Eduard 1/32 P-51B Birdcage for late September/October release, list price £79.99-ish

[drsquid142]

One thing I've noticed now that I have my kit is that both the wings and fuselage have cut lines moulded in, so you can remove the gun bay doors and the nose to add the upcoming 3D printed AM upgrades for the kit. The gunbay is already available to buy, and Eduard has shown the engine set in the design process on their Facebook page.

TBH, not having an engine at the price they are asking for this kit was the main disappointment for me, but it makes sense as I'm sure many other builders of the kit wouldn't want an engine if it meant the kit cost more. I just hope the 3D print engine set isn't going to cost too much.

[modelmkr]

On 7/29/2026 at 2:42 PM, Martinnfb said:

Eduard stated several times that they will never again venture to 1/32 scale after the fail of Bf-109E. Given time there will be budget friendly version of this kit, it's common sense.

Having said that, what is the content of the mystical "C" sprue?

 

If I had to guess, or hope, C sprue could be the plastic parts that are all 3D resin in the Royal Hybrid boxing. I say hope as this would make for a more affordable B Mustang if one was looking to do multiple schemes. Don’t think my pocketbook could handle having to buy 3-4 Royal Hybrids to fulfill that.

[Kagemusha]

36 minutes ago, modelmkr said:

If I had to guess, or hope, C sprue could be the plastic parts that are all 3D resin in the Royal Hybrid boxing. I say hope as this would make for a more affordable B Mustang if one was looking to do multiple schemes. Don’t think my pocketbook could handle having to buy 3-4 Royal Hybrids to fulfill that.

 

They've already stated it's only going to be a hybrid release, from the looks of it, they're going to be releasing two cheaper standard boxings before long, and apart from possible decal options, everything you could want is in the box.

[modelmkr]

I’ve had my P-51B kit for a several days now (via 48ers) and have been digging into the parts and instructions with a few observations.

 

1) In the list of colours, they include H330 Dark Green, but I can find no use of that called out in the instructions. If you find it, let me know.

EDIT: Found it. Used on scheme B, The Hun Hunter/ Texas.

 

2) The Schick-Johnson seat is correctly painted Dark/Bronze green as in the colour render. The callout for this is kind of buried in the very top right corner of page 4. Easy to miss. They call up a mix of interior green and black ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

3) In the colour renderings of the instrument coamings area, the coamings are a dark green, not interior green, but no callout to paint them that colour.

 

4) In step F, on page 9, the line drawing view of the wheel bays is a bit messed up. Both of these B&W drawings are mirror flipped, top to bottom. Also the part numbers RE15 and RE16 are reversed for these parts. The colour photo just below is correct. Perhaps label this photo with part numbers in your instructions to avoid any confusion.

 

5) The big one (IMO). Step G on page 13; this is a bit of a confusing mess (to me, anyway). The resin parts included list coaming RJ38 and RJ40, but RJ38 is not called up for use. I think this is wrong. If you study their colour renderings in the included book on page 101 (yes, I know they are only renderings and subject to errors), they show details on the use of the N-3 gunsight (part A19) and the Barr & Stroud Mk.II sight (part A20) with their respective coaming details that suggests that A19 should indeed be used with part RJ40, but when studying their respective coaming finer details (again, on pg 101), A20 should be used with coaming RJ38, not a “modified” RJ40 as the instructions suggest. Check it out and see what you think.

Also, the use of the ring and bead backup sight, with the red text in the middle of instructions page 13 says “RP40” where it should say RJ40. Regardless, this would follow as it was common to see this backup sighting system used with the N-3 gunsight but NOT with the Mk.II gunsight.

 

On page 16 and 17 of the instructions, they arbitrarily have you use the ring and bead sight system (PE2 and PE4) regardless of scheme or gunsight, so use your judgement there. As previously stated, the ring and bead system was not used with the Mk.II gunsight (at least this is my understanding).

One last observation. Many sources suggest the “most common gunsight used with the P-51B” was the N-3B or N-3C, however only one of the schemes listed, H, states to use this gunsight. Likewise, other sources state that many P-51Bs in the ETO and MTO were retrofitted with the British Mk.II gunsight due to it being overall better to use and having a wider field of view. So you’ll have to reconcile whether the research done pans out for the schemes included with the gunsights called for use.

