P-51C

After finishing the AH-1 Cobra I figured I might as well get this cheapo Revellogram Mustang kit out of my stash, since part of the "Flying Tiger" markings (the shark mouth eyes) were donated to the Tigerfly build. That left the optional markings of a natural metal finish Mustang called "Lucky Leaky II".

Christened by pilot Lt. John E. Davenport of the 504th Fighter Squadron, Lucky Leaky II initially flew out of Raydon, England during the early years of WWII. Unfortunately she wouldn't survive the war, as on May 2, 1945- 6 days before Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies- the now war-weary Mustang used as a "hack" aircraft (flown for anything except combat) was belly-landed by Lt. Leroy O. Pletz after an engine failure and eventually written off as salvage a couple weeks later on May 26.

The kit itself was a mixed bag of sorts, you'd think being from the year 2000 this would be pretty good; well yes, and no. The cockpit is very well detailed almost to the point of being too much. Plenty of parts for the sidewalls left almost no room for the pilot figure. And your reward if you manage not to break anything while trying to cram the S.O.B in there (I really wanted a pilot in the plane this time. . . ) is hardly being able to see any of the details at all!

The checkered nose decals weren't designed that well, and even though made up of 4 pieces, I had to cut them in half to get them to wrap around and look decent. However my biggest complaint was the "glass"- it didn't fit right. NONE OF IT. Parts were too big like the Malcolm Hood, was over-sized, and just sits more or less on top of the front windscreen, which is too small and allows for gaps on the sides. . . After spending so long just trying to make the parts work, I gave up on any finesse and and just tried to avoid it from becoming clear parts glue bomb.

But the rest of it ain't too bad. Sprayed in Tamiya AS-12 Bare Metal Silver with Testor's Olive hand brushed on the tail and anti-glare surface on the nose.

Revell, 1/48