Academy 1/72 North American F-51D Mustang

Background

At the end of the Second World War, the US began to transition its armed forces into the new role of nuclear power. The newly formed Air Force began relegating all of its WW2 combat aircraft to the Air National Guard units, to friendly nations and/or to the scrap heap. The emphasis was placed on building a nuclear deterrence around the new Strategic Air Command and erecting a protective screen around the country with the Air Defense Command. The Tactical Air Command languished during this time.

When the North Koreans invaded the south, the USAF was caught unprepared for another conventional war. Immediately planners began recalling all available tactical aircraft and the principal fighter available was the F-51D Mustang (fighters were re-designated F- fighter from P - pursuit after the end of WW2). In the early days of the Korean War, the F-51D held its own, though its Achilles Heel - flak - began to resurface as North Korean air defenses became effective. The Mustang was especially vulnerable to flak as its engine cooling system was unprotected in the fuselage underside and one hole would leave the Packard Merlin without coolant. Since the F-51D was ineffective against the emerging MiG threat and it was vulnerable in the air-to-ground mission, it was eventually removed from the fighting.

The Kit

Academy's re-release of the 1/72 Mustang is a welcome sight as this kit is still one of the nicer P-51s (F-51s) on the market. The kit is molded in light gray styrene, features nicely scribed details and has those key distinguishing features that modelers like in their Mustangs - deep main wheel wells, positionable wing flaps, detailed cockpit, and a canopy that can be posed open or closed.

The kit comes on three trees (plus a small tree for the transparencies). Only two of those three trees is actually the Mustang. As I said earlier, the cockpit is beautifully detailed - even the pilot's seat has seat belts and harnesses molded in place. The landing gear was actually designed to be posed up or down - the main gear doors are molded to display the gear up, but cut along the pre-molded line and they are ready to be attached to the struts. Your choice of metal or paper external fuel tanks are provided. You also have a choice of standard or Dallas canopy hoods as well.

The third tree contains a nicely detailed 1/72 Jeep. This kit is one of the nicest Jeeps I've seen in this scale as the suspension parts are all molded separately, as are most of the interior details as well. This Jeep will look nice parked next to your F-51D!

Markings are provided for three F-51s (and one Jeep).

Conclusion

This is still a nice kit (actually the F-51D and the Jeep are both nice kits). I can recommend this kit to modelers of all skill levels.

My sincere thanks to MRC for this review sample!

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