P-51D Mustang
Instrument Panel

BarracudaCast, 1/32 scale

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

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Roy Sutherland, the owner of Barracuda Studios sure seems to have taken a shine to Tamiya’s new 1/32 scale P-51D kit.

So much so that he has been hard at work breathing his magic upon it and, so far, has produced three mixed media detail sets and a decal sheet to enhance the cockpit as well as a further detail kit to super detail the compressed paper drop tanks that the P-51 carried to further extend its already legendary range.

BR32013 consists of seven resin parts, a brass-etch fret of that holds 25 parts and a clear acetate sheet that has instrument faces printed on it.

The set’s instruction sheet advises that the instrument panel provided in the set represents the later style fitted to the majority of wartime Mustangs and will completely replace the kit’s instrument panel.

Basically, you are provided with the instrument panel in resin with a brass etch ‘blank’ instrument panel upon which you glue separate instrument bezels to create the panel. Once this is done you glue the acetate sheet to the rear of the panel to simulate the instruments and their glass faces. Once this is all done you carefully glue on tiny resin T handles to complete the panel. It is of course more complex than that and the extremely well written instruction sheet that accompanies the parts advises you on how to go about it. The instruction sheet is illustrated with excellent quality sharp and clear colour images showing the parts in place as well as an image of a one to one scale instrument panel for reference.

The resin parts in my sample set are crisply cast and there are no pin holes or mis-casts in any of the parts. A word of caution, the resin used to cast the parts is pretty brittle and you will need to exercise care whist working with it.

The parts come packed in a clear plastic zip-loc bag with a cardboard header. The photo-etch fret is taped to a thin cardboard backing sheet to stop it from being bent in transit.

Whilst some will find this set a breeze to use most of us will spend a long, long time to complete it but the end result will be well and truly worth it as it will enhance you scale P-51D cockpit kit no end, just follow the instruction sheet!

Thanks to Barracuda Studios for the images and information

Barracuda Studio products are available online from their website

Text Copyright © 2012 by Rodger Kelly
Images Copyright © 2012 by Barrcuda Studios
This Page Created on 24 April, 2012
Last updated 24 April, 2012

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