Valiant Wings Building the North American P-51D Mustang
By Matt Bittner
Author: Daniel Zamarbide
Publisher: Valiant Wings Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9575866-0-4
Binding: Softcover
Pages: 64
When I first received this book I was looking for someone who could review it for me – someone that actually has built, or has intentions of building, the Zoukei-Mura 1/32 P-51D. However, I decided to keep this for myself, and see if this book could be used to help build any P-51D in any scale.
First of all let me get it out of the way that yes, this book concentrates on the Zoukei-Mura P-51D. It presents the model in a typical assembly sequence. Not only in building, but also in painting each assembly as the build continues. This is one area that can help with other kit builds – assuming the author has the colors correct, you can see how the internals should be painted for whatever kit you want to put together. Plus, with the amount of spectacular detail the kit comes with (1/32 modelers are truly spoiled) you can use the photos of those assemblies to help you either work with the kit parts for whatever model you're putting together, or even as reference for scratch-building your own pieces.
The final painting stages could also help with the finishing of your model. While I personally consider the weathering very heavy on the build within the book, the techniques the author uses can be put to use on other models in other scales – assuming you take into consideration the scale you're working with. For example, you definitely do not want to follow the author's weathering techniques on the Sweet 1/144 P-51s.
Another section that can help any modeler out is the color-plate section. Richard Caruana provides plenty of alternative markings and colorings for any Mustang. The last section that will provide help with any modeler is the section with color photographs of a real 1:1 P-51D Mustang. Lots of nice detail photographs to help with any P-51D subject.
The very last sections of the book deals with aftermarket parts and decals meant for the Zoukei-Mura P-51D. Sections that will help with figuring out what one can add to the kit.
So, can this book be used for other modeling? Sure! However, if you're just looking for detail shots of actual 1:1 P-51s, then you should look elsewhere. But if you don't mind the book sharing detail photos of a model as well, then you can use this book for other Mustang modeling.
My thanks to Valiant Wings Publishing for sending this book to review.