PREVIEW

Hasegawa’s 1/48^th scale "Miss AMERICA"

P-51D Mustang Air Racer - kit no. 09350

by Bradley D. Chun

Scale: 1/48^th

 

The P-51 Mustang has become the most famous, most loved American fighter aircraft of WWII. The P-51 Mustang was one of the first fighter aircraft capable of escorting Allied bombers deep into enemy territory, the P-51 Mustang is also credited with saving thousands of American airmen's lives during the war.

In 1966, a North American P-51-D-30NA USAAF Serial Number 44-74536 Mustang was purchased from the U.S. Government and was given a special paint scheme and peace time mission. This P-51D Mustang would become "Miss AMERICA". For over thirty years, Miss America has captured the hearts of millions of aircraft enthusiasts around the world.

"Miss AMERICA" has a wingspan of 32 feet, which is clipped for racing, compared to a "stock" P-51 that has a wingspan of 37 feet. "Miss AMERICA" is powered by a "racing" Packard built Rolls-Royce V-1650-7 "Merlin" engine that produces 3,000 horsepower in racing trim compared to 1,490 horsepower in stock form. "Miss AMERICA" can cruise at 240-250 knots, where as a typical Reno Air Race speed is 420 mph (+).

"Miss AMERICA" is a 5 time Unlimited Class National Air Racing Champion and has been an Unlimited Class Air Race Competitor since 1969. "Miss AMERICA" is also the Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. World Speed Record Holder completing the distance of 2289 Miles in six hours, twenty one minutes, at an average air speed of 412 mph.

Brent Hisey won the Unlimited Bronze Division National Championship in 1996, the Unlimited Silver Division in 1998 and 1999 while flying "Miss AMERICA".

I was shocked to see this kit on the shelf of my local hobby. I had just heard the week before that Hasegawa was planning on releasing this kit. On the boxtop is a color profile of "Miss AMERICA" as she appeared during the 1997 racing season. Upon opening the box, the air racer modeler will find one cellophane bag containing the clear sprue, decal sheet, and "Miss AMERICA" addendum instructions to the P-51K Mustang instructions, and another cellophane bag containing the sprues for the original P-51K Mustang kit (kit no. J15), and two smaller bags, one of which contains the new metal wing tips, antenna, and the other small bag contains the uncuffed propeller blades.

The clear sprue is untouched form the original P-51D/K releases that most every 1/48^th scale aircraft modeler is familiar with. I don’t think I need to go into much detail about this sprue except that I did find some scratches on the canopies. A dip in Future or a little polishing will resolve this minor problem.

The decal sheet contains all of the decals that are required to mark "Miss AMERICA". The white areas on "Miss AMERICA" are provided as decals, but they appear a bit translucent to me. I think I’ll use the decals as templates and paint the white areas instead. The lettering is finely printed and can be read with a bit of magnification. You should see the Rolls Royce and Phillips 66 decals. Hasegawa has provided the red and blue scalloped areas at the tail end of the air racer as decals to assist modelers who are not yet up to the ability of masking complicated shapes. The star decals are printed with the carrier film between them so there is no guessing as to their spacing. I could find no problems with registration.

The addendum instructions provide the modeler with the modifications that are required to convert the base P-51K Mustang kit into "Miss AMERICA", the air racer. The addendum instructions show where to remove the stock wing tips, to remove the .50 cal wing guns, antenna placement, propeller blade replacement, and decal, paint, and marking placement. Funny thing though, in the marking and painting section, it shows placement of only three propeller blades and not four on the spinner diagram.

I won’t go into detail about the four sprues of injection molded parts that are from the original P-51D/K release as many of you probably have this kit in your collection or have built it. I will be relegating the armament stores to the parts box as I can use the three tube rocket launchers and fuel tanks on future Mustang projects. As with most of the Hasegawa kits in my possession, there was no flash or short shot parts to be found.

The white metal wingtips, propeller blades and antenna are what make this kit a "special" version. The two wingtips appear to be accurately reproduced and are molded nicely. There are no mold part lines and the only detail on the wingtips the outer edge detail of the ailerons. These wingtips should pose no problems while making the modifications to the wing. The additional antenna is accurately scaled down also. The four Aeroproducts propeller blades are also molded in metal. These compare favorably in shape with the Aeroproducts propeller blades that are included in the Tamiya 1/48^th scale F-51D Mustang kit. All of these metal parts are nicely molded and will require no or very minimal clean up.

It appears that the Hasegawa "Miss AMERICA" kit is to be built as it appeared during the 1997 racing season. I’m pretty sure that the horizontal stabilizers are supposed to be clipped also, even though the instructions do not show this. Also, for an up-to-date cockpit, the modeler will need to remove the fuel cell, and a second seat added. I am not an expert in the area of air racers and will leave its accuracy to the likes of IPMS/Silicon Valley Scale Modeler resident air racer expert and fiberglass wingtip manufacturer Mike Meek. One can hope that this kit will sell successfully and other manufacturers will take notice and release other 1/48^th scale air racers. Until next time…..turn left, fast!!