Reviewed by: Pablo Bauleo (IPMS #46363)
Review Product Type: Aircraft
Review Type: Kit
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Accurate Miniatures
Manufacturer website: N/A
Mfr Stock No: 530013
MSRP: 39.99
Provided by: Model Rectifier Corp
Vendor Web Site: http://www.modelrec.com
Accurate Miniatures P-51C has been re-boxed many times. This is the “Bendix Racer” boxing of it. You get the standard sprues, which is a full military P-51C (i.e. machine guns are included in the kit).
Probably the main, and really the only problem about this kit are the instructions. To begin with they are very confusing regarding the left and right parts for the back fuselage. You just have to use your common sense. Besides it is very obvious which part is the left (or right) part of the fuselage; just look at the drawings and ignore the part number.
I’ve assembled and detailed the cockpit as per instructions. Then I’ve departed from the instructions. First I glued the back and forward parts of each fuselage together and then I’ve assembled both full fuselages sides together. Simple enough to do and this ensured a better alignment of the whole fuselage.
I’ve glued the bottom wing to the fuselage assembly and then the top wings at the wing root first, assuring that there would be no gap at the wingroot. At that point the kit looked like an “X-Wing” from Star wars, as the top and bottom of the wingtips where at least half an inch apart. I just gently clamped the wingtips and run liquid cement along the joins. By doing this the wings are symmetrical, but maybe not 100% straight. It is very hard to tell but the wings aren’t completely straight. Next time I might add some brass tube to the inside of the wings to make sure they are straight.
The other departure from the instructions is that this model is an airplane racer; therefore it will have the machine gun ports and ejector chute closed up. The instructions do not say anything about this; it actually calls for installing the machine guns in place. I’ve filled up the machine gun ports with stretched sprue, put some Bondo filler sanded it flash and finally Mr. Surfacer 500 for a nice and smooth finish.
Another correction to the instructions relates to the radio antenna behind the cockpit. Chocran’s airplane had its antenna tilted backwards. The instructions tell you to install it perpendicular to the fuselage (as it was the case for the military P-51).
Probably the real airplane also had the wing panels filled and sanded flush, for a smoother airfoil, however I couldn’t confirm it. I did not fill the panel lines on my model, but most likely I should have.
The tail surfaces fitted very loosely into the fuselage. So much that they drooped down about 45 degrees when dry fitted. It was easy to scratchbuilt a brass connector rod between them to get them straight and true with the tail fin.
Painting and decaling was very fun, as the finish is an eye-catcher in my opinion. Decals are printed by Cartograph and behaved very well over a coat of Future. I did not even needed MicroSol/MicroSet, the decals just settled down over the panel lines by themselves. I did not weather the model as I thought that an airplane racer was kept fairly clean and most likely waxed for speed.
Landing gear is simple to assemble and sturdy. The tires are molded independently from the hubs, making painting a breeze. The wheel well is nicely detailed and you can assemble the landing doors open –as per instructions- but in they should be assembled in the closed position. The P-51 had the main landing gear doors closed all the time –except during retraction- as to maximize air flow into the radiator. If the P-51 was parked and the hydraulics were to loose pressure then both the flaps and the landing gear doors would drop. However the kit is molded with the flaps up, making then only correct to assemble it with the main landing gear closed (as I assembled mine).
Overall this kit is a lot of fun; it has great fit and it looks great out of the box. I recommend this kit to the average experienced modeler. Anyone that has built a few kits and feels comfortable filling and sanding –to convert the military wing to a racer one- should have no problem finishing the kit and turning it into a real eye-catcher.
Finally I want to share why I choose to model the plane flown by Jackeline Chochran in the Bendix Race. She was an outstanding pilot –still holds more altitude and speed records than any pilot, male or female- and she was one of the many women that served their country during WWII, as part of the WASP program. The nose of her plane had the slogan “Wanted: A strong coequal air force” indicating that she served her country and fought for her rights.
This model is my small homage to the entire WASP personnel, which never got the recognition they earned.
I would like to thank IPMS/USA, Accurate Miniatures and Model Rectifier Corporation for providing the review sample.
