Platz

1/144 P-51D/F-51D w/M-10 Rocket Tubes

Kit Number: PLA PD12

Reviewed by  Jack Kennedy, IPMS# 12511

MSRP: $15.66 Website: www.platz-hobby.com I just love this 1/144 scale. It’s so easy to show off a whole air force in a very small space. Over the years several manufacturers have produced some very fine aircraft kits, but the kit I have just built and reviewed is by far the best I have ever seen. I wasn’t too familiar with Platz kits before this one. I thought the price was too high but, when I realized that there are two complete aircraft in the box, I changed that opinion. One must realize that the P-51 was a relatively small aircraft and looking at the kit in this scale, you come to see just how small it really is. The kit was very complete with under wing fuel tanks and M-10 rocket tubes. The only cockpit details are the radio behind the seat and the seat itself. I made an instrument panel from sheet plastic and glued an instrument panel that I copied from a 1/72 decal sheet reduced on my copier by 1/2. I also made a joystick and painted the seat belts on the seat along with the clasps. In order to see this stuff in the cockpit, I cut open the kit canopy (Four are included in the kit) I dipped the canopy in Future floor wax and then hand painted the trim. I built this aircraft without a spot of filler -- everything fit that well. I used Tenax to glue everything together. I then airbrushed Model Master semi-gloss black over the entire plane in preparation for a coat of Alclad Polished Aluminum. When the black had dried for two days, I airbrushed the polished aluminum. This turned out blotchy and too shiny. I then stripped off all the paint with Polly S Easy Lift Off and then sanded down to bare plastic with the micro system. I finally used 12000 grit to polish the plastic. I let this sit for a day and then primed the aircraft with Duplicolor Light Grey auto primer (My favorite). When this was dry a day I airbrushed everything with Alclad Duraluminum. This was just the finish I wanted. I allowed this to dry for a day and then masked off for painting the red. For the red I used Tamiya lacquer. This dried in a few hours but I left the decaling until the next day. The decals were by Cartograf and are some of the finest I have ever used. They are super thin, go on easily and need no setting solution. I did, however use Micro-Set before applying them to allow them to move if needed. The only complaint I had with them was that the instructions did not tell where the huge amount of decals went. As a result, I left off some of the smaller ones.

As a final touch I gave a wash into the panel lines with Vallejo acrylic black to make them pop. Overall I really enjoyed building this kit and look forward to building more from Platz. The Mustang looks really great -- even better than my 1/72 scale ones. If I had to make any complaint it would be that the instructions should be clearer with regard to decal placement and that an instrument panel and instrument decal should be included. I would highly recommend this kit to all builders regardless of their experience. I would like to thank Platz and IPMS/USA for allowing me to review this fine kit. I hope I get more to do.