P-51D Mustang

Eduard ProfiPACK Edition, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

Eduard continues to make use of these wonderful sprues and again an enormous box contains parts to make one more Mustang from a number of UK based Air Forces, and one from the Pacific. The box has a great illustration of one of the decals choices, “ Big Beautiful Doll” in NMF with a checkered nose downing Me262.

The Eduard 1/48 P-51 D kits were welcomed with great reviews and this new 1/72 offering has attracted the same accolades. Brett reviewed the initial 1/72 Royal Class release in late July last year and I urge you to visit his detailed images and review, to which I can offer no more information apart from telling you of the different inclusion/deletions from the kit as well as the variety of decal choices.

Opening the box will reveal a 24-page coloured A4 instruction booklet which starts with a parts map indicating that some 75! parts should be consigned to the spares box. There is also a recommendation to Check the Latest Version of the Instructions on www.eduard.com.  I had a look at this site and, as far as I could see, there are no differences from the provided instructions but you are welcome to look for yourself.

As a Profipack version there are a set of masks and a colour photo-etched fret that will greatly enhance this already wonderful kit.

The three large sprues are in dark grey plastic packed in clear resealable sleeves, along with a transparency sprue in its own sleeve.  

The parts are beautifully moulded with subtle surface panelling and great detail. The cockpit alone is an outstanding piece of work, as are the wheel wells.

Then there is the decal sheet for the six examples with a smaller sheet of stencils and generic markings. As always these are beautifully printed with great register and density and commendably narrow carrier film. Some nose decorations come in several parts to get around nose contours and some will need a colour applied under the decal. All are from the last 8 months or so of the war.  Most of them are in NMF overall with different tones as indicated in the diagrams.

The choices are as follows :

• P-51D-20 , 44-72218 WZ-I ,“Big Beautiful Doll” of Lt Col. J.D.Landers of 78th FG, 8th AF, Duxford in March 1945, with a B&W checked nose and black rudder,

• P-51D-15 , 44-15041 HO,“Petie 3rd” of Lt Col. J.C Meyer of 352th FG, 8th AF, in Belgium in December 1944,  with blue nose and rudder and partial black ID stripes,

• P-51D-10 , 44-14896 G4-C,“Nooky Booky III” of Major L K Carsen  of 357th FG, 8th AF, at Leisham , UK September 1944 in Olive Drab over Neutral Grey,

• P-51D-20 , 44-63607 FT-L, of Lt Col. G.T Eagleston of 354h FG, 9th AF,  in Germany, April 1945 in overall NMF and yellow nose an spinner, with an appropriate giant eagle on the nose,

• P-51D-5 , 44-13298 QP ,“Marie” of Cape. F.F. Ohr of 15th FG, 15th AF, Italy , autumn 1944, overall NMF with red nose and yellow over the whole tail and wing stripes - a very colourful example, and 

• P-51D-20 , 44-72570, 547 ,“Fighting Lady” of Lt R.S. Gardner of 457th FG, 20th AF, at Iwojima in June/July 1945 in overall NMF with green tail surfaces and a partially undressed young lady under the cockpit.

A separate decal sheet for stencils and miscllaneous markings is provided.

All-in-all a great selection of colourful schemes and decals to decorate your models with. The problem might be having to make a choice! This is where the Overtrees kits come into their own, or you could share them with kits from other manufacturers. Each choice is illustrated with a full page colour drawing showing decal locations and colour notes with reference to Gunze Aqueous and Mr Color. The final pages contain detailed stencil placement drawings and a catalogue of accessories that will further enhance this amazing kit.

As usual the instructions are wonderfully clear with each step shown accompanied by colour notes. I would thoroughly recommend deciding which ones you wish to build and then firstly remove all unused parts from the sprues and mark the booklet with a highlighter so that you have a clear guide as to which steps and parts you will be using. So, if “Big Beautiful Doll” is your choice, then go through and highlight every step which applies to choice “D” . Each decal choice is identified by letters so take note and care!! Once this is all attended to, then you will have a painless and enjoyable build. I am sure some truly great replicas will result from this wonderful kit and it comes highly recommended to those of you with an interest in this iconic war-plane.

Eduard again meets the demands of modellers with a wonderful kit of this iconic aeroplane that sets new standards of parts, decals and instructions. Highly recommended. Get in and stock up on this series now..

Thanks to Eduard for the sample

Review Text & Images Copyright © 2025 by Graham Carter
Images Copyright © 2025 by Brett Green
Page Created 14 March, 2025
Last updated 14 March, 2025

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