The North American Company’s P-51 is well – known for the massive aerial dogfights with the Luftwaffe during World War II. A lesser-known use of the P-51 was a strafing aircraft, shooting up targets of opportunity. This model depicts one of the many armament loads that P-51s used for strafing.

The kit comes with 125 pieces, with most molded from polystyrene. There are three parts molded in metal, and another 10 parts molded in a resin. Decals are included for two aircraft, one based in India, and the second based on Iwo Jima.

Overall, the fit of the basic P-51 kit parts is good. There are some deviations from the kit instructions that I would highly recommend, and the first is in Step 3. Hold off gluing part C34 (the headrest) until the exterior is finished and all antennas and other external details are installed, to include decals. Mine broke off while I was putting the decals on, and it had been getting in the way prior to my accidentally breaking it off.

David Doyle’s latest book continues to expand on Squadron Signal’s long standing In Action series that initiated back in 1971. This is a completely updated and expanded edition over Squadron’s earlier Aircraft In Action number 75, a 50-pager on the Bell UH-1 Huey by Wayne Mutza that was published in 1986.

DavidDoyleBooks.com (Schiffer Publishing) out of Memphis TN, is back again with another Legends of Warfare (Ground) book entitled Panzerkampfwagen IV – The Backbone of Germany’s WWII Tank Forces, by popular author David Doyle. Anyone familiar with armor modeling literature and research will recognize this authoritative combination, and like usual, this latest release won’t disappoint.

Looking across my personal bookshelf of maybe 200 titles, I can spot several of Mr. Doyle’s books, including Panzer II, 251 Halftrack Visual History and Tiger I In Action, and, of course, my beaten-to-death copy of German Military Vehicles, among others. If you’ve been building armor models for any length of time, you’re probably familiar with his work as well.