I thinking about purchasing ICMs 1/48 Mustang III. For extras I am buying an Aeromaster Products decal set. I am wondering is this a good kit and would a 1/48 P-51B/C Detail set work on this kit. Basically, is a P-51C a Mustang III. Thanks for the help.
David
The ICM B and C Mustangs are knock offs of the Tamiya kit. The fit and quality of the moldings are not as good. The price is lower, especially if you buy the ICM kit from Alanger’s website, but I would go for the Tamiya kit. I just finished the ICM Mk XVI Spitfire, which is accepted as more accurate than any other Mk IX or XVI, but there was a lot of time spent fixing things that are right to begin with on the other kits, which are inaccurate in pretty minor ways to my eye, putting part to part and comparing. I have the Tamiya and Hasegawa Spitfires and the Tamiya Mustangs, and the fit is much much better on them.
So would $11 be worth the kit and then $5 for an Eduard PE set and $9 for a decal set. So $25 for the whole thing. So I’m guessing that a P-51C is a Mustang III so a PE set for a P-51 B/C would work on a Mustang III.
David
I’ve built the ICM knockoff and it’s not too bad. If you’re looking for cheap and you don’t mind giving a little extra love to your kit, ICM is the way to go. Just don’t ever use their decals and make sure you do your research, painting guides arent great!
Well, it’s a judgement call. The Tamiya kit with Mustang III decals is available from Squadron for $25.00, but they may not be the markings you really want. I’d go with the Tamiya kit myself, but perfectly good results can be had from the ICM kits.
Hi RadMax8, thanks for the info. I’m buying a set of Aeromaster decals which come with a paint guide for $8. Or, would it be better to just buy the Tamiya kit.
David
Like John said, it’s really a judgement call. I don’t mind ICM. I know some of the flaws of the kit so I can fix em pretty well. But if you’re a relative beginner, go ahead and buy the Tamiya kit. I hear it’s pretty good. but if you’re comfortable working with a kit that needs some love or you want to learn/know how to use P.E., go for the ICM
David, yep, a Mk III is a P-51C. All RAF Mk IIIs eventually had the Malcolm hood fitted as well for improving visibility. Some P-51Cs got this as well but not all of them.
I like the ICM kit. I built this one using Techmod decals.
mkhoot, how did you get the canopy open as I thought it was 1 piece. did you use AM or spare parts.
David
I am working on Tamiya P51 RAF version (III). The kit is really nice , more than nice - its almost perdect. However the decals are not so good. Also the markings and color scheme are wrong (at least for the plane I am building (FB387 from 315 RAF Sqdrn). Thanks to to Antoni from UK!!!
I am going to use Techmod decals and do not plan to use Tamiya markings or color scheme.
Greg
A P-51C was just a Dallas-built P-51B. (according to my Ballantines weapons book no. 26, P-51 Bomber Escort, which cost only $1 back in 1971). They were coded like the Omaha-built B-26C’s which were the same as B-26B’s, only a difference of ten in the block numbers. A B-26B-55 was the same as aB-26C-45.
The only 316 Squadron Mustang option that Techmod have on their sheets is S/Ldr Bohdan Arct’s HB930 SZ.A. FB223 SZ.B is the ICM kit option and, I hate to have to tell you, unfortunately not correct. You can have black and white stripes or red and white stripes but not both together as 316 Squadron did not paint the red stripes around the spinner until the beginning of March 1945, when the D-Day stripes had been long gone.
There was an FB223 in the squadron in June 1944 and it was coded SZ.B but I have never been able to locate a photograph of it. It would have D-day stripes but their positioning depending upon where the roundel was positioned on the fuselage. If it was very close to the Sky band then the band would have been painted over in white so that the set of stripes would be placed further back than normal. This was probably done so that the aircraft’s individual letter lay on a black stripe and so would show up better. The stripes would not have passed through the squadron codes. If the roundel and stripes were as shown on the back of kit box then I am certain that the Sky letters would have had a thin black outline painted around them where they lay on a white stripe. Also the inside of the letter B would not have been filled in but left in camouflage. They also had a habit of not painting the stripes on the undercarriage doors.
On the 6th March 1945 General Anders visited Andrews Airfield, where the Polish Mustang Wing operated from, and 316 Squadron took part in a fly past. A few days before the event red stripes appeared on the spinners of the squadron’s Mustangs. There was a Mustang SZ.B present but highly unlikely that it was FB223. Photographs taken at the time show that the squadrons’s Mustangs were fitted louvered intake covers and had the legend POLAND over the chessboards not under them. These are typical of 309 Squadron and it seems that a mass transfer of aircraft from 309 to 316 Squadron had taken place recently.
A frame taken from a film of the 316 Squadron fly past for General Anders 6th March 1945. The serial number cannot be seen but the squadron’s ORB (operations record book) would probably reveal it. The only other B coded Mustang in 316 squadron I find is KH526. Note that this Mustang has a fin fillet similar to the P-51D.
The sliding portion is an aftermarket canopy from Squadron.
Oh well I thought it was Techmod decals I built about 4 yrs. ago and it fit the references I had at the time. Still looks good to me.