Wanting to make your P-51D just a bit different by showing the elevators in action? Aires has come to the rescue with a beautiful set to replace the horizontal tail surfaces for the North American P-51D Mustang. There are no supplied instructions; you simply swap out the kit provided plastic parts with the new Aires replacements. These Aires parts are specific replacements for the kit parts found in the Tamiya series of P-51D kits.

Aires has molded the stabilizer and elevator perfectly in light grey resin with no apparent bubbles. The Aires stabilizer and elevator are supplied on a single resin sprue with thin resin attachments to the parts that should minimize any cleanup.

Although most paints will adhere to resin alone, I would recommend that you wash the parts to remove any remaining mold release and prime them first. They 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.

These control surfaces may work on other P-51 kits with modification. The Aires horizontal surfaces are keyed, just like the Tamiya horizontal surfaces, to make sure you get them installed correctly. Modifying the keyed tabs should allow you to use them on any P-51 kit available (Accurate Miniatures, Tamiya, Hasegawa, ICM, and Revell). What you want to look out for is that earlier Mustangs had fabric covered elevators. Metal skinned elevators began being installed in mid-production P-51Bs and P-51Cs to reduce high speed “porpoising”. Metal skinned elevators were also installed in the field to earlier models, so be sure to check your references.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review this set.