by: Bryan Dewberry [ ]
I wrote a news article a few days ago regarding the line of metal and resin figures produced by Mastery Miniatures. This USAAF P-51 Pilot is one of those figures. He's cast in metal and in 1/48 scale. First Impressions
You can see from the picture that the figure comes well packaged. It's sealed individually in a small ziplock bag which contains the figure and a small card that has a picture of a painted figure in a cockpit. The backside of the card contains a color chart. The colorful packaging and color card made a lasting impression. The figure
As stated earlier, the figure is cast in metal and is in 1/48 scale. He's cast in a seating position making it ready for your next P-51-and I just happen to have a P-51D in-progress too (pics of that later).Detail on the pilot is pretty good. His life preserver and flight suit are well represented as are the oxygen hose and mask, and his head gear. The nose and mouth are easily distinguishable but I don't think the eyes aren't quite deep enough.In case you lose the packaging for this little guy, the letters "P-51" are scribed onto his back making identification easy. Painting Guide
The reverse side of the picture card in the package contains a painting guide. Humbrul enamels are used as reference and color recommendations are provided for the jacket, helmet, trousers, life preserver, parachute, webbing, flesh and shoes.Humbrol enamels are a popular brand of model paint but are only one brand of many paints used by modelers. You will need to find a conversion chart if you want to use another brand of paint. The Fit/The Verdict
I just happened to have a Testors 1/48 scale P-51D on the workbench which provided a great opportunity to test fit the pilot into a cockpit. The Testors P-51D is definetly a low-end, low-quality kit but the pilot figure fit into the cockpit like a hand fits into a glove. I'm sure it will work well with other, more repsectable, P-51 kits. Well done.
Overall, I like this figure. The quality is good with only a couple of flaws. The eyes aren't deep enough, in my opinion, and you will need to clean up some seam lines along the sides of the figure.One thing I would like to see is an expanded paint guide to include other popular paints such as ModelMaster and Testors. A trifold card would do the trick and could still be contained in the well-done packaging.
Review sample generously provided by Mastery Miniatures.
Mastery Miniatures are sold exclusively in the USA by Squadron.
About Bryan Dewberry (Tin_Can) My interest in modeling started while watching my dad work late night's on old Star Trek and WWII plane models. I modeled planes for about 3 or 4 years before joining the Navy in 1990 and then took a 12-year break from the hobby before starting back-up again last fall. Man has it changed since I'v... Copyright ©2021 text by Bryan Dewberry [ ]. Images also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. Opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AeroScale. All rights reserved.
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