Tamiya 1/32 P-51D Mustang... yep, another thread

Face

Spawn of Unicron
Joined
Mar 17, 2011
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6
Picked this up a couple days ago, I don't know when I'll ever get around to it, but I wanted to show it off since it's a brand, spankin' new kit! I've never built one of Tamiya's 1/32 kits, but I've always heard amazing things about them, particularly their more recent releases such as the Zero and Spitfire, so when I found that the local hobby shop had a few of this sucker in stock for a really awesome retail price, I had to snag one up.

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Box is about 19"/48cm wide, 12"/30cm tall and 4"/10cm thick and adorned with gorgeous painted boxart, the bottom and top sides have some specs and details about the kit and several photos.

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The manual is typical of Tamiya, printed in black and white and featuring a photo of the finished model on the cover.

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The book is 36 pages long, and about 30 of those pages are the assembly! Assembly instructions are extremely dense, but look to be fairly simple to follow and clearly presented.

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It comes with a 2 page foldout paint/marking guide for the scheme as shown on the boxart

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I was excited when I came across this, it's a reference guide for the builder

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about a dozen pages of technical and historical info about the Mustang and its variants

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the last 2 pages are covered in colour reference photos, these'll be very helpful I should think and it was a nice touch to include them

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The engine cowlings are advertised as being 'ultra-thin', and they live up to that boast, I wasn't aware styrene could be molded that thin and still hold its shape! The cowlings are removeable after assembly, using magnets embedded in the framework and photoetched parts glued to the cowlings.

parts2.jpg
the fuselage is... rather odd, it doesn't really look like a fuselage! The nose is empty and skeletal because of the seperate engine, and the tail is detached to allow for easier tooling of variants. Note, most of these pics were borrowed from Cybermodeler, as my camera's battery died before I could get shots of them... not to mention, these were a lot better than I could have gotten

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that's a big damned wingspan... box says it's 354mm wide, which if my math is correct is about 14". Molding is exceptional as is usual for Tamiya

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I was surprised when I took a closer look that this kit includes 2 different tail options, the first one has an extension on the leading edge while this version does not. Also shown here are the bulk of the plane's control surfaces

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On the left, we've got much of the engine's plumbing and a few frame/bulkhead parts. The right side has the main landing gear bay, struts and doors which you can see have options for closed and raised display

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first up, we've got the prop parts, the oil cooler/radiator channel, as well as a few other parts I don't really recognize. Next, we've got the only doubled up runner in the kit, we've got the last of the control surfaces, which have options for fabric covered or all metal parts. Also included here are the exhausts, the guns and the doors for the gunbays

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The stand is very simple, not much to say about it really. The cockpit has options for 2 different seats, and 2 instrument panels. The interior sidewalls are molded seperate from the cockpit floor, all of which are molded beautifully

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Engine parts! More engine parts! Even more engine parts! Seriously though, the first runner has the crankcase and cylinder parts, while the second appears to have the turbocharger and a few other odds and ends. The kit includes 2 pilot figures, one standing and one seated. Also includes 2 options for drop tanks, the 75 gallon and the 108 gallon

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For clear parts, the kit has 3(yes, 3) different canopies! Clear faces for the instrument panels, armored glass and marker lights, etc

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whoa, 2 photoetch sets? Yup! On the left we've got the intake screens, guide mounts for the guns, and hinges for the control surfaces. Second sheet has the multiple part seatbelts with detailed buckles, the contact points for the cowlings, and morestuff I don't recognize.

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Also has 2 decal sheets, first one has the roundels, markings for two of the 3 marking schemes and other squadron markings

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Second sheet has the instrument panels, markings for the 3rd scheme and all the stencils.

I took a couple videos of my initial unboxing as well, so enjoy!

Part one, documentation and decals
Tamiya 1/32 P-51D Mustang, Unboxing, part 1

Part 2, parts, parts and more parts!
Tamiya 1/32 P-51D Mustang, Unboxing, part 2
 
If i wasn't saving up for a ship model i would get one of these too. One day though i will have one. Do they make a German fighter in this scale and quality?
 
man everyone has one of these now...

it sure is a beautiful kit, i wish i could get my hands on one... just beautiful.
 
And hold on to your hats folks, there's Aftermarket on the way. Lots of it.

