Michal Sindera looks at the recent Kagero Decals of the Red Series line. This time publisher focuses on three late war and post war P-51''s in use of the 303 and 309 (Polish) Squadrons.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

I'm still jealous that the Kagero Corsair book didn't include any decals. ;-)

Joel

Hi Joel!
As far as I'm aware none of the "monographs" series contains decals. Kagero puts decals into a lot of their titles and product lines but not into this one. The series without decals are: "Monographs", "Monographs 3D", "Monographs Special Edition", "Photosniper", "Legends of aviation", "Air battles" - if I remember correctly.

A decal sheet with a lavish instruction sheet is what it really is. It seems that Kagero's strategy is to offer schemes not previously offered in the past. For me that is certainly the main incentive to buy and they have given me a few examples that were on my 'wish list'. As far as Polish subjects are concerned there are still a good deal of 'interesting' machines that deserve a chance to be modelled. Hopefully Kagero will continue to provide the connoisseur with the goods.

I ordered my copy on 20th September. There was a long delay of several weeks as Kagero was having problems getting the decals from Italy. What really hurt was the price. Shipping is getting extortionate these days, the total came to £24.38. Be warned it maybe better to buy it locally if possible even if it seems expensive.

303 Squadron's Mustangs have remained virtually untouched so far. AJ-Press Modelmania 3 included a decal sheet for KH865 RF*P in four scales from 1/72 to 1/24 and recently Polish Mustang Units from the same publisher included KM112 PD*D on the decal sheet that came with it. Personally, for this reason, I would have preferred Kagero to have found different subject than KM112, perhaps KH855 RF*A.

KH663 is the easiest subject, a P-51D-5-NT built as 44-11255. Originally code was RF*M changed to PD*M in August 1945. On 15th September it had an accident whilst taxiing and received the new code PD*L on return after repairs. From that time it was usually flown by W/O Leszek Bisaz who logged around forty sorties before disbandment of the squadron in 1946.

All that needs to be added to make a model of this subject are the louvred intake covers. If you do not want to make them yourself, resin examples are obtainable from Red Roo.

KM112 was a P-51K-10-NT built as 44-11965. Initially coded RF*D until the unit codes were changed in August 1945, it was was first flown by S/Ldr Bolesław Drobiński (41 sorties) until he handed over command to S/ldr Witold Łokuciewski (50 sorties) and it is his scoreboard that appears on the Mustang.

As it was a P-51K, a model requires in addition to the louvred intake covers, a so-called 'Dallas Hood' and Aeroproducts propeller. The Tamiya Korean War boxing has the Dallas Hood and an aftermarket Aeroproducts propeller is not difficult to find, e.g., Ultracast.

FZ111 was built as P-51B-5 43-6411. Jean?, sometimes called the 'girl with a question mark' was mostly flown by F/L Mieczysław Gorzula, but also by other pilots. He applied his personal motif himself which he had applied to other Mustangs. On 9th April 1945 he shot down a Me 262 with this aircraft. It was a bad day for the Me 262 as other members of the squadron also scored victories; W/O Antoni Murkowski, FB385 WC*B, destroyed one, damaged one, F/Lt Jerzy Mencel, KH516 WC*F, one destroyed, F/O Jan Lewandowski, KH484 WC*H, shared damaged, F/Lt Jan Mozołowski, SR420 WC*M, shared damaged.

The problem with a model of FZ111 is that it was fitted with a fin fillet. If you do not feel able to manufacture this yourself the easiest option is the Accurate Miniatures P-51C kit. However, this seems difficult to find now. I was not able to locate one, perhaps E-bay. Loon Models list a conversion in their No Cut range. Simply it is a replacement fuselage (two halves) for the Tamiya P-51B kit but you can use the ICM kit as a cheaper alternative or the just released Revell kit. Unfortunately, this is also hard to come by these days. Red Roo included it in a conversion set for an Australian Mustang but the set is no longer seen on their web site. I managed to find and buy the only remaining example from The Aviation Megastore. Ouch! Total price £40.61. Once again it was the shipping charges that substantially increased the cost. This hobby is becoming very expensive.

For you, I would recommend:

AJ-Press Fighting Units in Color No 3 VF-17 'Jolly Rogers' Early US Navy Corsair units: VF-12 and VF-17 and No 4 VF-17 'Jolly Rogers' Part 2 Early US Navy Corsair units: VF-17's second tour. Lots of photographs and high quality art work. Subtle differences in the markings explained. Both have a decal sheet included.

In the past Monographs, Photosniper, Legends of Aviation/Famous Planes, Topshots have included decal sheets, sometimes paint masks. At the moment Kagero are selling off some of the decal sheets at reasonable prices. Then you have the shipping charges!

http://www.shop.kagero.pl/category/en/wyprzedaz