Tamiya's 1/48 scale
P-51D Mustang

by Richard Nicoletti

Tamiya's 1/48 scale F4F-4 Wildcat is available online from Squadron.com for only $21.78!

The model depicts the North American P-51D Mustang (361st Fighter Group, 375th Fighter Squadron, 8th Air Force, RAF Bottisham) flown by 1st Lt. Urban L. Drew in October 1944 when he was credited with being the first American airman to shoot down two German Me-262 jet fighters while on the same mission.

Although Lt. Drew survived the war, the aircraft, P-51D No. 413326 (ES + S), was lost on a subsequent mission while flown by a different pilot.

The model was a joy to build out of the box and well engineered by Tamiya. While I did use the invasion stripe decals provided in the kit, if I had to do it over again, I would just mask and spray paint the stripes.

Finishing was accomplished using Model Master Metalizer Aluminum Plate Buffing Metalizer lacquer for the natural metal areas and Tamiya acrylic paint for the rest. I used paper card and post-it note templates for the upper surface camouflage and had to fine tune both the natural metal and olive drab areas numerous times to match reference photos of the real aircraft.

While the Model Master Metalizer lacquer buffed out to a beautiful shine, the shiny finish was dulled down by the Future acrylic gloss finish used to seal it prior to decal application.

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Model and Text Copyright © 2015 by Richard Nicoletti
Page Created 6 October, 2015
Last Updated 6 October, 2015

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