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IDEA/HOBBYCRAFT 1:72 F-82 TWIN MUSTANG
Reviewer: Myself
(smakr@bigpond.com)
Kit Built and Review submitted:
30 September 2001
Addendum on Revell F-82 boxing written by Kevin Ronayne
Aircraft:
The most unusual and final variant of the Mustang to be produced was the
P-82 Twin Mustang (later redesignated to F-82 in line with the 1948 designation upgrades,
including P-51 to F-51 Mustang), a design that was the natural
outgrowth of earlier P-51 models. It was developed in part due to pilot
fatigue and boredom on long flights over the ocean during the Pacific campaign
late in WW2, and the P-82 offered a unique two-pilot concept to solve this part
of the problem.
The Twin Mustang was based on the earlier Mustang but was effectively a brand new aircraft incorporating numerous new technological innovations and was also some six feet longer than the standard P-51 Mustang fuselage. It was a radical departure from conventional aviation design in that it had a pair of lifting bodies [fuselages] that were joined by a centre wing and rear tailplane, plus provisions for a pilot in each of the fuselages, and improvements to pilot comfort and simplified cockpit arrangements. Throttles and propeller controls were located in both cockpits, the left side containing the primary overall control features while the right side was considered as the "co-pilots" cockpit, containing sufficient instrumentation for emergency/relief operation. The original P-82 was powered by a Merlin engine with counter-rotating propellers to eliminate any torque problems on take offs and landings.
Two prototypes were designated the NA-120 by North American and XP-82 by the USAAF and first flew in April 1945. The USAAF had already ordered 500 P-82's a year previously, however, only 20 P-82B's were actually completed before the end of WW2 and the contract was cancelled. Two of these were converted to night-fighters being designated P-82C and P-82D after the war - the difference being the radar carried.
In December 1945 the USAAF re-evaluated the program and placed an order for 100 P-82E escort fighters; then later 100 P-82F (containing the radar housed in the P-82C), and finally 50 P-82G Night-fighters (containing the radar housed in P-82D); and all were powered by new and improved Allison engines. The Night-fighters were intended to replace the ageing P-61 Black Widows in service. The total order of 250 P-82 aircraft was produced up until 1949, but 14 aircraft (including 5 G models) were actually diverted to become P-82H models, incorporating cold weather equipment for Alaska operations and bases.
As with its P-51 predecessor, versatility was the primary strongpoint for the P-82 Twin Mustang, able to carry a wide range of underwing stores, including rockets, auxiliary fuel tanks and bombs. Furthermore, the centre wing section could also be modified to house an additional eight Browning 0.50-caliber machine-guns.
The Twin Mustang was not produced in time for WW2, however, it did see action in the Korean conflict, by which stage of course it had been redesignated to F-82. It was an F-82 Twin Mustang that was officially credited with the first air victory of the war when five F-82G's were vectored to Kimbo airfield outside Seoul, June 1950, to intercept a flight of prop-driven Soviet-built North Korean Yak-9 fighters. From memory I believe there were three Yak-9's shot down without any loss to the F-82 flight (although different references say slightly different things). Soon after this engagement though, the F-82s were relegated to air defence duties of Japan until they were replaced by jets in 1951 and did not see a great deal of action further in the Korean conflict.
The F-82 in reality was almost obsolete when the Korean conflict broke out, even though it did enter combat on several occasions during the initial stages. It still served a critical role maintaining the USAF long-range-fighter capabilities during the post WW2 period, and was the last piston-powered fighter to be produced in any quantity by the USAF.
The Kit:
As with the last two IDEA kit reviews (CF-100 Canuck and F-89H Scorpion)
the F-82 kit is simply a reboxing of the Hobbycraft kit for the Korean market,
however, this is actually an ENGLISH release! In other boxes, the (Korean) Instruction sheet was the only difference between the two
kits/releases, whereas this kit includes English instruction sheet but Hobbycraft stamps removed from the sprues etc.
From more recent information regarding these companies, it seems that Idea are
effectively the kit maker for Hobbycraft, or their "parent company" if
that makes sense. Also I hear that Idea kitted some Airfix kits in the
70's and 80's too.
Inside the box are four sprues of about 50 crisp parts in light grey molding with quite nicely rendered raised surface detail, and some main wheel well detail as well. There are ejector pin marks on a number of the parts and almost half the kit could be said to be encumbered by some form of flash, although most of it is easily removed so as not to be too concerning for the average modeller. In spite of the size difference of the F-82 compared to the F-51, I did presume that perhaps you might get two F/P-51 kits in the box (ie: two identical sprues with fuselage halves, a sprue common to P/F-51's and then a separate sprue specifically for the wings/joins to make it a twin mustang) but you essentially get two sprues that make up the best part of a normal F-51 Mustang with the other two sprues containing wing components and second fuselage specific for the F-51. In otherwords, the kit effectively was made as an F-82, and not syphoned from a couple of F-51 kits. All the sprues are packaged in two separate cellophane bags, one of which also includes the clear sprue containing two two-piece canopies (which contain a bit of flash, slightly different sized windscreens and are a little scratched).
