1/24 P-51D Mustang part 1   

product # CED24001

$18.99 from Meteor Productions

With the recent release of the 1/24 Trumpeter P-51D Mustang, there are now some excellent decal sheets to adorn your big Mustang.  This particular decal sheet if the first of two from Cutting Edge Modelworks for the 1/24 Mustang.  This decal sheet includes markings for three bare metal Mustangs....including Chuck Yeager's Glamorous Glen II.

The first Mustang is "Ridge Runner III" P-51D-20-NA   44-72308 as flown by Maj. Pierce McKennon of the 335th FS, 4th FG in the spring of 1945.  This Mustang has a bare metal finish.....a white rudder with red outline and a red nose /prop cone.  The anti-glare panel on the top of the engine cowling is black.  There is nose art on the left side of the engine cowling of a wild boar (Warthog?) at full run with the words "Ridge Runner III" above the nose art. The Trumpeter kit has the exhausts at the wrong angle, which forces the cowling panel lines out of their proper positions.   Cutting Edge Modelworks has made their decal the proper size and shape, because it could not have matched the kit panel lines without being quite distorted.  Also, the kit rear fuselage is too deep, distorting the actual rudder shape; their decal of course fits the kit rudder.

The second Mustang is "Glamorous Glen II" P-51D-15-NA  44-14888 as flown by Capt. Charles Yeager.  General Yeager himself provided reference photos for this decal sheet.  His Mustang has a bare metal finish.....a red rudder and a red/yellow checkerboard band around the front of the engine cowling.  The prop cone is red and yellow stripped.  The anti-glare panel on the top of the engine cowling is black.  There is text on the left side of the engine cowling  with the words "Glamorous Glen II".  This Mustang also has D-Day stripes remaining on the underside of the fuselage.    

The third Mustang Mustang is P-51D-20-NA   44-63607 as flown by Lt. Col.Glenn Eagleston of the 353rd FS, 354th FG in 1945.  This Mustang has a bare metal finish and a yellow band around the front of the nose as a yellow prop cone.  The anti-glare panel on the top of the engine cowling is black.  There is nose art on the left side of the engine cowling of a Bald Eagle at full attack....obviously a play on the pilots name.  The Eagle was applied on the original plane to gray paint....Cutting Edge has kindly included a "Black Magic mask for applying this gray background before you apply the eagle decal. In spite of the so-called controversy about the color painted behind the eagle insignia, Eagleston's ground crew members report that they painted gray primer first so the eagle artwork would not flake off in the windstream.

Below I have included scans of the colour instruction sheets.  Also included in the package is a B&W instruction sheet with further painting instructions and basic instructions for properly applying decals.  

This is a well done decal sheet in the usual Cutting Edge quality and I recommend it to anyone interested in building themselves one of the big Mustangs.  Thanks to Cutting Edge Modelworks for the review sample. Steve

Click on images below to see larger images

Photos and text © 2003 by Steve Bamford