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Building the Monogram 1/48 scale P51D Mustang |
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Written by Gernot Hassenpflug - IPMS Cape Town
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Friday, 16 June 2000 |
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Monogram' s 1/48 scale kits are characterised by having a wealth of detail contained in a comparatively small number of highly-detailed components. This kit is no exception, featuring fully laid-out cockpit, wheel-bays, nose- and gunbay-cutaways and a well-moulded pilot figure in only 48 parts. As is common with kits dating from the 1960's, the fine panel-line detail is raised and much of the surface detail - rivets, several panels - is overscale. The decals supplied with the kit - for the aircraft flown by Lt. Urban L. Drew of the 361 Fighter Group in October 1944, in which he downed two M262's over Achmer on the 3rd of that month - are, as is usual for Monogram decals, too thick and slightly too bright. The parts fit together well and there is barely any flash. The mould lines are quite pronounced on the more delicate parts and sink marks are common.
Since I feel that a 1/48 scale kit deserves to get a lot of labour and attention, two basic things need to be done: - The surface detail must be removed and rescribed to scale and
- the kit decals need to be replaced by a set from the Microscale range.
Furthermore, any inaccuracies of the basic kit can be corrected (provided you notice them!) and some extra detail added where appropriate. I removed the surface detail with sandpaper (take care to remove the Monogram logo under the left elevator!) and then rescribed it- A good method I was told of (only afterwards, unfortunately) is to place one's scribing tool between the line to be rescribed and one's template - without having removed the line! this makes slipping of the blade less likely, and the lines can be safely sanded off after the scribing process. Photos of the P-51D show that there are minor inaccuracies in some of the model's panel positions, and some panels on the model do not appear to have any counterpart on the full-scale aircraft. However, these are small points, since at 1/48 scale one can safely leave out most surface detail and simply paint different shades to represent different panels. The tail fin should be smooth since there are no fabric control surfaces on the Mustang. The guns and ejection ports, exhaust stacks, cowling panel vents, and various radiators and cooling duels need drilling out. Two errors noticed were the grilles in front of the carburettor intake under tie nose and the radiator intake under the fuselage centre-section. These should be removed. The instruction sequence of the kit can be safely followed. The propeller assembly is a good fit and the normally troublesome gap between the two halves of the spinner can be run in with liquid glue and paint quite easily; however, the cowl is troublesome since it is larger than the fuselage it is supposed to fit. Some carving is necessary to get it to fit. Also, the carburettor intake pipe has to build up, since the view from the front is clear. So too, a radiator should be fitted into the radiator intake (far back). I found that it was necessary to cover the engine cut-out to get a satisfactory appearance, since the cut-out is moulded in relief - good enough for the 1960's when the kit was released, but not in these days. The cockpit assembly is simple. The seat provided is not one I have seen in photos of the early P-51D's and may be inaccurate. However, the represents a late model D-version with an extra fuel tank behind the pilot and the radio on one level only. Thus the seat may apply to these late models. The gun sight should be cut down to the base and built up accurately from clear plastic and plasticard. The wings and elevators should be thinned down at the trailing edges to enhance realism. The open gun bay is basically good but plasticard is required to make the inner wing structure around the gun bay and to detail the rather bare gun bay interior. The wheel bays are too shallow, but the work required to deepen them discouraged me. The undercarriage is well-moulded but bare, so brake fluid and oil pipes can be added from sprue. The only under wing stores supplied are two 110 US gallon drop tanks. If you wish to fit the kit one, these require a lot of work to be made presentable. The halves do not fit well together and the raised detail is obliterated when filling and sanding. The best thing to do is to remove all the detail, fill in the joints, and then leave the tanks as they are: the detail on them is hardly noticeable in 1/48 scale. The model dimensions overall are accurate, and the kit is a pleasure to build. Some are still available and for a good Mustang kit the price is reasonable - far less than the Hasegawa kit which has superseded the Monogram one. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 December 2006 )
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