CONSTRUCTION
I can't really say more about the Tamiya P-51's than what's already been said. The kit is a shake-n-bake kit. There are only a couple of areas that I had problems with. The first was the canopy. I opted to replace the kit canopy with a Squadron vac canopy. Why Tamiya set their canopy up this way, I have no idea. But with a little patience and careful sanding the kit canopy can be used. The second issue I had was with the starboard wing root. I had a small gap about a 1/4" long that need to be filled and rescribed. I have red other reviews that make this claim to, so I am hoping that it wasn't my mess-up.

COCKPIT
The cockpit was built box stock. I used Floquil's Military Color line for my Bronze Green on the interior and gave it my typical wash of thinned india ink. Various dry brushings were given with silver, black and a slightly lighter shade of green to bring out the details.

PAINT / DECALS
I diverted from my normal NMF practices using Floquils and went with the Model Master Metallizer line instead. I had never used them before and wanted to give them a try. Don't think I will be using them again for the whole plane. Even after three sealer coats; Metallizer Sealer, Future and Floquil Gloss I still had paint peeling off. These spots were sanded out and re-shot.

The white on the wing tips, nose and tail are all masked and painted on. With Tamiya tape, who needs decals for that?

The decals were from Aeromaster and was probably the second P-51 sheet that I ever owned. Once I saw the name I knew it had to be built. Several of the decals cracked on me when I put them on, and just enough to warrant replacing them. Luckily Great Models had some in stock.

Once the decals were on and sealed (some cracked and had to be replaced) I gave the whole A/C a wash with thinned artist oils. The whole A/C was sealed with Floquil Flat. I love how the floquil clears work. They almost act like they are self leveling to smooth out any roughness in the paint finish.

WRAP-UP
For the antenna I used 2lb fishing line and ran a sharpy marker across it to darken it up. All-in-all this kit is a great kit. I have many others on the shelf to build and 5 times as many decal sheets for them. You can never have enough Stangs!

ADDITIONAL IMAGES