What AM is needed for Hobby Craft P-51/A-36?

[Adam Maas]

Unless someone switched the parts, your kit should have nose parts without the gun holes, cannon wings with no dive brakes, a camera for behind the cockpit, and 'quarter glazing' with a camera hole to depict an RAF Mk.Ia (as indicated on the box). 

 

To build a P-51A you'll need the machine gun nose and wing parts. 

 

To build an A-36A, you'll need the machine gun nose and wing parts with dive brakes. 

 

Unless, of course, you intend to alter those parts yourself. 

 

D

To build a P-51A you need the wing parts and intake bits if you have a P-51/Mk1a kit, the P-51A and the P-51 had the same basic nose aside from potential intake differences. The machine gun nose was only on the Mk1/XP-51 and the A-36.

 

 

[Adam Maas]

The parts in the Mustang Mk.Ia box will not work to build a P-51A or A-36A without substantial modifications. The P-51A and A-36A kits had different nose and wing parts for the substantially different armament between the varients, and dive brakes in the case of he A-36A. 

 

It is a shame that the kit wasn't well received or in production long enough to warrant aftermarket support to correct the nose, spinner, prop and exhausts. 

 

The Aires P-51B wheelwell mentioned above actually represents the earlier Allison variants, so that is a wonderful thing. The Vector cockpit sets are also a big improvement over the kit's parts.

 

As for P-51D parts, only wheels and landing gear legs are directly compatible. 

 

HTH,

D

 

The kit is a scaled up version of AM's 1/48 kit, with the same set of engineering problems and far cruder molding.

 

Largely it's missing the variations in the radiator setup (which changed pretty significantly between the early Allison Mustangs and the late ones), There's also only 2 noses available (gun and no gun) while there are 4+ nose variations on the real thing (gun and no gun with multiple carb intake setups. Realistically the kit builds up as a pretty decent A or A-36 from those boxings, and can be turned into a decent Mk1a if you're willing to do some work on the nose and rebuild the entire radiator fairing & scoop.

 

As to the D, if you have an early D (no fillet, fabric elevator) you can reuse much of the tail to improve the tail on the kit. That will net you a nicer set of stabs and a more accurate fin & rudder.

[D Bellis]

Not sure why you felt the need to quote my posts to add your thoughts, but if both of your posts are directed to me...

 

To build a P-51A you need the wing parts and intake bits if you have a P-51/Mk1a kit, the P-51A and the P-51 had the same basic nose aside from potential intake differences. The machine gun nose was only on the Mk1/XP-51 and the A-36.

 

Correct.

 

Realistically the kit builds up as a pretty decent A or A-36 from those boxings

Not possible since he has the Mk.Ia kit (see the OP's first post). So, he can only build an A-36A if he adds the dive brakes to the wings, removes the cannon stubs and alters the shell ejection ports on the undersides, adds the machine guns to the nose, so on and so forth.

 

D

[1to1scale]

I did a little research and I think I figured out a way to build this with US markings, some of the early mustangs used in Operation Torch used MK1a's and called them P-51's. Or another alternative is to do a few mods and make it an F-6A. What do you guys think?

 

 

 

[Adam Maas]

I did a little research and I think I figured out a way to build this with US markings, some of the early mustangs used in Operation Torch used MK1a's and called them P-51's. Or another alternative is to do a few mods and make it an F-6A. What do you guys think?

that to get a proper A or A-36 requires one of those specific boxings, not the Mk.1a boxing, and no boxing results in a Mk1a without additional work as all the kits include the late radiator setup which is not correct for a Mk1 or Mk1a.

The USAAF retained 57 of the 150 Mk1A production run as P-51's (as well as 2 of the first 10 Mk1's as XP-51's), All Mk1a/P-51 production was Lend-Lease (unlike the Mk1 which were a direct purchase from NAA by the RAF) so those aircraft were all US owned to start with. The RAF in return got 50 P-51A's as Mustang MkII's in compensation for giving up a portion of the Mk1a production run.

 

Note all three profiles are incorrect in their model callouts. The 154th Mustangs are F-6A's (photorecon variant of the Mk1a/P-51, 55 of the 57 P-51's ended up as F-6A's), both in Operation Torch markings from 1942 while the 107th aircraft is an F-6B (photorecon variant of the P-51A). Everything you need to do an F-6A is in the Mk1a box except for an accurate radiator scoop (which is a fairly minor thing if you aren't a Allison Mustang fanatic)

[1to1scale]

Thanks Adam! That's what I was hoping for, now I can throw a little money at some resin sets for the interior, exhaust, and gear and tires.

[BrianB]

You found a source for 1/32 flared exhausts?

 

Brian

[1to1scale]

You found a source for 1/32 flared exhausts?

 

Brian

P-39's used the same Allison engines, there is a resin set for them.