P-51B & D Mustang
Decal Sets

LPS Hobby, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

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The North American P-51 Mustang is a true classic and a justifiably popular modelling subject.  LPS Hobby’s latest three releases are pitched to take advantage of this fact.

Each set of decals comes in a zip-lock plastic bag. An A-5 sized header is printed in colour, as are the painting and decaling guides. These are I think ink-jet and have a matt finish. The instructions have quite a few useful notes on markings, as well as covering markings and stencil locations (The P-51B sheet as a separate page covering stencil locations). The more I studied the instructions, the more I came to appreciate their clear layout and thoroughness.

Colour call-outs use military colour names but not refer to FS-595 codes. The instructions for Parts 1 & 2 of the camouflaged P-51D’s also mention the possibility that British paint colours were used on these aircraft; again just their military colour names are used. There was some useful discussion of this point in connection with this sheet recently on HyperScale’s “Plane Talking”; check it out here if you are interested in knowing more.

The decals are printed by Microscale and appear to be of excellent quality, with superb registration and what looks like good opacity. The sheets advise in each case that the sets are designed for use with the Tamiya P-51D/K and Academy P-51B/C kits. The relevance of this I think is mainly in regard to the bands for the spinners and checkers intended to surround the engine cowl, as all other decals should be unaffected by the brand of kit selected.

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Three subjects per sheet is fine as such, but the sheets are fairly small and lack sufficient national insignia and stencils to complete all three options. I feel that these sets are a rather expensive compared to brands with equivalent quality decals using the same size packaging, but offering either more subject choices and/or complete markings sets for each subject. I would still buy them because of the subject choices, but for the money I would like to be able to complete each subject without resorting to other decals sources for national insignia and stencils.

The Subjects

LPM72-12 “USAAF Camouflaged P-51D Part 1”:

• P-51D-5-NA, 44-13681, 363 FS/357 FG, Leiston, UK, 1944, 'Mary Alice', as flown by Capt. Atlee G. Manthos.

• P-51D-5-NA, 44-13318, 364 FS/357 FG, Leiston, UK, 1944, 'Frenesi', as flown by Lt.Col. Tommy Hayes.

• P-51D-10-NA, 44-14789, 362 FS/357 FG, Leiston, UK, 1944, 'Missouri Armada', as flown by Capt. John B. England.

LPM72-10 “USAAF Camouflaged P-51D Part 2”:

• P-51D-5-NA, 44-14507, 364 FS/357 FG, Leiston, UK, 1944, 'Tangerine', as flown by Lt. Henry Pfeiffer.

• P-51D-10-NA, 44-14798, 362 FS/357 FG, Leiston, UK, 1945, 'Master Mike', as flown by Lt.Col. Joseph Broadhead.

• P-51D-15-NA, 44-15347, 334 FS/4 FG, Debden, UK, 1944, as flown by Maj. Howard Hively.

LPM72-11 “8th Air Force Mustangs” (P-51B):

• P-51B-15-NA, 42-106950, 354 FS/355 FG, Steeple Morden, UK, 1944, 'The Iowa Beaut', as flown by Lt. Robert Hulderman.

• P-51B-15-NA, 42-106839, 374 FS/361 FG, Bottlsam, UK, 1945, 'Bald Eagle', as flown by Lt. Robert Eckfeldt.

• P-51B-15-NA, 42-106875, 375 FS/361 FG, Little Walden, UK, 1944, 'Queen Jean' as flown by Capt. William Shackelford.

The quality of the decals in these sets appears to be excellent, and that obviously counts for a lot. The good instructions also appear to be well researched. The inclusion of propeller bands is a nice touch, as they save some tricky masking. The subject choices are also interesting and attractive.
 
The sets are in my view a bit expensive compared to similar sized packages from other producers, and would offer more justifiable value if full sets of national insignia and stencils were included for each option. However, I accept that value perception can vary widely amongst different people.

Recommended.

Thanks to LPS Hobby for this sample.

Text and Images Copyright © 2014 by Mark Davies
This Page Created on 24 April, 2014
Last updated 28 April, 2014

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