Thanks everyone.
I should be able to get the shop tomorrow and buy a kit.

By the way what colors should the cockpit and wheel wells be?
Thanks.

Cockpit: interior green (Apple Green)
Wheel Wells: Zinc Chromate

Thanks I will see if Vellejo Model Air has those.

94 interior green
135 yellow Zinc Chromate

Are those Vallejo numbers?

Tamiya's P-47s have inaccurate clear parts and have a "swollen" fuselage in plan view, when it sides should be parallel. It is a well-fitting kit, but not particularly easy, given the large number of intricate fitting variant parts.

A good and easy Tamiya kit is their Corsair (if the wings are folded), and I mentioned the newtool Zero and the Ki-61. Their older Ki-46 is excellent too, a sleeper kit if there ever was one.

The split underside scoop means the Tamiya P-51 is not an easy kit period: I don't see how anyone can claim otherwise.

As to me getting a bad batch, over six various boxings in ten years... If you don't believe the dihedral is flat, all you have to do is look at the P-51B posted in this very thread: One of the more extreme examples of flat dihedral I have seen, among hundreds:



Gaston

Hi all

OK - Sitting firmly on the fence here! LOL! As usual, Gaston can't resist conflating two takes on kits and imposing his view on the accuracy, when the question was about fit - but, to be fair (when people accuse him of being a Tamiya-basher) he did single out the new-tool Tamiya Zero and their recent Ki-61 as being good. I'd agree with him there - I actually said their Ki-61 was among the best-fitting kits I'd ever seen when I reviewed it (while making a mockery of the frosted "clear" fuselage).

Where I would definitely disagree with Gaston is over the Meng P-51D. I was really disappointed with it - not in terms of accuracy, but in terms of kit design - and actually shelved a Blog. Basically, it can't be built satisfactorily without cement, and some of the design decisions actually make life harder for anyone used to building a kit in the standard way.

All the best

Rowan

One of the more extreme examples of flat dihedral I have seen, among hundreds:



Gaston





[/quote]

This illustration may prove otherwise- all will have to take me at my word that I did not alter the dihedral on my model for this nor did I rush out and buy another and build it with different dihedral. This is indeed the " extreme example" that Gaston refers to.

Firstly stats from Robert W. Gruenhagen 's " Mustang - The Story of the P-51 Fighter"



note: dihedral 5 degrees - mean of upper and lower surfaces - @ 25% chord length - so 1/4 of the the way back at root and tip.

I next laid out two 5 degree slopes with their vertex @ centerline . I then measured the wing thickness with dial calipers 1/4 of the way back at the root and at the last rib before the tip then subtracted the lesser (tip) from the greater (root) and came up with a difference of ..206" so half would be .103" which I laid off at the root end- see photo



I then recut the dihedral template along this line to represent the corrected dihedral angle along the top surface of the wing and then photographed the model in frontal view with template held in place approximating the 25% chord line -



I think we can all agree that Tamiya got it right enough - if anything the dihedral is actually too great as a bit of light can be seen under the template at the inboard ends.

If I can muster the energy I will tackle the " swollen fuselage " claim as well.

Keep it fun - Richard

I always thought the dihedral on Tamiyas looked good. I never had one look flat before.

Seems you may have a better sense of proportion than someone else -

Was that. Was that a mic drop?

I think that was a mic drop.

More likely it was the sound of someone scuttling back under a rock.

Never had an issue with the Tamiya Mustangs. The new Airfix kit has yet to arrive on shelves here in Australia. I have one of the Meng kits, but have yet to start it.

They all look like Mustangs to me

We should be so lucky.

I'm pretty sure trolls live under bridges though. FYI. (You know, because we wouldn't want to be criticized for accuracy)

I think Eduard makes the best fitting kits. Their MiG-21s, Spitfires and 109F/Gs are some of the best kits in any scale ever.
Floyd