1:72 P-51D Mustang 75gal drop tanks PRINT

Drop tanks for long escorts

The metal tank holding seventy-five US gallons, that is roughly two hundred and eighty liters, was the most common fuel addition on the Western and the Pacific battlefield during the war. It was hung under the wing on a pylon and, together with an identical tank on the other side, it extended the combat radius of the fighter far enough for it to stay with a bomber formation for most of the way to the target. Before combat both tanks were dropped, so that the machine did not lose agility and did not carry a flammable load into a fight.

The shape has a shallow domed upper surface, a rounded nose and the traces of the pressed panels that met on the real tank in a seam running around the circumference. 3D printing makes it possible to produce the whole thing in one piece, so there is no gluing of two halves and no subsequent sanding of a lengthwise seam, which usually takes the surrounding detail with it.

Three kinds of tank appeared under the wing of the Mustang during the war: small sheet-metal ones, these medium ones and the bulky British ones pressed from paper. The choice depended on the length of the mission and on what was to hand, so photographs of one and the same squadron from different weeks show a different combination every time.

Before you hang them

The pylons under the wing tend to be undersized in kits in this scale; before you fit the tank, check that the mount will take its weight and reinforce it with wire if necessary. The surface is painted in the same shade as the underside of the aircraft, but on later machines a bare metal finish with no paint also appeared.

The set covers this part of the stores only, and the rest of the armament stays with the kit.