Scale Plastic & Rail

1:32 P-51D Mustang upgrade sets, for Tamiya kit from Barracuda Studios

1:32 P-51D Mustang upgrade sets, for Tamiya kit
Barracuda Studios
See review for Catalogue #'s and price
Available from Barracuda Studios

Our good friend Roy Sutherland, maestro of all things super-detail-resin, has sent SP&R the latest upgrade sets for the amazing Tamiya P-51D Mustang. WHAT? I hear you cry! This kit needs upgrades? Well, yes, it can still be improved. Injection plastic moulding has some limitations which means that certain shapes cannot be accurately reproduced in moulds where you need to pop them apart and spit the things out with metal pins. Roy has taken the entire cockpit and created several sets for this, as well as improved wheels and paper droptanks. Now if you still haven't purchsed the P-51D, then this will perhaps push you that final amount.

Ref 32012: Mustang cockpit sidewalls, $12.95

Both sidewalls are recreated by Barracuda with much more detail than the existing parts of the kit, such as the levers of the different mechanism of the planes, like the engine throttle, the landing gears retraction lever, radio, the bomb salvo and the rudder pedals, most of the parts are casted in resin and a small PE set is  include with  the cover of the rudder pedals ,the canopy rail, who have to be folded, some tiny details like the chain of the flare cover and the engine cowling breather plates, what is really good about this set is that beside removing and cleaning the resin parts, absolutely now work has to be done on the side wall of the kit, a tiny stripe of plastic has to be removed from the cockpit tub, but that's it, the instructions are really clear and easy to follow.

Ref 32013: Mustang Instrument panel, $12.95

Finely cast, the replacement of the instruments panels is completed with a PE parts set which is inserted inside the resin part and all the bezels are provided separately, so you will required patience and a good following of the instructions sheet to place the bezels in the right place. A transparent printed film is provided for the instruments dials, which will be glued right behind the resin part a small white font can be had behind the instruments dial to get a better view of the dials, the panel will replace directly the kit part without any work. Be just careful as you glue the bezels in place, to avoid any glue stains that will be difficult to remove.

Ref 32014: Mustang Cockpit upgrade, $8.95

This set contains a more detailed gun sight and support, plus the battery and the radioset, control stick and the throttle quadrant with two different styles of levers depending of the version you will do. A complete diagram of wiring is available on the instructions you will just have to drill some tiny holes in the battery and then had some 0.5mm lead wires to give a much better details on your cockpit, the battery and radio will have to be carefully removed for the casting blocks, but then will be able to be used as they are. It goes for the K-14 Gun sight which required a little bit of paint and can be glued in place.

Ref 32016: Paper drops tanks, $9.95

A pair of tank end's are provided in this set to replaced the Tamiya kit part which are fine in size and shape but not marked enough on the "papier Maché" ribs, so this set will demand a little effort as you will have to built your tank's and the cut off both ends to replace them with resin inserts, make sure to align them properly, as these tanks were used only once don't over do it with the weathering.

Ref 32029-30-31-32 Mustang Tires
If there is one improvement to be made on the Tamiya big Mustang is these horrible vinyl tires, I just don't understand why most of the company who are doing 1/32 scale still provide these vinyl tires who are really difficult to work with specially for the painting and weathering stages, but thankfully Barracudas is coming to the rescue and the big rescue with non less that 4 different styles of thread seen on all Mustang.

32029 are Diamond thread tires, $6.95

32030 are Oval Tread Pattern Tires, $6.95

32031 are Octagonal Tread Tires, $6.95

32032 are Block Tread Tires, $6.95

Again what is great with these set is that you can replace the vinyl set with the resin set without any work, you can mix the tires on your model like it was often the case on the real war machines. It will definitely give a better look to your model

32034, Mustang Main wheel Hubs, $4.95
These wheel hubs are not made for the Tamiya Mustang because the mounting system is slightly  different, but can be used on the old Hasegawa , Dragon and Trumpeter model, they will fit the resin wheels and will be a great plus on your model.

BC32010, Mustang cockpit stencils decals sheet, $7.95

If all the resin details are not enough and you want a near perfect replica of your Mustang cockpit, well Barracuda has come to the rescue once again, with a superb and well presented decals sheet which contain all the stencils and technical placards which were on the Mustang in order to help the pilots to fly correctly this machine. With nearly no carrying film, all the stencils are finely printed by Cartograph in Italy. The complete cockpit is shown in the instructions, and if you follow them carefully, with a little bit of patience, and time you will achieve a really close to reality Mustang cockpit, some of the landing gears logos are also included in the sheet, so once done you can nearly fly that Mustang as the reproduction is so well done.

So if you are a Mustang freak... well you have to get this sheet.

So what do we think?
What is great with all the Barracudas references is they are really well researched, casted with perfection, and the must is that nearly or no work is needed to put them in place, as often the fitting of these resin parts can be a very frustrating and time consuming phase of your modeling schedule, I definitely recommend you all the resin set if like me your want to had great details to your big Tamiya Mustang with a minimum of work!

Very highly recommended

Franck Oudin

If you have any doubts you can still check them out on line at the Barracuda Studios web site.

http://barracudacals.com/index.php

A big thank you to Roy Sutherland for providing all the review samples.

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