HTH…

Edited August 4 by modelmkr

[Kagemusha]

From the latest Eduard Newsletter

 

[Collin]

Very interesting. Hopefully a lower part count and easily built in-flight!! 
 

Collin

[Johnny Cloud]

12 hours ago, Collin said:

Very interesting. Hopefully a lower part count and easily built in-flight!! 
 

Collin

The parts will be same I believe, with exception of the Malcolm hood.

 

[allthumbs]

From the August edition of Eduard Info:

 

Royal Hybrid series kit will be replaced in our range by the new 1/32 scale P-51B Mustang Birdcage kit, which will be released as part of the standard Eduard Hybrid range.
 

This new version will differ from the current one in that it will not include the book, pilot figure or landing gear bays plugs. As the name suggests, it will also have slightly fewer 3D-printed parts, featuring just one cockpit version and one seat version.
 

In January 2027, it will be joined by the P-51B Mustang Malcolm Hood.  Later in the year, we will release two further kits: the P-51B Mustang CBI and the Mustang Mk.III.

 

Edited August 5 by allthumbs

[Bill Cross]

I hope there is an "everyman" version, as the B and C don't get enough love from historians or modelers.

 

CBI? Most Americans at least have no idea what that stands for. Europe gets an overwhelming amount of the attention from history programs except perhaps for carrier aviation, and virtually nothing about Burma or India. I would love to see more things about planes of that fight, and welcome Eduard doing this.

 

Personally, I went for the Royal Whatever-it's-called because it seemed like the best way to celebrate beating cancer, which is a "get out of jail free" card I can use on the wife perhaps one or two more times when it comes to models. After that, she's likely to make me go back to sleeping on the Lazyboy. 😄

 

Edited August 5 by Bill Cross
clarity

[quang]

I was planning to make a 51st FG Mustang out of my Royal Hybrid but knowing that Eduard will be releasing a CBI version next year, I’ll have to change my plans.
Ah well, it’s no country for old men. 😎

[csavaglio]

2 hours ago, Bill Cross said:

CBI? Most Americans at least have no idea what that stands for. Europe gets an overwhelming amount of the attention from history programs except perhaps for carrier aviation, and virtually nothing about Burma or India. I would love to see more things about planes of that fight, and welcome Eduard doing this.

 

Literally the only allied aircraft to operate in the CBI theater were the AVG P-40s.  Everyone knows this. 

 

Honestly, it's interesting to me because the aircraft in the CBI got well used and weathered and I tend to like the types deployed there. 

 

Congrats on the cancer win, Bill. 

[Juggernut]

Quote

Literally the only allied aircraft to operate in the CBI theater were the AVG P-40s.  Everyone knows this. 

 

I am choosing to think that this was said with crossed-fingers behind the back, and tongue-in-cheek and not a factual statement.  I can't tell because there's no emojis  to give me a clue but I believe I got it right.....  LOL, I just spent about 15 minutes scanning photos of P-51A's, A-36's, P-51B's and C's in China-Burma-India.

 

 

 

[denders]

1 hour ago, Juggernut said:

 

I am choosing to think that this was said with crossed-fingers behind the back, and tongue-in-cheek and not a factual statement.  I can't tell because there's no emojis  to give me a clue but I believe I got it right.....  LOL, I just spent about 15 minutes scanning photos of P-51A's, A-36's, P-51B's and C's in China-Burma-India.

 

 

 

Yeah, the first thing that came to mind was, What about the Air Commandos? The folks with the 4 or 5 stripes on the fuselage.

[csavaglio]

Heavy heavy sarcasm 

 

Forever ago, I read a book by a fighter pilot who flew the hump and then P-40Q or N.  I distinctly remember some of his descriptions of the places they stopped and the fairly stripped down cockpit of the version he flew. 

Edited August 6 by csavaglio

[Kagemusha]

4 hours ago, quang said:

I was planning to make a 51st FG Mustang out of my Royal Hybrid but knowing that Eduard will be releasing a CBI version next year, I’ll have to change my plans.
Ah well, it’s no country for old men. 😎

 

It's going to be interesting to see if it has the fin fillet, or not, or maybe both.