At the start of the Second World War, a British Purchasing Commission
travelled to the United States to purchase aircraft. While initially
interested in the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, the Commission approached
North American Aviation who, in April 1940, agreed a proposal
to design and build a new fighter based on research data from
Curtiss. The new aircraft, designated NA-73, made its maiden flight
on 26th. October 1940 and was subsequently named Mustang. The
first Mustang I for the RAF flew on 1st. May 1941 and deliveries
began in October 1941. Apart from high altitude performance, the
Mustang was judged by the RAF as outstanding in all respects,
the first time this had happened to an American aircraft. At low
latitude, the top speed of 390 mph was considerably greater than
that of any other RAF fighter. By 1942, the USAAF had become aware
of the aircraft's exceptional qualities and ordered large numbers,
including the P-51 (four cannon), A-36A (dive-bomber) and F-6A
(tactical reconnaissance). In the same year, the U.S. recommended
installation of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and six experimental
Mustangs were built. The results were successful and 1,199 P-51B
and 1,750 P-51C aircraft were built using this powerplant. Nearly
900 of these were then supplied to the RAF as Mustang IIIs. Subsequent
developments included the teardrop sliding canopy and extra dorsal
fin and resulted in the P-51D, by far the most widespread version
with total production of 7,956 machines. Although originally designed
and employed as a fighter, the Mustang was also used with great
success in ground attack, dive bombing and tactical reconnaissance
roles. A total of 15,469 Mustangs were built and, after World
War Two, served with air forces all over the world, seeing action
in Korea and the Arab-Israel War in 1956.
The reconnaissance aircraft F-6D, number 44-84786, was one of
a batch of 136 machines from the North American Aviation plant
in Dallas, Texas, and began its service in June 1945. Nicknamed
"Lil' Margaret", it remained in service until 1949 when
it was sold. What then happened to it is not known, but in 1981,
Mr. Henry "Butch" Schroeder obtained the airframe and
set about rebuilding Lil' Margaret. He and his helpers started
to restore and rebuild the aircraft, researching, seeking out
the correct original aircraft parts. Particular attention was
paid to the accuracy of the aircraft markings and the final result
was fitted with all systems, including guns and ammunition, ready
to use. Their 12 years of effort was rewarded with the completion
of what is undoubtedly one of the finest restored aircraft in
the world, going on to win the title of Grand Champion at the
Experimental Aircraft Association's annual fly-in at Oshkosh,
Wisconsin in 1993.
The model kit has been designed by JSC in co-operation with the
owner Mr Schroeder and great pains have been taken to achieve
a high degree of accuracy. The kit contains 408 separate pieces
and the model may be built as in flight or with undercarriage
down. In the latter case, the undercarriage is movable.
Construction begins with the cockpit shell and then progresses
to the fuselage. Of interest here is the provision of slots in
the formers to allow the insertion of a handle, with which to
position the former securely in place, a technique also encountered
in the JSC Sea Wraith. Having completed the rudder assembly, the
modeller must then decide whether to build the model as flying
or with the undercarriage. The latter is obviously the more complex,
especially as the undercarriage, including the tail wheel may
be assembled so as to be retractable. In view of the detail provided
in the kit, it would seem a shame not to build the undercarriage
although it is probably quite challenging.
Construction moves onto the wings. In a similar fashion to some
of the JSC ship models, each wing has an internal box-beam structure
which is attached to the fuselage by a card beam through the fuselage
and which is then covered over with the printed outer skin. The
guns must be fixed in position and, if it is decided to make the
model with the undercarriage, you can also model the exposed ammunition
trays in the wings, with the wing panels opened. If the model
is to be of the flying version, the wing assemblies are glued
to the fuselage and construction continues with the air-intakes.
If the undercarriage is to be modelled, the undercarriage bays
must be located in the wings. Again, there is an option to make
the undercarriage fixed or, not I suspect for the faint hearted,
to model it as retractable. To make the landing wheels, JSC have
adopted a technique I have not come across before. Instead of
carving the wheel shape from laminated disks, the kit is provided
with a set of card strips of varying thickness. Each strip is
formed into a ring and laid around the preceding strip. In this
way, a semi-shaped wheel is made for the modeller to trim to shape.
Having completed the wings, the cockpit shell is now to be fitted
out. If it is desired not to glaze the cockpit, the kit provides
card canopy pieces, printed in blue, for this purpose. In view
of the wealth of detail in the cockpit, however, it would be a
pity to not to glaze. The five-bladed propellor is next built
and a bearing made to allow the spinner to turn freely. Two long-range
underwing fuel tanks are provided and the model is finished off
with exhaust, landing lights, Pitot tube and rocket holders.
What I find remarkable about this kit is the quality of printing
which is, in my opinion, quite outstanding. Not only are the markings
reproduced to a high standard but over 100 inscriptions on the
model. There is a full cockpit interior and it is even possible,
with a magnifying glass, to read the writing on the dashboard.
I found particularly fascinating the diagrams on the wing ammunition
bays which show how the belts of ammunition for each gun are to
be stowed. The kit also contains several thicknesses of card.
While the internal parts are printed on a thickish plain card,
the fuselage and wing silver skin parts are found on a somewhat
thinner, coated card; ammunition bay details are to be found on
the thin, coated paper of the kit cover and parts to be rolled
into tubes such as gun barrels and exhaust pipes are printed on
thin paper inside the kit.
Full English instructions are provided although the translation
is sometimes a bit obscure. JSC suggest that to build the "flying"
version with no undercarriage would take about 30 hours. To build
the full version with retractable undercarriage, you should allow
60-70 hours but your labours should be rewarded with a fine model
of this classic aircraft which is regarded by many as the best
and most handsome piston-engined fighter.
Christopher Cooke.