There's been some humorous comments made about no need of aftermarket, it was very ill-informed comment because right off you find missing parts such as the ignition harness.

Have no doubt this kit will build up very pretty strictly out of box but if you want to make a totally accurate kit hunker down with some research books and make sure you're doing the aircraft you want to represent.

Or don't, It'll be a fine build either OOB, hyperdetailed or anywhere inbetween, this Tamiya kit is a great canvas to show off a modeler's skills.
 
13aceofspades13 said:
man everyone has one of these now...

but just look at it..! this is an epic kit. Just like all things that are Tamiya and awesome it will probably end up being discontinued and become a collector kit too valuable to build. Might as well get yours now.
 
"Picked this up a couple days ago, I don't know when I'll ever get around to it, but I wanted to show it off since it's a brand, spankin' new kit! I've never built one of Tamiya's 1/32 kits, but I've always heard amazing things about them, particularly their more recent releases such as the Zero and Spitfire, so when I found that the local hobby shop had a few of this sucker in stock for a really awesome retail price, I had to snag one up."

I'm calling you out. So, you're gonna just let it's box collect dust in the closet? Your brand spankin' new kit by a amazing manufacturer you've not ever built. That doesn't seem to jive on a site where the moto is 'completion not perfection'.
Go get a knife and some glue, clear part of your table, and do what that model kit was made for and build it. 8)
 
Gundamhead said:
I'm calling you out. So, you're gonna just let it's box collect dust in the closet? Your brand spankin' new kit by a amazing manufacturer you've not ever built. That doesn't seem to jive on a site where the moto is 'completion not perfection'.
Go get a knife and some glue, clear part of your table, and do what that model kit was made for and build it. 8)
oh I'll build it, but at the moment I just don't have the time, and I've got a couple things in my stash that are ahead of it
 
It's going to be interesting to see what's out there for this by next year, or even what variants Tamiya pushes out. I'm sure they are doing a Korean era kit.
 
Ohhhhh boy, here we go! I've been reluctant to get started on this thing for a long time, it's really far more advanced than ANYTHING I've ever built before, and I was never really confident in my ability to do it justice... I'm still not sure I'm ready, but there's no time like the present to find out!

engine3.jpg
The kit starts with the Packard Merlin V-1650 engine, which really is a kit in and of itself... I build pretty fast, and this sucker still took me about an hour and a half, just to do basic assembly! The engine and cylinders aren't spectacularly complex, but are amazingly detailed and look incredible when put together

engine2.jpg
The rear section here isn't fully assembled, there's a few add on bits and pieces left to attach and none of the subassemblies are glued to each other, but here we have the carburator, supercharger and what I believe is referred to as the wheelcase, I'm sure if I'm wrong someone will correct me

engine4.jpg
The intake manifold has several photoetch parts, they sit quite nicely down on a raised locator peg

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The driveshaft for the prop is nicely detailed, and spins freely. I just noticed I have a seam to clean up on one of the cylinders

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So from left to right, we have the carburator with the axle that links all these parts together, the supercharger housing, the supercharger itself, and again, what I THINK is the wheelcase

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The oil tank mounts to the firewall, nicely detailed but only 2 halves. The firewall itself has some nice molded detail to it, but nothing overly fancy

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The tank mounts to the firewall, and has a separate cap and hose that would run down to the oil cooler under the fuselage.

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The last of the add on parts are seen here, the intercooler on the top, intercooler pump on the right in the middle, and intake manifolds on the bottom. The other 2 parts in the middle, I can't identify, but mount to the wheelcase, I believe they're the distributors

engine1.jpg
The entire assembled engine is about 4"/10cm long, and looks amazing out of the box. It could do with some additional plumbing, like ignition wires and hoses and what not, but despite that looks really good.

I'm collecting additional references for the engine, and have decided to add some wiring and plumbing to it. I also filmed the entire assembly, and will be adding it to my youtube channel(link in my sig) in a day or two. This is gonna be a mighty fun build!
 
Off to a tidy start :) it is a nice kit ...although I do prefer the P51B .

Chris.
 
While E-Scale might be a nice place, we're better!! ;) Followed you on YouTube for a while now, and it's great to have you finally aboard, Face!! And no shame giving into this kit, IMHO. Did you start on the Aston Martin yet?
 
