Academy's 1/72 scale P-51B
Mustang Mk.III

by Glen Porter

images by Brett Green
 

Here is Academy's 1/72 scale P-51B Mustang built as an RAAF Mustang Mk.III.

I finished this model about 7 or 8 years ago. When I saw the current theme on Hyperscale, I asked Brett to photograph it for me and submit it. He suggested we put it in the Gallery as well, so here goes.

Academy's 1/72 scale P-51B Mustang goes together very well and seems reasonably accurate. The only major fault is the canopy/windscreen which is too long in the windscreen and therefore too short in the rest. I chose to use the open kit example, (it also comes with a closed one and a Malcolm hood), because the fault is less noticeable and I don't like using vacform canopies.

While painting the interior I broke the seat so I took one from a Hawkeye Designs P-51B interior set which has the belts moulded on. Very nice too.

The only other modification was dropping the flaps, something Academy offered in their not so good P-51D but haven't bothered with in the B/C or A kits. This was before I realised that the inner end of the flap sat up under the trailing edge of the wing root fairing.

The flaps are on both the upper and lower wing mouldings so it was a simple matter of cutting them out, gluing them together and then gluing some plastic tube along the leading edge. Some filler at either end completed the job.

The rest of the kit is built straight from the box, painted with Model Master enamels and I used markings from Aussie Decals' Mustang set.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

---

Model and Text Copyright © 2006 by Glen Porter
Images Copyright © 2006 by Brett Green
Page Created 20 March, 2006
Last Updated 21 February, 2007

Back to HyperScale Main Page