Type: P-51D

Scale: 1/48

Manufacturer: Monogram

Price: about US$10.00 retail

Markings: "Detroit Miss", an 8th AF P-51D from a squadron I can't recall

Accuracy: excellent

Date of Review: 4 August 1997

Reviewer: Andy Abshier

Until Monogram released its P-51D kit in 1/48 scale in the late 1970s, there had been no P-51s in that scale that combined good detailing with outline accuracy. Monogram got both together in this kit, which retailed for the princely sum (then) of US$1.49! Even its current price of about US$10.00 is a much smaller tag than the US$27.00 the Tamiya kit is retailing at. After starting the Monogram kit, though, I changed my tune about Tamiya's kit. Read on to find out why!

The kit is very accurate externally. Wheel wells are detailed and deep, but not as deep as on Tamiya's kit. Panel line detail is entirely raised, including finely done screw heads on the engine covers up front. Cockpit detail is excellent--superior to Tamiya's kit, in fact--and includes wood grain on the wooden floor and nicely done fuel gauges on the floor! Admittedly the trim wheel pedestal is a bit soft-looking, but it does look good when painted.

Where the kit falls down is in engineering and component fit. This is another P-51 kit where the builder is required to fit the tailwheel to one fuselage half before joining halves together. Exhaust stacks (both cuffed and uncuffed) have to be fitted from the inside of the fuselage, which can cause headaches at painting time (and did). Then there's the sliding canopy, which includes overly large pins underneath the canopy frame to make the canopy slide, and a too-large slot in the fuselage behind the cockpit opening.

As for component fit, well....don't ask. I was able to get all of the parts together, after some struggling and a fair amount of Bondo putty. In fact, so much putty was used on this model that I abandoned plans to build it as a USAAF 5th AF aircraft in natural metal (that scheme went to my Tamiya kit, as pictured on these pages) and instead I chose a camoflaged aircraft for the Fuerza Aerea Salvadorena, as flown in the notorious "Guerra de Futbol" (Soccer War) of 1969. The kit decals in my example were pretty bad, so one should consider alternate schemes for this kit in any case.

With better component fit, this kit would have been a strong budget-choice alternative to Tamiya's kit. I wouldn't write off Monogram's model, though, if you're planning a camoflaged scheme. Just know what you're getting into before starting!

Andy Abshier