The United Kingdom, the mortal enemy of the United States, tried to show goodwill by taking USAF personnel on a goodwill flight with their new European made Airbus A400M Atlas. It took place at Scott AFB, Illinois, December 2016.
The United Kingdom, the mortal enemy of the United States, tried to show goodwill by taking USAF personnel on a goodwill flight with their new European made Airbus A400M Atlas. It took place at Scott AFB, Illinois, December 2016.
Unfortunately this kit is not what it should have been. I read some positive reviews about some of Italeri’s 1/72 scale kits, but I don’t think having nice decals and recessed lines qualifies as good.
Initially this Mustang 1 kit looked good to me, until I did some research on the actual aircraft.
The overall shape of the fuselage looks okay, but the wings are for the P-51D. This kit comes with a sprue of parts for the P-51 Mustang 1, which include the fuselage. The sprue with the wing on it is actually from Italeri’s F-51D Mustang kit. The Mustang’s wing shape changed as each new model came along, so how could Italeri think their F-51D wing would suffice?
Also, since the wings are for the F-51D it has wing tip lights, which is incorrect for the earlier model Mustangs.
Oddly, considering a lack of concern over accuracy, Italeri molded a deep recess line around where the air scoop is, I assume because the actual Mustang 1 air scoop could open up for more air flow. The instructions don’t mention this.
The canopy is lacking canopy framing. The cockpit interior is typical of most 1/72 kits; there’s detail, but it’s not accurate.
The decals look good.
You get markings for one USAAF in North Africa, and one RAF recon aircraft. The box art depicts the USAAF version as a recon aircraft, with a camera behind the pilot, but of course there is no camera in the kit, nor is the canopy right for a recon version (recon variants used anything from bulged clear panels to panels with holes cut in them).
I recommend this kit if you’re looking for a quick build, and are not concerned with contest winning accuracy (that would require a lot of correcting, scratch building & kit bashing).