Hi everyone, I built Tamiya's 1:32 A6M2b Zero last year. Its an amazing kit and was so much fun to build I got hooked on Tamiya's 1:32 aircraft line. The cockpit slid back the cowling came off, the flaps moved, the drop tank was removable, and the landing gear was retractable. Very cool huh :) Well this year for my Birthday I received the P-51D and I was pleasantly surprised to the same enthusiasm, as the Zero. However while building it I ran into a few problems.  Now let me state that these are not problems with the kit, but I was expecting the kit to do more. one of the neatest features  with the Zero is the option of the removable drop tank. Both look nice and its a good option. The  P-51D does not have this feature. I'm building a Tuskegee "Redtail" which would most likely carry the drop tanks. But still I wanted this to be and option. So I'm going to show you a quick and simple way to modify your model and get those drop tanks. 

Drop Tanks

 

 

1. Select the part you are using. Options A and B have different attachments than C, but don't worry this will work for both versions. Do not attach the grab arms yet, this will work much easier with out them,

 

 

2. Next get a piece of metal. Look for something light weight, and bendable, don't use Aluminum. Next you're going to cut a thin strip of the metal, and place it around the piece.

 

 

Its a simple measure and fit and the bent metal clamps itself pretty well to the piece. However I did superglue it just to be safe. Its not very distracting and looks natural to the P-51. The next step is where the magic happens :)

 
3. For those of you unfamiliar, this silver dot is an Earth Magnet.  Earth Magnets are very powerful and a bunch are included in the kit. I pulled this one out of a "Bakugan" toy. Now if your scratching your head wondering "What's a Bakugan" Simply put its a weird Japanese toy kids easily get excited about. They are these little balls and when rolled onto a metal card (which is also where I got the metal plate ) the magnets are pulled releasing the ball into and animal or monster. They are kinda cool to see, but the important part here is that big magnet. Bakugan are still around and easily available at Garage sales and thrift stores, from parents happy to be rid of them. Be careful around your work bench they are awfully powerful.

4. Take your selected drop tanks, I'm using the "Tear Drop" since its the version commonly used with the P-51 I'm building.

Position the Magnet directly under the metal strip you made earlier, and attach the magnet on the inside. I'm taping it down for now, but when I get there these will be glued in place.

 

 

Now I've taped the halves together, If you've gotten a good and big enough magnet and used a good metal your finished result should look like this:

 

Now your tanks are removable and sturdy enough not to fall off you plane. You plane doesn't need this addition, but its easy, looks good, and adds more of an option for you. Give it a try :)

Gun Panels.

Tamiya tried as usual to keep everything as auccurate as possible. But the gum panels really got on my nerves. Tamiya built into the kit beautiful gun bays, each side has 3 Browning 50.cals and bullet belts.  There are 4 included gun covers. 2 are meant to be placed down on the wings in the Closed position. While the other 2 panels are meant to be cut up and propped open. This is a nice feature, but the only thing keeping the closed panels down is gravity. I imagined myself showing off the under side looking at the wheels and details opening the coolant flaps, when Gravity would take over and one of those panels would fall off and disappear under the table forever. But like the Drop tanks I found an easy way to keep them to your model.

1. Again you will need 2 Earth magnets, (1 for each side of the wing) I drilled a hole into the spot where you will place the piece will all the bullets. The hole makes the magnet closer to the panel making the attraction stronger.

2. Next is the panel, for this operation you'll either need a Dremel tool with a low setting, or a few chisel blades armed with your own patience.

 

 

3. Next I marked a box above where the magnet is hidden. Using a Dremel tool I slowly and carefully sanded down the "ribs" on the panel. Once I was satisfied with my result I made a square out of the metal and again Superglued it to the panel. Shown below is the part completed and painted. 

 

 

The Panel should "Snap" into place.

 

 

 

 Now after the glue has dried out, place the Bullets piece into the wing, and test to see if your panel holds. If you've got a good magnet and metal this should work out for you very well. (Again I used parts from a Bakugan toy).  But then another problem occurred to me "How do I get the panels off when my model is completed? Sure I could dig a finger nail there and scratch the paint. Well no, I instead found a different way.

 

 

 Here I've got it upside down to test the magnet strength. Its not going anywhere :)

 

 

4. On either side of the box frame there are small lips that keep the panel in place. The lip on the inside (closest to the fuselage) Simply needs to be trimmed down, as I've pointed out in the picture bellow. This cut/trim will require a few attempts to get it to where you want it. So don't trim too much.

 

 



 

 

 

5. Now what will happen? Well if you press on the top corner, where you made the cut you will see that the panel from the bottom will be raised up, as the next picture shows. As I said before the tab you just cut needs to be played with till you are satisfied I removed a 1/3 or close to 1/2 of it.

 



 

 

Now that the panel is raised, simply lift the bottom part and remove it from the wing. Its very easy to do and lets you keep that excellent detail visible and hidden when ever you need it.

 

 

 

So that's all, I hope you've found this useful to you and give it a test if you like, and if It works please let me know, I'm keen to see if other have success with this as I have. As I metioned before its an excellent kit on its own but I'm very happy with these quick upgrades to give the  model I want. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave a comment or send your questions to: v_4_ever@hotmail.com titled them "Tamiya P-51" so I know you're not junk mail. Thanks for reading, and remember to prefit Twice and glue Once.