Waltz41 Posted August 12, 2020 Share #1 Posted August 12, 2020 Over a year and a half ago, when it was first announced that Eduard was going to be releasing a brand new 1/48 P-51 kit, I contacted the company and asked them to make a dedicated VLR (Very Long Range) P-51 boxing. Mostly, the P-51 is the same, the main difference being the twin antenna's on the spine, but also they used 110-and 165-gallon drop tanks with sway braces. I started off sending in photos, and eventually they told me they were going to do it. I worked with another gentleman to come up with paint schemes to choose from, and they ended up including one of every squadron (although they were going to leave one out at first which I told them was a crime!). I wrote the forward introduction for the instruction manual, continued to answer questions and gave advice on the kit and markings, and now......it's released. I also was able to add an article/interview of my veteran friend, a VLR pilot in the war, in their monthly online magazine. They put his airplane on the box art cover for that reason as well. It's kind of a little bucket list type item to help with something like this. I'm very happy to share my knowledge on those missions and share Bill's story as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltz41 Posted August 12, 2020 Author Share #2 Posted August 12, 2020 Here's the forward I wrote for the instruction manual, giving an overview of the VLR missions and the 3 fighter groups involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltz41 Posted August 12, 2020 Author Share #3 Posted August 12, 2020 And here is the first couple pages of the interview article with my friend Bill. What's really great is I was able to include all original pictures from his collection, as well as some documents and maps and other items, from him and the family of the pilot he shared the P-51 with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltz41 Posted August 12, 2020 Author Share #4 Posted August 12, 2020 More of the article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltz41 Posted August 12, 2020 Author Share #5 Posted August 12, 2020 more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltz41 Posted August 12, 2020 Author Share #6 Posted August 12, 2020 Last Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted August 12, 2020 Share #7 Posted August 12, 2020 Wow, I think we haven´t seen such a post about a 1/48 scale kit in this section before. Incredible background info, thanks very much for sharing! Are you going to build the model? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltz41 Posted August 12, 2020 Author Share #8 Posted August 12, 2020 Definitely! I have over 50 1/48th scale Mustangs built on display in my basement, so I've probably made close to 75 or so in my life 🙂 Sorry, I honestly was just very proud of getting in a lot of the history in with the kit, and like I mentioned, as a model builder myself, it's kind of a bucket list thing to be involved like this with one!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted August 14, 2020 Share #9 Posted August 14, 2020 Did you already post some pictures of your Mustang planes display here? Would love to see some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GITom1944 Posted August 17, 2020 Share #10 Posted August 17, 2020 Great job, Brian! Thoroughly researched and presented... Now I think I need to order the new kit. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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