I was reading (cybermodeler) that Hasegawa had an old kit that with some mods is still the best kit out there in 1/32. Is the truly still the case? For a a/c that has many references to make a very accurate kit one would think that the Tamiya's and Hasegawa's etc would make a very nice kit. I am new again to this aspect of the hobby.

Also, it looks like in 1/48 this subject is well covered. I was thinking of going for a Tamiya or Hasegawa P51.

BTW I just purchased my first a/c kit in many years. Its Tamiya's 1/48 F4U1 Corsair #61070

Cheers.

can't go wrong with the 1/48 Tamiya P-51. The Hasegawa one is good too, but Tamiya wins that one.

Thanks Vance. I see Tamiya has a few P51's in 1/48 scale. Anyone is particular that stands out?

Cheers,
David.

Tamiya 1/48 is the winner there, Hasegawa's one is good... You couldn't go wrong with either...

in 1/32.... Would have to be Hasegawas... Its old tooling, with a couple of fixes it the better out of all of them...

David, Tamyia actually only makes 2 Mustangs, the C and D model. All the different ones are just reboxings with different markings. I've built over 30 Mustangs in the past decade or so and Tamyia and its clone ICM really are the best out on the market with Hasegawa coming in a real close 3rd. Hasegawa's real advantage is it has the extra parts to build a K right out of the box. With Ultra cast resin goodies and Eduard Zoom p.e. the results can be amazing.

Accuracy-wise, the Tamiya P-51s are better than the Hasegawa because the Hasegawa bubble canopy is much broader, and the Hasegawa wings are slightly lacking in leading edge sweep.

The Hasegawa wheel wells are also the most horribly shallow you can imagine: More like surface detail in a slight recess(!)...

But the Hasegawa spinner is much more accurate than Tamiya's, with the only correct kidney-shaped prop blade openings out there, including vs resin sets...

The best prop by far is that of the 1969 Monogram kit (but that has the worst spinner: A separate part for that fortunately)... Tamiya's spinners and especially the prop blades are horrible beyond belief, and I can never understand why modellers still use them despite numerous alternatives...

The Tamiya nose cross-section is too semi-cylindrical on top; It should be broader and flatter to allow space for the valve cover heads of the upright engine... It takes a lot of puttied surface to correct, but the thickness required is not prohibitive: The shapes are tricky though, as they blend from a semi-cylindrical rear third of the nose to a flatter front 2/3rds of the nose...

The Tamiya D's clear parts are very good, and unlike most modellers I like the fact tat the frame is separate: It allowed Tamiya to replicate the "undercut" bulging near the D's sliding canopy frame which Hasegawa and many other kits ignored...

It helps accuracy if the D canopy's windshield is "tilted" ever so slightly backwards, by "rotation" and by scrapping the rear face of it very slightly: It wants to be a little "upright".

The Tamiya B/C canopies are much inferior to te Ds: The windshield is much too broad, and this is not easily fixable (as noted by Temma/Yoyuso in his build in HyperScale's gallery).

The ICM kits are identical to Tamiya, but the fit is much, much poorer, and the clear parts are not always as clear. I would say they are not worth the price difference, though the cockpits are a little better. Definitely keep ICM for camo markings, the Tamiyas for the naked metal finish...

Hope this helps!

Gaston

You might find some interesting pics (not pics - unless you read Japanese) here