Osprey Publishing

Modeling the P-51 Mustang

by  Stan Spooner, Consultant Editor Robert Oehler

Reviewed By  Keith Pruitt, IPMS# 44770

MSRP: $18.95 ISBN: 9781841769417 82 pages, 224 color photos, plus an 8 color usage palette, Softbound www.ospreypublishing.com The North American P-51 Mustang has long been considered one of the best fighter aircraft ever designed. It's also a favorite subject of aircraft modelers around the world. Given its popularity, the many variants of the design, and the vast number of kits available, I would think it could be one of the most popular modeling subjects. I think Stan Spooner loves this aircraft. He, and the other modelers whose work is displayed in this book, have an obvious fondness for building Mustangs, and an incredible attention to detail. The book is broken down into five sections, each focusing on building a model of a particular variant of the P-51. It starts with the Allison-powered P-51A, then moves to a British P-51B/Mustang III, a 357th Fighter Group P-51D, a Korean War P-51D, and finishes with the F-82G Twin Mustang Nightfighter. All models represented in the book are built from 1/48th scale kits. In the first section, the P-51A is built by Mark Glidden and Marcus Nuckolls, from the Accurate Miniatures kit. Aftermarket details are added to this kit such as the True Details interior set, Ultracast prop blades, Eduard photoetch detail set, a Verlinden exposed Allison engine detail set, and a Cutting Edge Mk 8 resin gun sight. He uses decals from the ICM Models P-51A kit, his spares box, and Mike Grant instrument decals. Each step in the P-51A construction is illustrated with crisp photos, often before and after assembly and painting. Stan added a scratchbuilt flare gun port on the left side cockpit wall, explaining that this key detail was missing. He explains each and every added detail, his pre- and post-shading processes, and any corrections made to kit parts. The markings, decals, and weathering steps are also covered well. Stan seemed to focus on the addition of the resin details, particularly cockpit details and the exposed Allison engine, in this section. The British P-51B/Mustang III is built by Brian Criner, from the Tamiya North American RAF Mustang III kit. Again, this model is treated to an increased level of detail. Stan added aftermarket details such as the Aires resin gun bay, Ultracast props and spinners, Ultracast flaps/rudder/elevators, Obscuro wheels, Jaguar resin interior, Eduard color photoetch placards, Eduard seat harness & instrument panel, Ultracast resin British bombs, and Ultracast exhaust stacks. Brian used decals from the kit and his spares box. Again, the text and photos cover the assembly with the incorporation of the resin details, this time focusing on the gun bays. In this section of the book, there seemed to be a greater emphasis on the finish of the model. It seems that the painting, particularly pre-shading, and the weathering processes are covered in greater detail. In the third section, Stan Spooner builds a 357th Fighter Group P-51D. He begins with the Tamiya P-51D 8th Air Force Ace kit, then adds the True Details P-51 seat, Obscuro wheels, Ultracast spinner, Cutting Edge K-14 gun sight, Eduard color photoetch placards, and Teknics 105-gallon paper drop tanks. Stan covers the cockpit details in great depth, explaining his modifications, corrections, and additions. There is a nice photo of the True Details seat that he used. This is a beautifully molded piece, to which he added support struts of Evergreen styrene stock. Stan also removed the fin fillet, filled it with scrap styrene, and then smoothed the area with Tamiya putty. Stan used the Ultracast spinner, but had to do a lot of modification to it. He said that, if he were to build this kit again, he would use the kit spinner. On to painting…this is a colorful bird. Olive Drab over Neutral Gray, with invasion stripes, a red-and-yellow checkerboard nose, and red-and-yellow striped spinner. Stan cut out the individual red checks decals, and applied them one by one. Weathering included pre-shading the panel lines, applying an oil wash, and some chipping with a Prismacolor bright silver pencil. Brian Criner builds a Korean War P-51D in the fourth section. He begins with a Tamiya kit, adding aftermarket details such as Obscuro wheels, Ultracast flaps and rudder, Ultracast exhaust stacks, Ultracast spinner and prop blades, Aires wheel well, Eduard Photoetch placards, Eduard seat harness, instrument panel, and tail wheel doors, and Verlinden rockets and Napalm tanks. Beginning in the cockpit, Brian makes minor stratchbuilt additions with sheet styrene and wire, and then adds the aftermarket details. There was quite a bit of "challenging" work needed on the wing sections to add the Aires wheel wells. The material that had to be removed left the wings extremely thin, causing cracks in the leading edge that had to be filled with gap-filling cyanoacrylate glue. The model was painted with Model Master Metalizers, and the kit decals were used. Finally, he weathered the model with an oil paint wash and MIG pigments. In the last section of the book, Stan Spooner builds the F-82G Twin Mustang Nightfighter. He used the Modelcraft kit, "kitbashing" it with additional parts from the Monogram P-61 Black Widow kit, Tamiya P-51D, Tamiya A-1J Skyraider, and Tamiya P-47D Thunderbolt. Aftermarket parts that Stan added to the model included Eduard F-82 photoetch update, Eduard color photoetch placards, True Details P-51D seats, Verlinden P-51 underwing stores set, Squadron Crystal Clear Canopy, assorted MV Products lenses, and the Ultracast spinner and cuffed propeller update sets. The Modelcraft kit, according to Stan, has several problems, including a lack of molded detail and surface imperfections. These would have to be repaired. He primed the model with Mr. Surfacer 1000 and sanded the surface. According to Stan, "A fair amount of time was spent rescribing the outside of this airplane". He modified and deepened the landing gear bays, then removed-detailed-and-dropped the flaps, removed-corrected-and-repositioned the rudders. He also corrected the shape of the Radar pod, added the dish from the P-61, then built the remaining details of the radar unit from scratch. The cockpit was heavily modified (virtually built from scratch) with aftermarket parts and scratchbuilt details. For the finish, the F-82G model was primed with Tamiya Gloss Aluminum, then painted with Gunze Tyre Black, mixed with various other colors to represent fading, dirt, grime, etc. Kit decals were used for this project. The paint was chipped with a scalpel to represent paint chipping along the wing roots. An oil wash was used in the panel lines, and MIG pigments were dusted on the landing gear. There was a huge amount of work put into this build, and the finished model shows it…it is outstanding enough to grace the cover of the book! In the back of the book, there is a color palette, indicating colors commonly used, and how they applied in the variants, on the P-51. This is a nice addition to the book. This book is very well-written, giving an enormous amount of information regarding the construction of each featured model. I particularly enjoyed seeing the installation of the various aftermarket parts and how they affected the overall detail of each model. The pictures are clear and follow along virtually step-by-step in the building process. Each section seems to tackle progressively more involved additions and corrections. This had the effect of an instructional series, making the skills progression very easy to follow. If you're a P-51 fan, there's no doubt that you WILL want this book on your shelf! Even if you're not a Mustang fan, the skills that are demonstrated in this book could be universally applied to almost any genre of modeling. I've actually read this book two or three times already, and highly recommend it as a solid reference on detail-focused modeling in general, and on superdetailing the P-51 Mustang in particular. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Osprey Publishing, and to John Noack, for this review sample.

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