It's funny....but
when I first opened the package for this set I panicked and thought I had
misplaced the cockpit tub. But a quick glance of the clear and concise
instruction sheet reveal this set doesn't come with a cockpit tub, which is
different from most of the other Black Box cockpit detail sets. This was
explained on the instruction sheet where I noticed the masters for this set were
created by ACME instead of Mike Kirchoff. Anyhow....on to the
review.
I hauled out a 1/48
Tamiya P-51D from my kit stash to compare the kit parts to the parts contained
in this resin set. Without a doubt every single part in this set is a
noticeable improvement over the original injected styrene kit parts. This
resin set only has 11 pieces, but those are 11 very crisp and beautifully done
pieces of resin. Because there is not cockpit tub....it means the modeller will
have to grind off detail from the Tamiya kits fuselage cockpit side wall before
attaching the Black Box resin cockpit sidewalls. This is not a big deal if
you have a Dremel Minimite or a similar grinding tool. The instrument
panel is better in this set than the kit part.....this is clearly seen when
comparing the busy lower panel of the Black Box instrument panel with the almost
bare lower panel that comes with the Tamiya kit. The Tamiya seat lacks all
sorts of details that are beautifully molded into the Black Box resin
seat. Even the armour plate behind the seat has more detail beside the
headrest pad on the Black Box part as compared to the Tamiya part.
I could
go on and on, but I suggest you study the photos and compare them with the
Tamiya parts and you'll see what I mean. This set is quite a leap of
detail above the Tamiya kit parts.
Steve Bamford
(click on pictures below to bring up
full screen pictures)