Author Steve Ginter is a noted military historian who publishes the Naval Fighter series that was founded in 1980. After graduating from California State University-Northridge, Ginter became a US Navy pilot, serving from 1966 to 1972. Upon leaving the US Navy, Ginter held a series of management positions within the Thrifty Drug chain for the next twenty-one years. In 1996 he became the CEO of Sentai Distributors where he directed company operations until 2011. The Air Force Legends series was initiated in 1998 with the publication of ‘The Martin XB-51’.

Recently I was given the opportunity by IPMS USA to review Eduard's canopy masks for the new 1/48 Airfix P-51D Mustang kit. One of the first things to notice with this product is the excellent presentation of the packaging with the easy to open flap. Package includes a single sheet of kabuki paper masks for the canopy panels, landing lights, and wheel hubs.

Upon removal of the masks from the package I could easily remove the masks from the paper and apply to appropriate section of the canopy. The instructions included with the masks gives you a good feel for which panel you are working with compared to how canopy is sectioned off. The masks lay down well and no trimming had to be done to center up the masks with the canopy framing. The main canopy has to be masked with extra tape or a liquid mask, you only get the outer frame.

This set is the latest in Eduard’s “Brassin” line. The set comes in a resealable clamshell package with a cardboard insert to separate the decals, etched parts, and instructions from the sixteen resin parts. The instructions comprise one sheet representing the cover sheet with the decal application guide along with painting instructions. The inner spread provides the assembly guide, with the back sheet showing the parts list and the color codes for Gunze paint (Aqueous and MrColor). I will note that the resin parts on my set had lots of room in the blister to move and as a consequence, I had the rear fins broken off (R33) on two of the four bombs. This set will need to be installed with your favorite CA (super glue) or epoxy, as the normal plastic glues or solvents will not react with the resin or photoetch.

I was drawn to this decal set for two reasons:

One, I thought that camouflaged Mustangs are not seen as much as the bare metal US aircraft.

Two: I had to do the Aussie Southern Cross marking being an Aussie!

LPS Hobby is a decal manufacturer from Brazil. The decal sheet, instruction sheet and cover page are contained within a generously sized zip-lock bag.

This small decal set contains marking for three British camouflaged P-51K Mustangs from Royal Canadian, South African and Royal Australian Air Forces:

• KH608, Y2, “Edmonton Special”, PO John Mallandaine, 442 Sqn RCAF, Hunsdon, England. May 1945
• KH673, GL-N, “Sweetpea”, 5 Sqn SAAF, Udine Italy, January 1945
• KH676, CV-A, F/Lt 'Dusty' Lane, 3 Sqn RAAF, Cervia, Italy, April 1945

The recommended donor kit is the Tamiya 1/72 P-51D Mustang, however the newer Airfix, or any other manufacturers P-51D/K could also be used.

IPMS/USA thanks the Eduard team once again for sending us this simple, excellent set for the new Eduard FW-190 series. And thanks to Phil and John for running the team…

This seat harness is simplicity itself. There are four parts. That’s it, four. FOUR-lap belts, and over the shoulder harness. Installation? Carefully bend these durable steel belts into place. No paint flaking, no fiddling with parts that are too small for even surgical standard tweezers to hold. Just install and admire.

Far better than tape and paint, the STEEL series seat harnesses should become one of Eduard’s fastest sellers for upgrading kits that don’t have harnesses attached. Competitively priced too!

Thanks once again to Eduard and their groundbreaking technology leaps and for keeping AMS alive in those of us who have it!