I got some much need time at the bench last night and I think I'm finally done. To recap, its the 1/48 Tamiya P-51D in Urban Drew's 361st FG "Detroit Miss" markings. Drew was a 6 kill ace, to include two Messerschmitt 262’s destroyed on October 7th, 1944. This distinguished Drew as the first Allied airman to destroy two German jets in aerial combat.
As I said, my intent was to offer suggestions on how to improve the already nice Tamiya kit. I've built several and have found some ways to improve it. This is not to say I didn't go off the path in this one, so to speak. The cockpit, at minumum the seat, needs replaced. I normally go True Details here but in this case I used a Ultracast seat with the TD pit. I normally use Ultracast wheels but I had the Eduard Brassin set so I figured I would try it. I found that I prefer the Ultracast. The "fifties" need love too, which are crap on this kit. I substituted Albion Alloy brass tubing. Also worth mentioning is the kit canopy (sliding part) which is a poor two part design. Its hard to mate these two convincingly which just looks sloppy to me. I either go with a Squadron vacuform or substitute a spare Hasegawa piece. I used the later since the Hase P-51 in my stash came with two (I suppose they all do). I scratch built the internal brace with sheet styrene and drilled out the lightening holes..
I went with the kit 75 gallon drop tanks and added plumbing with stereo wire painted black. I know there are pictures of "Miss" sportng the 108 paper tanks, but let's face it, the 75'ers are much less of a pain in the arse to assemble with zero sanding. Besides, whose to say these weren't used as well? I read somewhere that 8th AF Mustangs did not have aerial wires, so I didn't add it. If I'm to stand corrected, I'll add one
I decided the previously mentioned insignia decal mishap was not bad enough to mess with, so I listened to the inner voice and just left well enough alone. It ended up looking ok under the wash and dull coat. I didn't like the way the windscreen fit on this particular build. This isn't the greatest design either and tends to leave gaps where it meets the fuselage. I may fiddle with it more later.
Overall I'm fairly happy with how it turned out. Hopefully I've offered some new ideas for your next "Cadillac of the Skies"....
Thanks for following....
Joe
Can you fly this plane and land it? Surely you can't be serious? I am serious, and don't call me Shirley
I then tried every solvent I had to no avail. I'll either live with it or sand-repaint-re decal it........... The Aeromaster sheet showed up yesterday and I finished up. 
. For this price, they should. I'll stick with Ultracast from this point on.
