Building The North American P-51D Mustang Book Review

By David L. Veres

Review

This luscious, lavishly illustrated book – the publisher claims – explores Zoukei-Mura's amazing 1:32-scale kit in "forensic detail".  And it certainly does.

But that doesn't mean you need Zoukei-Mura's model to appreciate Valiant Wings' hugely handy handbook.  In fact, it's a marvelous reference for P-51D Mustang projects to all scales.

Building The North American P-51D Mustang – first installment in Valiant Wings' new Airframe Constructor series – provides plenty of sequential construction and finishing details – including interior and color minutiae.

Now add two illuminating sections of finishing tips in camouflage and natural metal.  Season with 25 color profiles by Richard J. Caruana.  Stir in six pages of actual aircraft photos and technical manual excerpts.  Top with a rundown of available decals and upgrade parts.  And the resulting confection can really sweeten your next Mustang model.

One minor hiccup: the warpaint on author Zamarbide's build-up doesn't accurately replicate the Guatemalan P-51D camouflage I've seen.  Maybe out-of-bottle colors don't always work.

But that doesn't taint Valiant Wings's tasty recipe.  I can't wait for more titles in this cool, new series.  Mustang modeler?  Get this colorful, useful book.

Robustly recommended!

My sincere thanks to Valiant Wings Publishing for this review copy.