn't the only one and the block and hexagonal / oval patterns were extremely common and can be identified on many pictures.
In my opinion a separate piece for the swayback DFF do be added to the D-5 tail section of the kit and resin tires (diamond, block and oval) are the most sorely needed aftermarket parts for this kit, everything else is secondary.
Tamiya's many options for the kit sometimes make it look like a toy rather than a model and can present their own set of problems.
For example if you want to add plumbing in the wheel wells how then are you supposed to remove the center rib with the clamshell doors in order to replace them with the closed doors for the In Flight configuration?
I didn't take too close a look at the engine since it's not my thing but if it's anything like the Spitfire you will need to choose between the open or closed position for the cowlings as the fit might not be good enough for a lot of "on and off" action.
Another thing to consider is that the cowlings are not a realistic representation of the real things when off.
Nice photo-etched parts are included in the box (I really like the shoulder harness option for seated pilot) but Tamiya makes odd choices, for example we find parts that will be use in future boxings to details the M10 triple-tube rocket launchers and even a Tiny Tim rocket which basically were almost never used on Mustangs!
On the other hand the PE parts do not include the canopy rails that are quite visible on an open cockpit or gun and ammo doors details such as the gun door handles in the open position or the characteristic "teeth" of the ammo doors used to lock them in position.
Speaking of Gun bay doors, the beautifully molded interior details are only good for the late P-51D's, earlier ones looked different and even though we get two sets of doors, they all are the later model.
A gun bead sight to be mounted on the firewall for the earlier blocks using the N-9 gunsight as well as the extra manual ring sight would have also been nice.
Other missing parts include clear separate pieces for the tail light and the battery sump bottle, locking hooks for the wheels (maybe as PE parts) and a dust boot for the tailwheel.
This new kit like all those that came before suffers from an identity crisis, even with all the optional parts it is obvious that Tamiya studied a P-51D-30 and that's pretty much what you get in the box except for the missing square tipped Hamilton Standard propeller and the fact that the BC-966 (parts D51 D52) IFF transceiver is not to be used on most WWII Mustangs.
Without those what you actually get is closer to a P-51D-25.
Either way you get an easy out of the box late P-51D, for any earlier block you will have to do some extra work.
For the record, the BC-966 mentioned above is the main component of the SCR-695 IFF set that was installed at the factory on P-51D-30's (that's why it's in the box) or as a field mod on a few earlier blocks such as some of the P-51D-20's and 25's deployed on Iwo Jima (also on many P-51B/C's and some Allison Mustangs but that's another story).
Contrary to what the kit's instructions say the inertia switch (part D53 behind the headrest) should not be used, it is a part of the SCR-695 IFF set and unless you build a Mustang that used it this part just like parts D51 and D52 should be left out.
Another feature that only belongs to late P-51D's are the underwing attachment points for HVAR rocket pylons, they should not be on any aircraft before 44-72227 (they come with the pilot's switch-box part D48) .
In the same manner the underwing attachment points for the drop tank fuel lines were different on earlier blocks than what is presented here (under parts A9 A10).
Surprisingly no plumbing for the drop tanks is included.
Other differences between early and later models include:
- The gun camera opening on the port wing root was round up to the P-51D-15 block when it became square like the one seen in the kit.
- The canopy opening handle was square (instead of elongated) on early P-51D's, that would include all the -2 and some of the -6 canopies, check your references.
The square handle was only on the port side but the later elongated one represented in the kit was on both sides.
