Hello, Everyone!

Tim Hatton has just posted a nice AEROSCALE "NEWS" feature, entitled "MUSTANG VARIATIONS", which touts the long-awaited ALL-NEW TOOLING EDUARD 1/48 P-51D-5NA Mustang, due to be released in just a few days! (August 7, 2019)

Heads UP, guys, this is NOT just another 1/48 P-51D!!!

There will be details included in this new kit that just aren't there in other 1/48 Mustang kits. When Tim said "New Variations", he wasn't kidding! There will be a choice of Seats, Props, Instrument Shrouds, Canopies, Exhaust Stacks, SIX different choices of decals, their "usual extras" and lots more, along with EDUARD's outstanding quality to boot!

Tim has been kind enough to post some great photos. There is also a more "in-depth" feature over on the "The MODELLING NEWS" site, for those of you who may interested!

Thanks for reading!

Here's the link:

www.themodellingnews.com

PS- No, I do not work for EDUARD!

PPS- I wonder if EDUARD has remembered to "fill in" the panel lines on the Wings of these new '51s, as was done at the two factories (Englewood, California & Dallas, Texas), in order to take advantage of the "laminar-flow Wing's"-design..? The Wings were puttied over and then sanded smooth. They were then painted over with a Silver-Aluminum Dope. No panel lines were exposed, aside of the Wing Root Joins, the Wing Tips, Gun-Bay Doors and the Gun Aperture Panels...

Yesterday i've asked on the facebook page if a PTO Mustang edition was planned and the answer is ... YES !

Hello, Franck!

TRUE! The next Mustang kit from EDUARD will be the P-51D-10NA, which will include all of the mods that North American designed into the -10 in order to improve the Airplane. I believe that this will be a "ROYAL CLASS"-issue, due in December of 2019...

Hi, Franck!

I have just pre-ordered 2 of the new EDUARD 1/49 11134 P-51D-5 Mustangs, "Chattanooga Choo Choo" from SUPER-Hobby PJB in Poland!

Dennis, have you had previous experience with Super-Hobby and pre-orders? I would love to do a pre-order, but haven't ever gotten anything from them.

Hi Dennis

Vladimir Sulc discussed just that back in January https://aeroscale.kitmaker.net/news/30902, so you may be disappointed by the route Eduard have taken.

All the best

Rowan

Hi, Rowan!

Thanks for that link! I'm sure that the "panel-lines" on the Main Wings of EDUARD's new kit will become a controversial topic among modelers and P-51D aficionados...

A number of photos of real P-51Ds at the North American plant ALSO show that the Wings ARE indeed "puttied-up". So what gives?


I've ALSO seen photos of P-51Ds where the Wings' panel lines may not be in evidence, but the panels themselves are quite obvious. Personally, I like the looks of the panels being there, but not necessarily the panel lines, themselves. So what's the answer? I MAY "putty-up" the panel lines, but I haven't yet decided the course I'll take when it comes to depicting the different panels- Should I apply different shades of BARE METAL Metal Foil? Should I apply different shades of Natural Aluminum-painted "panels" of decal film? Should I mask the various Wing Panels off and airbrush-on my own AK INTERACTIVE X-treme Metal "panels"..?

Choices, choices...

I did read about and watch my old VHS videotape about the 357th Fighter Group's P-51s; the Maintenance Crews would paint their Aircraft's Upper surfaces in Olive Drab or RAF Dark Green in order to camouflage them for use over Continental Europe. Then, in keeping with Seasonal changes, the Aircraft camouflage paint would then be stripped-off and sanded down, and the Natural Aluminum surfaces would then be polished for smoothness!!!

On the other hand, enough photographic evidence shows that the 4th Fighter Group, when they received their Natural-Metal P-51Ds, didn't go to the same lengths with "on again/off again camouflage" as the 357th did with their Mustangs...

WHAT the HELL?!?

Obviously, I will have to do more research, and I hope this will ultimately decide as to which course I decide to take as far as the Main Wings of my P-51Ds are concerned. I still have two as yet un-built 1/48 AIRFIX P-51Ds, and about a half-dozen TAMIYA
P-51Ds and four or five P-51Bs/Mustang Mk.IIIs as well...

