1/72 Hasegawa Mustang 1A

(back-dated from Hasegawa P-51 B)

by Neil Burkill

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This is a 1/72 Mustang 1A, using the Hasegawa P-51 B as the base kit, in a rather unusual colour scheme. Lower interior of fuselage and nose were packed with plastic strip then reprofiled when fuselage was glued together.
Upper wing surfaces rescribed to represent the cannon armed variant, intake above nose is a piece of shaped sprue and the leading edge wing root redused to represent the earlier Mustang. 3 of the 4 prop blade holes were filled, 2 new ones added and the blades are from a Tamiya Mosquito. Cannon stubs and barrels are plastic rod.

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Painted using humbrol colours, No.155 Olive drab and (I think) No.64 for the Neutral Grey. The light blue also came from the Humbrol range. 

There are two photos of this aircraft in Air Force Colours, Vol.3, by Dana Bell. Trials were carried out in 1943 to paint a Mustang to look like a P-40, in an attempt to help stop allied gunners confusing the Mustang with the Me 109, and maybe force the enemy to alter tactics. Light blue was sprayed on wing/tail/fin tips, with a thin border of white just inside the blue. Black was then sprayed inside the white using a template to produce a hard edge, creating a reasonably effective look. Cannon stubs were also
given a coat of the light blue.

Neil

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Photos and text © by Neil Burkill