Swedish Stallion – 1:48 Airfix P-51D

-51 MUSTANG BUILD 12 – P

Swedish Stallion

Bri Wakeman gives a Nordic look to the 1:48 Airfix P-51D

any may sigh at the sight of another P-51, but

Mbelieve me, this offering from Airfix is beautifully detailed, and comes at a price most can afford, and therefore must be commended. It is not often that your author walks indoors with a new kit and starts making it the same day...but this was one such occasion! The Airfix breakdown and engineering approach is conventional, and you can see that they will produce other versions later with two re-boxing destined for 2018 (Korean F-51D/late war P-51K). The cockpit detail was pleasing with no real need for any aftermarket parts at all. The Airfix designers have presented the wooden floor as one section leading aft, to include the tail wheel well. The radio box/ battery and fuel tank are nice and only a few lengths of Plus Models lead wire were needed to enhance this area. The base colours for this area were Lifecolor UA735 Deep Cockpit and Xtracolor X117 FS34151 Matt Interior Green, with details being picked out with various colours, along and a good dry brushing to add a few metallic scuffs here and there.

Turning to the all-metal laminar flow wing area, and on inspection, the six small covered openings for the rocket equipped aircraft are there. Other nice touches are the optional flap arrangement with the full span lower wing section, including the two-part separate detailed main wheel bay that runs into the forward engine cowl, and there is a separate panel for the six .50 calibre M2/AN Browning machine guns. Within a day, most the fuselage was complete with a minimum of putty required, even though a few slivers of Plasticard were used on the underside! You have a choice of exhaust stacks and the ram-air breather ducts are an option too, and a pair of tail sections are also included again pointing towards various Mustangs on the horizon, and on closer inspection they have captured the off-set to port tailfin layout (as on the real aircraft) to

North American P-51D Mustang

MANUFACTURER: AIRFIX SCALE: 1:48 KIT T YPE: PL ASTIC INJEC TION MOULDED KIT NUMBER: AO5131

Everything you could need for a detailed cockpit

This is the first time I had seen this approach to a P-51 tail fillet assembly, and points to more P-51s on the horizon

Airfix include a choice of ordnance, with the five-part Bazooka rocket tubes a pleasant surprise Airfix must be commended for the super side walls

A sublime level of detail is included in the cockpit

The snug fit of the one-piece interior can be seen, along with the super-charger/radiator section

compensate for the propellor torque - nice touch Airfix! Airfix gives you two sets of fuel tanks, these being 75 US gallon (330 litre) steel tanks and 110 US gal (484 litre) paper renditions, alongside a brace of 500lb (226kg) bombs and Bazooka-style M10 triple rocket tubes. As mentioned, a Korean War option is coming, as the location holes for the six-inch HVAR rocket launch rails are clearly marked. The overview of the framework looks superb with just the right amount of riveting and fasteners incorporated into the softish grey plastic. Airfix has also made the exhaust manifolds to fit into a recessed slot from the outside of the fuselage, meaning you can add them after painting, and again, they include shrouded or un-shrouded options.

Soon I was ready to paint and the first job was to mask off crystal-clear canopy and hand Lifecolor UA004 FS34151 Interior Green onto its frames. Now, many may think it sacrilege to camouflage such an aircraft, and who can blame them. But with the new Xtradecal sheet 48-177 to hand, a wonderful Swedish Air Force/Flygvapnet J26 (Swedish designation) 26031/N (16) F16 Wing Uppsala AB 1945-46 could be accomplished. Sweden purchased 165 (including four –B models) P-51B/Ds and painted six of their P-51Ds in a temporary Olive Green/Blue-Grey pattern for trials work, and these made for a very different and interesting aircraft. They operated Mustangs until 1954, in turn being replaced by the SAAB J-29 Tunnan from 1952 onwards. Before any major colour was applied the complete airframe was primed, followed with a light coat of Tamiya AS-12 Bare Metal Silver,

Wilders Quick Mask is highly recommended

I was lucky enough to have a tin of the now defunct Xtracolor X778 Olive Green 325H that is believed to be the correct topside colour

Armed with only a worn fine sanding stick and a sharp 10A blade, it was amazing how the chipping turned out

Scale Aircraft Conversions P-51D #48-344 replacement gear, was used and the details were picked out with Lifecolor UA733 Tyre Black and Citadel Mithral Silver

-51 MUSTANG BUILD 12 – P Attaching the replacement undercarriage with brushed on activator and medium superglue

applied over the upper frame of the model. To simulate wear and tear Wilders new Quick Mask QM04 Yellow was dabbed on with a small piece of sponge, and left to dry. Next, the nose boss, the hub and the four-bladed cuffed propeller were painted. Xtracolor X318 West Pac Security Services Blue is a perfect foil for the Swedish roundel/code letter N, and looked ideal. Underside wise the base colour used was Xtracolor X157 FS16176 F-15 Mod Eagle Dark Grey, with many panels picked out in UA524 FS36173 US Neutral Grey. For the upper surface, I went with Xtracolor X778 Mork Gron (Olive Green) 325H, intertwined with shades of Lifecolor UA219 FS33070 Lustreless Olive Drab, and UA220 Lustreless Olive Drab 319. This combination essentially worked fine as the harsh climate would have taken its toll on these aircraft.

Once a good coating of Johnson’s ‘Klear’ had covered the entire airframe, the Xtradecal sheet came into its own. The decals performed as expected, and the final stage was the weathering. For this Lifecolor Liquid Pigment LPW02 Black Umber, LPW04 Black-Grey, LPW21 Smoke and LPW22 Carriage Grime made up most of the staining. This in turn was supplemented with Vallejo Model Wash 76-505 Light Rust and 76-507 Dark Rust. Both products complement each other so well, that if a mistake is made, you simply remove with Lifecolor remover. The faint exhaust staining

Liquid pigments are a dream to mix and apply

The gear doors also had slight weathering added to them for extra depth

The AN104A VHF mast now attached, and you also have a choice of the old style ADF Navigational System Loop Antenna With a fine acrylic paint brush I added a various streaking marks

looked perfect with a brushing of LPW15 Soot, and once I was satisfied with the finish required, the entire model was sealed with a 50:50 mix of Lifecolor LC27 Matt and LC77 Satin. No form of ordnance was included, as few pictures exist of Swedish J26/S26 fighter/reconnaissance aircraft carrying them. As range and endurance was far more than needed, the external drop-tanks were seldom used, and some were converted into transport containers, potentially air droppable with rescue equipment. In 1950 trials were made arming the Mustangs with rockets and bombs, but they were found to be unsuitable for the role. The brace of faired bomb-racks with the sway-braces were picked out with Citadel Bolt Gun Metal 61-57, The canopy had a small hole drilled for the radio wire, which was attached to the rear of the pilot’s seat, and with the addition of the AN104A VHF antenna mast, the project was finished.