Hi, Curt!

So do you build model aircraft besides 1/35 armor, too? Aircraft come FIRST, as far as I'm concerned...

This is actually the first time I've ordered from SUPER-HOBBY PJB, which is based in Poland. They are strictly a "mail-order house", which in my experience doesn't make a whit of difference, except if one decides to visit there!

I usually have no qualms about ordering anything from Poland, the Ukraine or the Czech Republic. Delivery necessarily takes a bit longer than ordering from our home-based hobby outlets, such as OMNI Hobbies or SPRUE Brothers. I've ordered from Russian vendors before, but shipments from Russia can take a little bit longer, yet.

THE longest shipping times I've encountered are from China and some of the vendors which are based on the Asian mainland. Japanese and South Korean vendors, whom I usually buy from on Ebay, are very good in that they always supply me with Order Tracking Numbers, as do the Eastern European vendors. Vendors in Great Britain and Australia are pretty good, too.

I've received three pre-order confirmation notices/receipts; one from PAYPAL of course, and two from SUPER-HOBBY PJB. SUPER-HOBBY requires a "pre-order" payment of a little bit less than one third or so, down. I received my "pre-order payment" notices within seconds after placing my pre-order. I pre-ordered two of these P-51Ds, which came to $82.16 USD. My "pre-order payment" was $24.64 USD.

Since these brand-spanking new EDUARD P-51D kits are slated for a 7 August, 2019 release-date, I wouldn't look for my kits to arrive until late August/early September, at the earliest...

I found one US-based vendor, but their "on-line customer registration" function kept throwing me into a "loop", so I gave up in frustration and "pre-ordered" from SUPER-HOBBY instead. I couldn't believe things went so smoothly and quickly. They have a 5 out of 5 "Customer Satisfaction"-rating, so I went ahead and "took the plunge", so to speak. The only thing I can say in addition is that if you have a favorite US-vendor with whom you've had prior experience, try them first.

Let me know what you think!

Hi Dennis

I think any manufacturer is "between a rock and a hard place" because, whatever they do, they won't please everyone or cater for every permutation of factory-fresh filled and painted wings, through to having panel lines showing (which they certainly do in plenty of available shots (I'm not sure about rivets..)).

I'd say it was almost worth providing two sets of wings so modellers could sort themselves out - but would we all swallow the extra cost?

All the best

Rowan

Hi, Rowan!

Nice to hear from you and, "Thanks Much" for your input! That's a good idea about including two sets of Wings, but I'll also agree with you in that modelers, being the way modelers are, would take issue with the extra cost. As for myself, if I find that most
P-51Ds retained their "puttied" Wings from the two North American Aircraft plants, I'll "fly" that route. (No pun intended)

If it turns out to be a "toss-up", I may wind up building some of them with panel lines, and the rest of them with "puttied-up" Wings. After all, no one's going to come over to my house just to look at my 1/48 P-51Ds' Wings!!!

Hi, People!

OK, according to several threads at IPMS/USA, ALL P-51D variants had their Wings' panel seams, ASIDE of the ones I've already mentioned above, filled with Red "glazing" Putty, sanded smooth and then spray-painted with Silver-Aluminum "Dope". This was then coated with a sprayed on CLEAR LACQUER to further improve the smoothness of the Wings. The Flaps were left in their Natural Aluminum Finish. Of course, the earlier A, A-36A, B/C, Mk.I, II, and III models were spray painted in either RAF camouflage colors, or the Standard Olive Drab over Neutral Gray camouflage. In early 1944, before the D-models were introduced, the P-51B/C-models were starting to go into service in their own Natural-Aluminum guises. Regarding the "filled-in" panel lines, there is a "caveat" however, as quoted at IPMS/USA...

I'm going to paraphrase this in the interests of brevity...

Apparently, through the wear and tear on the Airframe due to combat stresses, maintenance, etc, the putty would sometimes work its way out of the panel seams. I've never seen evidence of this happening in photos, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Since I don't like to build and paint my 1/48 Aircraft with a lot of over-weathering and paint-chipping, this question has been resolved, at least as far as I myself am concerned. I'm going to "putty-up" all of my 1/48 P-51 models' Wings, so I've got my work cut out for me...