Hey face, very nice start! Have faith, you are working on one of the most user friendly kits you can buy! As they say,with Tamiya all you have to do is put some paint and glue in the box, close it and give it a couple of shakes and your done!
 
NecronautDrummer said:
While E-Scale might be a nice place, we're better!! ;) Followed you on YouTube for a while now, and it's great to have you finally aboard, Face!! And no shame giving into this kit, IMHO. Did you start on the Aston Martin yet?
heh, I've been posting on escale almost since its launch, I can't abandon them now! Thanks for watching me, and yes, I finished the Aston Martin last week
ModelFreak72 said:
Hey face, very nice start! Have faith, you are working on one of the most user friendly kits you can buy! As they say,with Tamiya all you have to do is put some paint and glue in the box, close it and give it a couple of shakes and your done!
yeah I've used that line a couple times in my videos... I do agree, it looks like it'll go together like a piece of cake! The engine has so far been just a dream to assemble. I'll have more pics to post tomorrow, but I have built harnesses for the ignition system, and another wiring harness that fits over the top of the engine.
 
Nice start son. Like the boy's mentioned before I too was wondering when you were going to stick your feet in the pond here. Good to have you....I usually check your YouTube page every Friday night after work to see what new stuff you got going on.
These Mustangs look great and another thread is always welcome. Moon Puppy just finished one of these and knocked it out of the park. I read somewhere, about a year ago, that this Tamiya kit might be the best model kit ever produced. Not sure if it was a review for it or not but also don't remember where I read it. Had to be online. Looking forward to this.
 
ModelFreak72 said:
Wiring?! where's the pics?!
damn, sorry, I thought I'd posted them here already

I've never been real big on superdetailing, but while studying the Packard Merlin engine in my reference photos, I discovered that Tamiya left off a few parts!

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I started off thinking I might just add the ignition wires, but they actually attach to harnesses mounted to the sides of the engine, which were not included as part of the kit, so I had to build them. So, I went down to the hobby shop and picked up some 2mm plastic rod, though I wish I had gone with a smaller size, 1.5mm or so would have been a better fit. I drilled out the sparkplug sockets and the corresponding holes on the harnesses with my smallest drillbit, and threaded some fine wire through the holes, securing them with superglue.

engine13.jpg
There's another wiring harness that fits over the top of the engine, mounting against the right side cylinder head. I was careful when bending the plastic rod to ensure that it won't get in the way of any other engine parts. I don't have the intake manifolds attached in this picture, but I made sure that the wires I added would fit around them, and they do so quite nicely.

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The instructions call for the bulk of the engine to be painted semi gloss black... I don't have any semi gloss black, and the hobby shop has been out for weeks, so I mixed equal parts flat and gloss, with about 15% XF80 royal light gray. I don't like painting straight black, it has no depth, no room for variation to the colour, so a slight lightening of it helps to add that depth. The starboard side harness here doesn't attach to anything behind the silver magneto, my references don't show what it connects to so I just had it fit somewhere that the end of it wouldn't be visible

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The top harness has cabling running down between the ducts of the intake manifold and behind where the propeller gearbox mounts to the front. They just end where you can't see them, I didn't drill out any sockets for them anywhere.

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you can see here how the wires just fit behind the gearbox and disappear. I drilled out the plastic rod and inserted the wires through them, and secured them with superglue, applied with a toothpick. Once the glue was dry, I trimmed the ends of the wires off, and sanded them smooth


engine18.jpg
I drilled out the sockets for the sparkplugs with my finest drill bit, and reamed them out very slightly with a #11 hobby knife blade so the wires would fit better, and secured them with superglue. Since these pics were taken, I've done a wash of flat black, and did some drybrushing with XF-19 sky gray, to add some colour depth. I also painted part of the harnesses where they connect to the magnetos flat black to represent a flexible hose

It's coming along nicely! I'll admit to some trepidation in going forward, I have no idea how the engine is going to fit in the fuselage with my added parts, but I'm crossing my fingers that everything goes smoothly. I'm gonna get started working on the cockpit and other interior parts later today, from what I hear they should go together just as nicely! But first, I need to pick up some paint...

I've also got video of the build up on my youtube channel, so if you're interested in hearing me ramble for nearly 30 minutes about how much I love this model so far, check it out!
 

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