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Another P-51 Mustang joins the continuing parade of new releases of this subject. This one from KP is advertised as a “new tool” for 2024 on the box top. I’ve had my share of challenges building KP kits, so I went into this build with high hopes. They get high marks for presentation.
You can tell when you are holding this tool that you are handling a quality tool. The blade is elliptical in shape and VERY sharp. It is protected by a flexible tip. The whole tool measures 5 inches in length with the blade making up 2mm of that.
The tool comes in a small vinyl pouch which protects the tool and you. The handle is plastic and feels good in the hand. The blade is made up of hardened steel with an elliptical shaped tip. It is good for cutting and scraping. Other possible uses are removing pin marks, making grooved lines, etching a louver into plastic, creating small vents, opening small intakes, etc. For figure modelers, this tool is great for sculpting folds into clothing. I’m sure there are other uses that I didn’t think of.
The 20-page instruction manual is presented in Eduard’s usual manner, on heavy gauge glossy paper, and begins with a thorough history of this aircraft. Care must be taken to ensure all the different options, based on the scheme you choose, are completed. The steps are often very “busy”, and it would behoove the modeler to read things three or four times before committing to cement.
The decal sheet, covering options for seven aircraft, is generous, to say the least. All markings are in perfect register. A separate, smaller decal sheet is provided for the myriad of data stenciling. The carrier film disappears under a coat of Micro-Sol, but as is now widely known, this film can be carefully peeled off once dried. I have not had much success with that technique, and I do not recommend it. Having said that, even the “Red Tulip” decal on the nose responded well to Micro-Sol.
I had never heard of this company before but they were included in a recent Eduard P-51B kit. These are plugs of flexible EVA foam that you just slide into the opening of the wheel well prior to painting the outside color. The foam can be a number of colors. The color does not really matter, they work regardless of foam color.
To say I was skeptical would be an understatement. I tried a set recently on my two models and found them to be excellent. They are push fit into the opening and are reusable. So, if you build multiple kits of the same airplane you’ll find these little plugs to be an investment that will save you lots of masking time.
This particular set is designed for the Eduard FW-190A-5 and A-6 kits, kit # 82143, 82149, 82148 although I can’t see why they wouldn’t fit the A-7, A-8 and possibly the D-9. They are all the same shape of wheel well opening.
ICM, a model manufacturer located in Kiev, Ukraine has exploded on the scene in the last several years. They choose a variety of interesting subjects, including from the Ukraine. I think I speak for many in the modeling community that it is amazing when the country is beleaguered by a war with Russia, they can continue to operate at the tempo they have chosen to pursue. The Kozak is a domestically produced MRAP in the Ukraine. This kit is a variant of the Kozak-2 that was released in 2023. This kit is the border guard version of the same vehicle. As a kit, it is virtually identical to the previous release. The exception is the vehicles weapon and the color schemes that are found are different.
