What can be said that hasn’t been said before about the legendary P-51D Mustang?  It’s been called “the fighter that won the war” (WWII that is), and has been lauded with the title of greatest fighter ever built by some.  While this could be argued, there’s definitely no way to downplay the significance of North American’s beautifully clean, yet deadly and purposeful Mustang.  Serving in huge numbers throughout the war, it took part in the Korean campaign as well as staying in service with third world nations until 1983!  (That was with the Dominican Republic.)

With the NA P-51D being the most widely recognized version of this classic warplane, it’s no surprise that there is a long list of manufacturers who make models of it.  These models range from the simple to the elegant, and cover a wide range of scales.  There are aftermarket decals and photoetch galore for this bird, I’m sure.  However, I doubt there are any kinds of aftermarket accessories that could help, or even FIT, this particular kit.

For, you see, this model is not a typical P-51 model.  It is a model made by Starfix, of Israel.  You’re forgiven if you’ve never heard of them.  They’re long gone now, and their horrific attempts at model making are a styrene legacy most modelers try and ignore.  MOST.  I, on the other hand, with my penchant for cheap and ugly kits, decided to try and build the Mustang offered by this, now graciously defunct, maker.

For starters, this kit is BASIC.  There’s not a lot to it, with simple landing gear, basic surface detail (raised, of course) and bizarre decals that break when you look at them funny.  The interior consists of a seat and a ‘shelf’ that goes behind it, and has some vague boxes moulded into it.  There’s no cockpit tub, like you’d normally expect, nor is there an instrument panel or control stick!

All things considered, this kit doesn’t fit together too badly, although the gaps at the wing-body junction were quite bad.  The kit comes moulded in a surprisingly soft silver plastic, replete with swirls, and is not a precision engineered piece.  The wings have slightly different dihedral when viewed head on, and tailplanes need some work sitting level.  That having been said, this is not the worst kit in the Starfix line (I and my brother have them all...).

To improve the kit, I re-etched the surface detail entirely by hand using the old pin-in-Xacto knife holder trick.  I also added masking tape seatbelts.  The cracks were filled with a mix of Testors white putty and Zap-A-Gap cyanoacrylate – the best CA I have ever used.  The cockpit, which was a bit foggy, was sanded with 2000 grit, polished with Mothers California Gold Scratch Remover and then futured.  I masked with Tamiya tape (worked great), but found that there were some inconsistencies on the glass when I unmasked it at the end.  I believe some of the Future pulled off, resulting in a bit of a mess.

As most of you know, my current passion is Luftwaffe planes, particularly my own brand of Luft ’46 stuff (see my Me-168, my Blitztel and my Fi-103Z).  Thus, I really was only considering using this kit as a test airframe for my new airbrush and some techniques we covered in our club meetings.  However, as time went on, I figured I might as well complete it as best I could.

Rather than do it in silver, and use USAAF markings (like everybody else does), I decided to do it as a plane from a less well known user.  Flipping through my Wings of Fame Vol. 1, I stumbled on a little side view of a Swedish-operated Mustang.  It had a simple green/grey paint scheme, with national insignia and a few numbers.  I settled on this scheme and got to work mixing paint.

The green is Tamiya XF-22 RLM Grey (all Tamiya Greys are too green for my liking) with some X-8 Lemon Yellow and a number of other greens and a bit of beige added.  In all honesty, I don’t know exactly what went into the green, since some of the colours I mixed in were actually mixes themselves!  However, the result was pretty good.  The underside was done using Testors Model Master 36375 Light Ghost Grey, without modifications.  The landing gear bays and doors are done in Testors steel (from the 7ml jar) with a black wash.  The prop is Aircraft Interior Black with an XF-2 Flat White Spinner.

When the paint was on, the kit was given a number of hand-brushed coats of Future, and an oil wash made form the little 7ml Testors Flat Black was applied.  I must say that I wasn’t really impressed with how the wash performed, and I think I’ll go back the old fashioned way of doing things with a pencil to outline.  However, it was an interesting experiment, and it doesn’t look bad on the top side.  However, I found it left too much ‘dirt’ on the light grey undersides, and varsol couldn’t get it all out.

The Swedish Air Force Roundels were drawn by my brother on the computer, and then printed out using the Testors decal kit for Inkjet printers.  This neat little decal kit RULES for making custom decals at a bargain basement price!  The decals are soft, flexible and conform to almost any surface curvature and detail.  When handled carefully, they won’t rip and have excellent adhesion.  Unfortunately, I don’t see it at Wal-Mart any more...  The “16” came from the Revell Mi-28 Havoc and the “F” from the Monogram F-20.  The F should actually be bigger and less italicized, but it was the only white “F” I had.  As it is currently marked, the model represents one of two P-51Ds interned and impressed by the Swedes wearing the grey and green camouflage.  It is an aircraft from F.16, circa 1946.

With the decals on, I gave the kit a few coats of Microflat to reduce the gloss, resulting in a nice, fairly flat finish.  I sanded flat spots in the tires, and put the wheels in their bays.  There’s no real ‘holes’ for the landing gear legs to fit into, so I liberally applied CA and hoped for the best.  The plane is still standing!  Finally I applied very light scraping to the wings and tails using Testors silver, to make the plane appear flown, but not abused.

Overall, I’m pleased with the way the Starfix “1/72” Mustang turned out.  The fact it is nowhere near 1/72 scale is a minor problem, as are other moulding deficiencies, like the radiator scoop being faired into the body and there being no nose intake.  (The nose intake on the model is actually just black paint.)  It’s really a better kit for someone to use as a test airframe, or for a kit who doesn’t care about accuracy.  However, that being said, I think it looks nice, and I don’t think you’ll see too many Swedish ‘Stangs out there.