John1

Oh crap!!! Well, it’s too late to address, got the fuselage buttoned up. You are correct. I know I’ve see some late model D’s with the early glareshield but I can’t believe I missed this. I might see about glueing some strips of sheet plastic to replicate these. Thanks for the catch!

What a fascinating thread, although I’m not sure about using pics of restored Mustangs on display in museums to make a case for how these planes looked 75 years ago in combat. Anyway, I’d say this topic probably takes first place for “Most over-analyzed modeling subject”, followed closely by an oldie but a goodie - “Did Spitfires have hard-edge camouflage?” That being said, we have another subject coming on strong, the classic debate - “Was Lou IV overpainted with blue or green?” This last subject is discussed in excruciating detail in a 190+ post thread over on HS.

Just the shortened wingtips. You could do the surgery but I figured it would be better done with new resin wingtips. The fact that no one has tells me that despite the clamor on some websites, the demand for this version is actually pretty low.

Work continues.. I have to admit, the news that Tamiya is now releasing an F-51D has kinda taken the wind out my sails. I like modeling somewhat off the beaten path and now that there will be F-51's flooding the market, I've lost a bit of interest but at this point, I have no choice but to continue on... I completed the glare shield. On the underside, I added wiring for the K-14 gunsight control box and scratch built instrument panel lights from styrene rod and stretched sprue. I took a picture of the bottom but it came out horribly. You'll have to trust me that all this stuff is present. Once the fuselage is assembled, it will barely be visible anyway. I then painted the glare shield with a dark grey / black mix and hit it with tan pastels. Every glare shield I've seen in RL has been heavily faded and dusty. Solid black isn't an appropriate color, in my opinion. After that, I built the radiator duct assembly straight out of the box (once completed, very little will be visible and the kit parts are quite sufficient). After that, I glued everything into the left fuselage. I recommend test fitting extensively, in my case I had to carve away some of the Barracuda resin to get things to fit. The weathered glareshield. Note that it's the later type, without the reinforcing ribs. Everything installed in the fuselage side. This really gives you an idea of how cramped the Mustang's cockpit was. Compared to my last build (F4U-1D Corsair), this cockpit is downright claustrophobic. That's it for now, thanks for looking!

The mods banned any threads that discussed the 737Max because the issue was just too contentious. I'm wondering if we need to do the same for any discussion on P-51 wings* *only slightly tongue in cheek.

Why is this “evidence”? It’s a museum exhibit so it’s either restored (which means very little) or it’s a 75-year old original (which also means very little as I’m sure the wing finish degraded over 3/4th of a century).

I’m quite surprised that no aftermarket folks jumped in to offer the bits for an FAA Corsair.

I’m just happy they released anything. Was starting to think they were getting out of the 32nd scale market. I’d love to see a brand new subject but I guess I can live with a few spin-offs for a bit.

Truly sad, especially this time of year. I read it was on a post-maintenance test flight and it just went missing. The pics I saw of the crash site are pretty grim, it went down hard. RIP to those troops.

Feh... I’m still trying to get my arms around the fact that we’ve got a plethora of obscure WW1 kits that most modelers have zero interest in and yet not a single manufacturer seems interested in a new tool F-86 Saber.

From the directions - To use this 3D-printed model, your Airfix kit's wing must be modified to have increased dihedral. No wing modification instructions are provided. Are the wings on the kit botched? How do you correct it since apparently MM won't tell us.

Never noticed that before. Was that a widespread mod on post-war Mustangs?

On the ANG example - Note the locked down tailwheel, additional radio, cuffless blades and those long drop tanks.

I'm not so sure. I'm not an expert but assuming we are talking about very "low effort" releases such as the F-51D, I think there options are a bit limited. With the F-51D, the Mustang series has gone as far as it can go. Can't easily tweak this kit into a B/C. I think the Spitfire series is tapped out, along with the early Corsairs (making a -4/5 out of the existing base kit is a massive effort). Not sure about the Zero series, I thought the only one not offered was a Hamp and that would be a somewhat major undertaking. The one 32nd kit that has some promise is the Mosquito. I think they could easily offer a Coastal Command variant. Does anyone know if the existing kit has flashed over holes for the RP racks, like the current Mustang kits do? That would be an indicator that Tamiya built in some provisions to release other versions. Next up in order of difficulty would be a bomber nose or night fighter version. Lastly, if they really wanted to, they could dive into the 2-staged Merlin series without replacing half the sprues on the base kit. I didn't mention the F-16D because I honestly don't think the interest is there, despite the pleas from some folks.

I'm pleased to hear this news. Not so much because I need another F-51D but becaused, if true, is does indicate that Tamiya still has a bit of interest in the 32nd scale field. Now granted, releasing this version isn't a great leap for them, at best, it's just a small sprue with the extra bits and some new decals. That being said, a few folks here on LSP postulated that Tamiya might be getting away entirely from this scale so any activity is a plus in my book. If they are playing it conservatively, maybe the next kit will be another Mosquito version? I am curious how this news ended up being released on a single retail website. Typically, Tamiya announces their new kits with a bit more flourish. I do wonder if Lucky Models might have jumped the gun on this one!