1:48 P-51B Mustang

The Mustang as it looked before the bubble

The P-51B version differs from the later and better known form in its spine: the cockpit has a framed canopy and behind it the full line of the fuselage continues. That took the pilot's view to the rear away, which while escorting bombers over Germany could decide a life, so a number of machines received a blown British canopy. It is this transitional form that makes the early version an attractive subject for a modeler, because the usual shape of the Mustang differs from it strikingly.

Two personal names

Both subjects from the sheet belong to machines operating from English bases, each from a different fighter group. They carry a name painted under the cockpit and along with it the code letters of the squadron, which during the war were the main way machines were told apart on an airfield. National insignia and small technical lettering complete them, and the wing and fuselage of a Mustang are dotted with those more densely than appears at first glance.

Practical advice

• Set the code letters by the national insignia, not by the edge of the wing.
• Divide the name under the cockpit only if it runs across the exhausts.
• Spray the anti-glare panel in front of the cockpit before applying the sheet.
• Hold thin lettering on the wing with a point; it twists easily.

What is supplied is decals alone; a model of the fighter in 1:48 scale and paints are provided separately. The sheet also suits a modeler who wants both forms of the Mustang side by side in a display case and to show on them how quickly the structure of the best known American fighter changed within a single year.