I am sure this question has been asked more than once but there is always room for another opinion or so. What is the best P-51D kit available?
I hope it’s the tamiya because I just ordered one yesterday.
Though I’ve never built one myself, I’m told the Tamiya offering is quite good, though the decals tend to be on the thick side. they should also have more than one P-51D. I think they offer an “8th AF Aces” kit. They even offer an F-51D, so that you can model postwar 'stangs.
If you want an early alison engined mustang like the P-51A or the A-36, you’ll want to look up Accurate Miniatures - the fit is incredible. [:)]
Tamiya
Dragonfly
Well it might not be the best, but it is a great kit for the buck
Monogram 1/48 Big Beautiful Doll
Cheap and easy to fix up
Ric
The monogram kit would need many things done to it- it has raised panel lines, the cockpit detail is rather sparse, as is wheel well detail and the decals are sometimes no good since the kit is so old. all the same, I have that kit, and for 4$ it’s worth it.
I’d go with the Tamiya or Hasegawa.
Of course there’s the real cheap Testors kit. [:D]
Tamiya.
There’s no doubt about it…the Tamiya P-51D is very hard to beat…although I’ve built the Hasegawa P-51D and found it to have good points as well - the canopy on the Hasegawa offering (2 of them - normal and blown Dallas canopy) are sweet.
Either one would build into a nice model, but the Tamiya offering probably has fewer vices and has deeper wheel wells (shallow wheel wells on the Hasegawa kit are a bit of a letdown).
The Tamiya P-51B is fantastic as well - as are any of the early P-51’s from Accurate Miniatures.
Usually whatever I can grab on special at Hobby Lobby.
I am currently building a Hase 1/32 scale '51D I got there (yes, they got more) and now I wonder why I ever did the 1/48 scale kit of this bird. I mean the main gear doors have details you will never see in the typical 1/48 flat plastic kit offerings!
The only problem I am having is getting the removible upper engine cowling to set down right. You know, a little filing here, a little sanding there [;)]
Tom T [C):-)]
Well I am very happy to hear the consensus is for the Tamiya kit since I just bought 3 of them. Going to turn my workbench into a mini North American production line.
i think tamiya or fujmi…
Both the Tamiya and the Hasagawa 1/48th scale P-51D kits are excellent. The Tamiya kit has an advantage in that it has seperate flaps that can be posed in the full down position. The inner main gear doors and the flaps on the P-51 would bleed down after the engine was shut down (lack of hydrolic pressure) and should be in the down position for an aircraft posed on the ground. Both kits fit are excellent and the cockpits are better than average. That having been said, both kits could be enhanced with an aftermarket cockpit kit and a main wheel well kit. The Hasagawa kit would need an aftermarket flaps set, or have the flaps cut away and be worked on in order to be posed in the down position. A vacu-formed aftermarket canopy, say from Squadron, is also a nice addition to either kit. There is a plethora of aftermarket decals to choose from. Both produce several of the same kit with different markings and I find that both manufacturers have quality decals.
There are a couple of “visible” differences between the D and the Dallas built “K”. The Dallas built Ds (aka “K”) have the Dallas canopy and many, if not all, had Curtiss Electric Propellers which are slightly different in appearance than the Hamilton Standard props. Note: this is from memory and may be less than 100% accurate. Check your references for the aircraft you are building. There are also some distinct differences in the different “block” numbers. Both kits are excellent OOB builds.
I hope its the Hasegawa and Tamiya kits as well as I just added the “Short Fuse” and “8th AF” kits to my stash.
-dave