005 P-51D/ITA/A.M.I./RR-11 4323/Reparto Volo IIa Regione Aerea/ Roma Ciampino 1952

This mustang belongs to the 2nd Air Force "Regione volo di Roma" and it was given to the A.M.I. when the war was over. This model produced by the italian Italeri pictures the aircraft that is being showed at the museum "Vigna di Valle" nearby Roma.

I had a doubt about the Nose Cone since the manufacturer states that its dark blue whilst in some pictures the nose cone appears to be green (Source: Aviolibri special 11 page 21). It is to be proven wether its a temporal difference or am imprecision.
In fact in some pictures the color is not clear and that might have tricked the manufacturer.

The kit is very versatile in the sense that you can choose between three different version of Mustang: the Mk-I, the P-51 and the P-51A.

The plane shows the classic A.M.I. style with natural metal livery and black stripes in proximity of the wings.

This model has been assembled and painted with brush (and it shows) by me.

Maurizio Valerani

003 - P-51 /USA/”Mah Sweet – Eva Lee”137322/154st Recon Sq./Tunisia 1943

This is one of the 150 exemplars that was built with 4 wing light gun.
This model was assembled using the kit of the italian Italeri .

The kit adaptable in the sense that you can build 3 different version of the plane: The  Mk-I, the P-51and the P-51-A versions.

The plane named "Mah Sweet – Eva Lee”, piloted by K.F. Bush, was dislocated in Tunisia in 1943.
It has the classic Olive Drab livery in the upper part and Light Grey in the lower part.

Red nose cone, America flag and yellow stripes on the wings.
Insignia with star without bar circled in yellow, typical of the period.

The Decals made by Italeri seems to be incomplete, other manufacturers such as Accademy offer decals both on the tail and on the fuselage, as depicted by hystorical pictures.

It should be verified if it is caused just by a temporal difference or a real lack by the kit, future models will solve the dilemma.
This model has been completely painted by me by brush.

002 - P-51B/U.S.A./267-36769/26th F.S. 51st F.G./Col. “Tex Hill”/Cina 1945

The model is from Revell, a german company. It is an all right kit with sub-alar rockets that characterize it.

The coloration consists of olive drab for the upper part of the fuselage and grey for the lower part, with shark mouth, red estens and yellow stripe to give more spice to this aircraft.

This aircraft was stationed in china in 1945 in Kunning and it was piloted by Colonel Davil Lee nicknamed "Tex Hill" ; already pilot on P-40s "Flying Tigers" of A.V.G. (American Volunteer Group).

This kit which has been which has been assembled by me a few years ago is completely done with paint brush.

001 - P-51D /U.S.A/"Fool's Paradise IV"/363° F.G. 9° A.F./England 1944

The First model of this collection counldn't be anything but the P-51D of the 363rd FG-9th Air Force, 413309 - A9A located in Ingland in the 1944 with the nickname "Fool's Paradise IV", which is nontheless the first kit ever produced by Airfix in the 50's.

I haven't found any hystorical information concerning the colours of this model, but my collection is equiped to bare with various possibilities.

In fact there are two suggested ways of painting this aircraft:
One that i've found on the internet with blue spinner and a part of the fuselage in Olive Drab, with classic invasion stripes on fuselage and wings.

I'm going to produce this variant along with the one suggested on the Airfix kit which consists of a full natural metal fuselage, yellow spinner and anti-reflection panel in Olive Drab.

This kit, being so old is pretty ugly, is made in positive with non fitting parts and imperfections.
Hence i consider it as a collection piece and to make the model I substituted it with a Hasegawa Kit from the 70's.

I just want to mention that I'm more of a collectionist than a modeller since i prefer a fabric look to the aircraft compared to a diorama like look.


Maurizio Valerani