This is Tamiya's 1/48 North American P-51B, kit 61042.

Built out of the box. Although reviews on the web seem to indicate that this kit is a true shake-and-bake, I had some fit issues. I had a devil of a time getting the bottom wing half to fit (this kit has you glue the bottom of the wing to the fuselage, and then glue the tops of the wings on). At the end of the kit, I had trouble with the drop tanks, the light cover on the wing, and the canopy. I think the canopy fit is bad because the gunsight is not seated all the way down.

I used Krylon Flat White for the primer. I was not pleased, as the texture was very rough. The search for a good primer continues. Tamiya acrylics were used for the exterior. XF-62 Olive Drab was used for the olive drab. I used XF-66 Light Grey for the bottom. I was going to use XF-53 Neutral Grey, but it looked too dark. Even the Light Grey was much darker than I would have preferred. Also, the red on the spinner is lighter than the red on the nose. This is because the nose was painted over the Light Grey, whereas the spinner was painted over white. In the future, I must remember to use the same primer for red.

Decals are from the kit. They went on reasonably well, given the roughness of the paint, even after a couple of coats of clear gloss. I put the stencils on the prop blades (first time I've done that). I also added an antenna made of thread. It isn't quite as taut as I'd like, but it's okay for a first try. One of my resolutions on ARC was to add an antenna to a model this year, so I'm glad I got that out of the way!

I used an EZ Mask to mask the canopy, which fit well.

Page last updated February 14, 2024.