Trumpeter, 1/32-scale P-51D

[Allok]

It may have come up before and I may have just missed it but has anybody bought this model and done a quick review... Perhaps even on another site?

[Haggis]

I've just finished the kit. The engine is quite nice and will look great if detailed up with wire etc, it needs careful fitting though. Mine wasn't quite right which threw off the exhausts off and the spinner mounting. The wheel wells are wrong and copies most P-51 kits, i.e the main spar is depicted as the rear wall which follows the angle of the wheel well but it;s quite nicely detailed. The cockpit is adequate, just. It seems a bit basic but it's acceptable. It fit's together well and the surface detail is nice. As for accuracy, I'm not an expert, may I suggest the P-51 SIG.

 

 

More here

 

http://forums.europeanmodeller.com/index.p...=si&img=227

[Allok]

Looks great Jamie, thanks for your info.

 

Hope you had a great birthday.

[Loic]

Very nice p51 Jamie.

The kit looks good (assuming you can leave with its already known issues) and your paint work is great.

Congrats!

Cheers,

Loic

[Silver Dollar]

That's one of the best P51's I've ever seen done. The finish is amazing. It actually looks downright real. Fantastic job. What did you use for the metal finish?

[M. Scott Borden]

Allok - I posted the following on ARC. I clipped / taped / fitted the clear parts, canopy frame, and spinner together to assess the kit shape / accuracy...

 

...Let me qualify my input by stating that from 1971 to 1977 I serviced/maintained several mustangs in the U.S. and helped Darrell Skurich restore Jimmy Leeward's No. 9, "Cloud Dancer". I also helped restore David Price's "Cottonmouth". Needless to say I am picky about P-51 accuracy...

 

I purchased the Trumpeter P-51D and wish that I hadn't spent the money. While I agree to a certain extent that one could apply modeling skills to achieve greater accuracy, it just seems to me that, for this kind of money, and with the existence of the 1/48 Tamiya and Hasegawa models for guidance (or, I dare say, to copy in 1/32 scale), I should be able to buy a highly accurate 1/32 P-51D in the year 2008.

• The windscreen and canopy are about 75%-accurate representations. They are oversize. The separate canopy frame isn't deep enough. The windscreen is so large that the fuselage section between the front of the windscreen and the back of the engine compartment isn't long enough to display the hydraulic reservoir access panel. Note: The access panel appears on the Trumpeter P-51B.
  
• The instrument panel hood is round. On every mustang from the A-model through the D/K-model the sides and top of the instrument panel hood are flat and the corners are rounded. Note: Inaccuracy duplicated from the Trumpeter P-51B.
  
• Indeed, the spinner is short. Further, four rather strange-looking reinforcing panels (like flower petals) are molded on the spinner backplate.
  
• Most of the cowling on the real P-51D is attached with widely-spaced dzus fasteners. The dzus fasteners on the Trumpeter P-51D are numerous and closely-spaced. Strangely, the Trumpeter P-51B is more accurate.
  
• The fuselage below and aft of the spinner should be slightly "pinched" to smoothly fair the cowling with the carburetor air intake. On the Trumpeter P-51D, the fuselage "pinch" is noticeably exaggerated. And, yes, the carburetor air intake is undersize.
  
• The corners of the access panels on the real P-51D (and the corners of the cutout skin that surrounds them) are rounded. Not so, on the Trumpeter P-51D.
  
• There is no hand hold on the right side of any P-51.
  
• The wing-to-fuselage fairings do not fit flush with the surrounding skin on the real P-51D. Not according to Trumpeter.
  
• The elevators are covered in simulated fabric.
  

Ok, so, at that point I stopped clipping / taping / fitting clear parts, just in case I want to try to sell this thing or give it away. Before I stowed the parts and closed the box top I compared the Trumpeter parts with the same Hasegawa P-51D parts.

• The Hasegawa windscreen and canopy will fit, but they are slightly wider than the Trumpeter fuselage. You'd have to heat/fit the windscreen, have to add plastic to the fuselage to fill the gap between the windscreen and the back of the engine compartment, and have to sand / fit / fill / repeat the top of the fuselage flat to fit the Hasegawa canopy frame (assuming you want the option to close the canopy...).
  
• You could use the Hasegawa spinner.
  
• I held one half of the Trumpeter fuselage together with the opposite half of the Hasegawa fuselage. The fuselage contours are very, very close; in fact, the nose of the Trumpeter fuselage is ever so slightly longer.
  

So, if you are not picky, could you build a representation of a P-51D, something along the order of a 1/48 ARII vs. 1/48 Tamiya? Yes, but for $80-100?

 

I have the Dragon P-51D. I hate to state it, but, it is more externally accurate than the Trumpeter kit (except for the exaggerated surface detail, of course). And you'll have to install an aftermarket cockpit kit, True Detail wheels, and maybe try to use the Hasegawa prop blades...

 

If I knew what I know now, I would let my money earn a little more measly interest in my account and wait for (I hope the rumor under discussion on LSP is true) the Tamiyagawa P-51D. If I absolutely just had to build a P-51D this year, I'd either aftermarket the Dragon or rescribe/aftermarket the Hasegawa.

 

Scott

[Allok]

Thanks for the info, Scott. That is exactly what I was looking for.

 

I already have a Hasegawa P-51 in my cabinet which I am quite happy with (Even though I built it a while ago and is not up to my current ability). Since the Dragon and Trumpeter offerings are not an improvement on this kit, I will stick with it until the new one is released next year.

I'm sure they are all good kits, I just want to get the best one I can... I've got plenty to keep me busy in the meantime.

 

Thanks to everyone for all the input.

 

Keith.

[M. Scott Borden]

You are most welcome, Keith. Glad to help!

 

Scott

[madferret]

I've read a lot of reviews of the Dragon P-51D and now the Trumpeter one. Which one has the most accurate lower nose profile? I thought the Dragon one looked good until I put it next to my Hasegawa ones, now I don't know where to put it. From the Mustangs that I've seen at shows and pictures in books, it looks like the Hasegawa nose is more accurate. I'm talking about from the front of the wing to the spinner. The Dragon one looks like it curves too much. Does it?

 

Madferret

[swede]

Did anyone encounter mounting problems of the main gear door to the landing gear legs? Seems the mounting legs off the gear leg don't match up with the door

[Juggernut]

I don't think many people, if any, have built the 1/32 Trumpeter P-51D kit since Tamiya released theirs.