P-51B/C/Mk.III Mustang
with Malcolm Hood

KP, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

Eduard's 1/72 L-39ZA Weekend Edition is available online from Squadron.com

As a non expert, if I look at a model either assembled or in the box, and can see what I believe to be faults, then I take them seriously and have to decide if I can ignore them, fix them or if they will prevent me from buying the kit. The three previous P-51B/C kits in 1/72nd scale, Hasagawa, Academy and Revell, all had these kinds of faults.

Hasagawa had a cowling that flattened out over the exhausts, a P-51D wing and a ridiculously shallow wheel well. Academy, although beautifully moulded, had a wind screen that was too long and made the canopy too short and a Hasagawa style shallow wheel well. Revell looked good over all but was let down by a very narrow seat and very poorly moulded clear parts and again a shallow wheel well. I am told that both the Academy and Revell wings are still not correct for a P-51B/C but too me they looked okay. All three kits, when compared to reliable plans(?), show other faults but they are not obvious and so I’m inclined to ignore them. Oddly, some people still think the Hasagawa is the pick of the bunch even though by the time you have bought the required resin parts it is a horrendously expensive model. I find this hard to understand.

KP has been around for a long time but they are now owned by AZ Models from the Czech Republic, a short run company who’s mouldings have been improving in leaps and bound over the last couple of years. Some of their recent kits have been superb, for example, their Mk IX Spitfire is considered the market leader for accuracy and detail so when we heard they were doing a P-51B/C, our expectations were high.

KP have released five kits of the early P-51B/C/Mk III without the fin fillet, two with the Malcolm Hood, one RAF and one USAAF and three with standard canopies, again one RAF and two USAAF. They come in the usual end opening carton with rather poor artwork on the front and paint and decal instructions for two of the colour options on the back (a third is in the instruction sheet). There are three beautifully moulded plastic sprues, two in mid grey and one clear. Remember, although the quality of the mouldings is very high, these are short run kits so there are no locating pins and care in construction will need to be taken.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 

Thumbnail panels:

The first grey sprue carries the fuselage halves, tail planes, separate and reasonably deep wheel well, droppable flaps, undercarriage doors, legs and wheels plus other minor parts all beautifully moulded with next to no flash. The other has the three piece wing which looks like a Mk. III wing, positionable ailerons, optional shrouded or unshrouded exhausts, interior bits including a very nicely moulded instrument panel plus again other small items.

The clear sprue has only two parts. A one piece Malcolm Hood canopy and a landing light. The canopy follows the Hasagawa style where the rear view side windows are engraved onto a panel that extends back to the first vertical panel line aft of the sliding hood.

The realistically deep wheel well, like all of the other Mustang kits except Airfix, has the rear wall following the well opening in the wing bottom instead of the main spar and it looks like it may be quite hard to fix.

The four page full colour instructions begin with a short history, parts plan, 14 build diagrams and the third paint and decal option on the last page. They are a little confusing in some areas. Part 42 is shown in the painting guide but no mention is made of what it is or where it goes on the model. Similarly, parts 40 and 41 are shown in the parts plan but not mentioned again. After looking at the Tamiya “D” kit, I think 40 and 41 are inner gear door actuators but as I said above there is no mention of this in the instructions. There are two radio masts on the parts plan, parts 25 and 44. 44 is shown as not for use in this kit but in the instructions part 25 is shown mounted on the rear fuselage. No Malcolm Hood equipped Mustangs had a solid mast because it interfered with the rear sliding canopy and a whip aerial was fitted instead. Some of the diagrams are a bit small making it hard to determine exactly where and how some small parts are mounted.

Similarities and Carried Over Errors

A bit of a disappointment and a missed opportunity... it would appear that some parts have been "inspired" by other kits, for instance, the Revell fuselage and Hasagawa Malcolm Hood canopy although some modifications have been made. Some modeller are not happy about this but as far as I’m concerned if Revell and Hasagawa don’t mind then neither do I.

However, it would seem that in the process they have included some of the originals' mistakes. They’ve gotten rid of most of the faults from the other kits but introduced a few of their own. The first of these is the separate rudder which has the balance in the fin rather than on the rudder. This should not be hard to fix but is annoying. Next, the fin appears to have a slight tilt forward at the top. I’m not sure if this is worth worrying about as it is hardly noticeable unless compared with plans or a similar model.

As far as I know, all Mustangs carried bomb crutches under the wings and all the other kits supply them along with bombs and or drop tanks however KP apparently forgot to put them in the kit. We are told they intend to supply a separate kit with the missing crutches, bombs, drop tanks and masks at a later date. Naughty AZ/KP, very naughty.

Like the other Mustang kits, the KP Mustang, when compared with plans, I used those from David Muir’s very informative book Southern Cross Mustangs, shows many very small shape variations. However, when looking at the parts on the sprue, these shape problems are not noticeable and the mouldings are so clean and crisp and I think the advantages out weigh the faults

Markings

The small decal sheet with one set of RAF national markings, three sets of Sky squadron codes, serial numbers and other small markings is well printed with good colour density and register.

However the red in the roundels and fin flash is way too bright meaning alternative decal will be required.

Okay, this is not the ultimate P-51B/C and with the amount of faults I’ve pointed out you could be excused for thinking this is a very poor kit but nearly all the faults are very minor, easily fixed or not worth worrying about and in fact I will stick my neck out and say in my opinion, this is the best P-51B/C on the market until some one like Tamiya comes along and gives us some thing better.

I know a lot of people will not agree with that and I respect their opinions and I hope they will respect mine

Review Text Copyright © 2015 by Glen Porter
Page Created 21 May, 2015
Last updated 21 May, 2015

Back to HyperScale Main Page

Back to Reviews Page