The F-82 Twin Mustang was developed during World War II as a very long-range escort fighter for escorting bomber formations attacking Japan. North American engineers came up with the concept of a twin engine fighter without a central fuselage, using two modified XP-51F fuselages and outer wing panels, joined by a constant chord center wing and tailplane. The fuselage was lengthened behind the cockpit by 57 inches and the outer wing panels were modified by deletion of the gun bays and wheel wells. A large dorsal fillet was added to the vertical tail assemblies. Armament consisted of six 0.50 machineguns in the center wing panel. The XP-82 prototype made its first flight on 16 June 1945, by which time 500 P-82B production models had already been ordered. Though too late for service in World War II, the P-82 (or F-82, as it was renamed post war) was developed into the P-82C/D night fighter, the F-82E escort fighter and the F-82F/G all-weather interceptor. The F-82G saw service in Korea from 1950 to 1952, scoring the first official kill.

Since the kit has so many inaccuracies I decided to correct only the most notable ones. First the wing was assembled and filled (as an experiment) with expanding foam to strengthen it. The wing was sawed through span-wise at mid-chord, using a coarse blade, which conveniently removed the required 2 mm. The foam filling was helpful in keeping the wing parts intact, making sawing and handling easier. The wing halves were then cleaned up, re-assembled and left to dry. After drying the center section of the wing was sawed through chord-wise at mid-span and re-assembled using plastic rod as spars, leaving a "2 mm + saw cut" gap, which was filled with plastic sheet. I decided not to bother about the remaining 2 mm lack of span. After more drying the affected areas were filled, filed and sanded into shape, during which the raised panel lines were removed and reapplied. The now misaligned gun ports were closed an drilled in the correct location. The treatment was repeated on the tailplane, except for the foam of course.

The fuselage halves were modified by inserting a 5 mm plug at the oblique panel joint just ahead of the cockpit. This was done before joining the fuselage halves, using a simple template. The cockpits were assembled, adding small details as seatbelts after which the fuselages were assembled. The steps in the cowling area resulting from the lengthening were filed and sanded back to the right contours and new cockpit rear decking was added, replacing the slot for the sliding canopy. The radiator scoop was added after the intake lips had been thinned down, and they were blended into the fuselages with lots of filler. The nose area required still more work as HobbyCraft provides a sort of insert for the carburetor intake which (theoretically) should leave it open. The results looked like nothing, but since the carburetor intakes were a bit too far back anyway, new ones were fashioned with plastic strip and more filler. Finally the fuselage surface detail was removed and reapplied.

Next the wings and fuselages were assembled. The reduction in wing chord makes the not-so-great fit of the wing to fuselage joint even worse, especially the outboard ones. The fit is corrected by more filler

Aligning the two fuselages correctly is tricky. I used a jig but still ended up with one tailwheel dangling noticeably. This was corrected by strapping the model on a piece of flat wood and pouring boiling water on the wing center section.

The radome was assembled and added to the center section. Some sink marks on the radome were filled and the mating surface was filed into shape to match the lower wing surface. Finally the remaining panel lines were reapplied. After adding the main gear legs the model was ready for painting. Since little can be seen of the tail wheels after the doors have been fitted I decided to use them "as-is". HobbyCraft provides some detail for the wheel wells, though most of this is hidden by the closed main wheel doors.

I finished the model as an F-82G, which has a simple overall gloss black finish, with flat black anti-glare panels. As if the model had not taken long enough already I managed to screw up the gloss black coat, which came out far too heavy. So much for the new panel lines and back to the sanding paper to remove the worst damage.

Decals are provided for both a night fighter and an escort fighter, without identifying the actual sub-variants and units. As luck has it the aircraft is pictured on the cover of the reference I used and it belonged to the 4th Fighter (all Weather) Squadron. The decals are fuzzy and out of register and should be replaced. There appears to have been a Superscale sheet for the F-82, but it is out of production. Regrettably I could not get hold of one nor could I find an alternative. Since I really wanted the kit of my workbench I decided to use the kit decals. They went on well and the model was finished of by a coat of semi-gloss varnish to reduce the glossiness and give it a better "scale appearance". The flat black anti-glare panels and the radome nose were hand brushed. A mixture of flat black and red was used for the radome nose to create a reddish appearance. Finally a bit exhaust staining.