1:48 North-American P-51B Mustang, Pt.1

From escorts over Europe to the skies of China

The decal sheet covers ten Mustangs in their early form with the framed cockpit canopy. Eight of them belong to units fighting over Western Europe in 1944, but the remaining two entries reach further afield, and it is exactly those that give the sheet a character of its own. The early Mustang can be told from the later machines at once by its framed canopy, which only later versions replaced with a bubble hood.

The ninth machine is P-51B 42-103454 of Lieutenant A. L. Young of the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group. That group was made up of African American pilots trained at Tuskegee and is one of the most recognizable units in the iconography of the air war. The tenth entry is the P-51C of Lieutenant L. Arasmith of the 530th Fighter Squadron, 311th Fighter Group, shown in China in 1945, the only marking on the sheet outside the European theater.

The rest of the selection consists of machines flown by pilots whose names are among the most quoted in the history of the type: Howard, Preddy, Morehouse, Goodson and Stephens. Three of these aircraft are moreover presented in two different periods, so the builder can choose whether to build the machine in its earlier or its later form. Every entry gives the serial number and the squadron, which makes it easier to track down period photographs.

The larger scale lets the small stencils and personal emblems come into their own. The sheet contains decal material only; the builder obtains the kit separately. It is applied over a gloss base, otherwise the edges of the carrier film will show on matte paint.