Hobbycraft boxart of this same kit
Hobbycraft/Idea appear to have copied the much better Monogram mold
Instructions:
This is by way of an A3 sized sheet folded into three sections and is
quite busy with text commentary, all of which is in English. On reading the sheet,
you get the feeling that it was actually Chinese text translated into literal
English and it some parts make for some light reading! The first section
contains a bit of history on the aircraft, then the inside sections and one on
the back make up the 15 construction steps. Each construction step
contains complete running text commentary on every assembly -
an example: [Insert {14} into {36} and into {40} (do not use adhesive)]
but is completely absent of any painting information for individual components,
except what is written on the back page per below. One of the steps (no. 7) doesn't even have any pictures, just
text, although it discusses repeat assembly of previous steps!! There is a
bit of concern at times over the positioning of parts and some of the assembly
steps are vague at best in this regard - I did not really have any problems but
the novice might. The final
page/section contains very small four-view diagrams of the two examples produced by
the kit with generic colour information for painting, and there is commentary on
each colour and where it can be applied to, including some of the cockpit parts
and a run down on what to paint the pilot. There is also a small paragraph
about the decals, telling you to use the red coloured stencils on the night
fighter version, since obviously the same stencil for either aircraft is
identified by the same letter: eg: The decal labelled "F" is a
small stencil on the forward fuselage section, but two stencils on the sheet are
labelled with "F", one is in black and the other red, so obviously the
red "F" is for the night fighter version and the black stencil for the
escort fighter - here's hoping that makes sense.
Construction:
The instructions direct you to commence with the wing
assembly. I did not follow the instructions and started assembly on the
two cockpits. These consist of a basic seat
molded onto a floor with rudder pedals. You are then only provided with a
control column and main instrument panel (no console detail, but decals are
supplied) as accessories, so a lot of detailing
is needed to be done by the modeller to bring it up to scratch. However,
you do get two pilot figures to fill up the cockpit space. You first notice they are actually quite
different in both appearance and quality. One is a little crudely done,
scrunched up with one hand to his oxygen mask (perhaps he wants to pee?), crude
sink marks on his back and enough flash between his legs to look very painful
indeed, while the other seemed a bit better molded with a little more detail,
and his arm was separate so it could be affixed against the control stick.
Interior green was applied to the inside of the cockpit (as I had decided to
represent the F-82E day escort fighter) and then the cockpit units were attached
to locating pins in their respective halves. There is quite a gap between
the back of the seat and cockpit, so if you don't like staring down into space,
then some plasticard needs to be inserted here - bearing in mind that you can
have a sliding canopy as discussed near the end of this construction process,
but you might as well fill it in given my experience as you will see!
One of the annoying parts of the kit [for the wheels-up modeller] is that the tailwheel doors are molded open on the fuselage halves. I cut these off before affixing the fuselage halves together (which go together nicely once you ensure the cockpit unit meets up correctly on the locating pins in the 'other' half). Then I very carefully applied putty to fill up the tailwheel hole, and once dried sanded then added another small layer thinned out on top to match the contours of the fuselage, before sanding smooth again.
The nose has a gaping hole where the propeller unit attaches to the front of a separate nose cowling part, which is subsequently affixed to the nose. The hole on one nose section is not centred properly so you will have to correct this if you do not want the propeller unit to be off centre. Fit of the nose section and engine block is not the best and needs a bit of cleaning up and test fitting to fit well, then sand away the join lines underneath the nose. There is also the absence of the actual carburettor intake itself at the bottom of the nose, one of the first rather obvious inaccuracies of the kit to be spotted. There is a small mold line at the tip of each propeller to assist in knowing where to paint the yellow warning stripe, but the propellers were left off until after the model was completed as the spinner is just glued to the front of the propeller shaft already affixed to the nose.
Next I sub-assembled the wing section (which the instructions say to do first). This is made up of one single long underwing piece, the two upper halves for either side of the aircraft and the middle section upper half as well. If you want to add in the centreline Browning machine guns, then this will need to be painted and trapped within the centre-wing section. There is also a rectangle panel (part 21) right in the middle of the upper centre wing section and the instructions suggest to affix this in the open position. I am not sure what this panel is for, other than to see inside the centre-wing section and the machine guns I guess [so you will need to paint around the machine guns appropriately], but obviously depicting the model 'flying' means the panel was affixed in the closed position.
Once the wings were dry I then added the two fuselages into their respective positions - and of course make sure the tailplane locating slots are on the inside of the tailfin!! The fuselage halves are clearly designed to go on the side they were meant for so this helps overcome any possible oversight. They fit "easily", but not "snugly" by any means, and there are gaps underneath and around the wing roots that need to be filled. At the same time the tailplane adjoining the two fuselages was added and this benefits from a quick sanding on the locating tabs just to remove tiny bits of flash. There are also some nasty ejector pin sink marks on the underside of the tailplane that I was not able to fully remove - thankfully it is on the underside because again the part is designed to be attached to the correct tailfin, one has a single locating tab; the other has both a tab and pin. It is pertinent also to point out here that just gluing the tailplane in place will not result in a straight and level model! You need to really manipulate the whole structure to try and get it straight, and this does require a bit of effort, so make sure the model is still a little bit wet to allow you to manipulate it accordingly. This was a frustrating exercise but I managed to get if pretty straight and left it to dry. Because the model had to be manipulated, some gaps were wider than others, and thus filler was needed again.
The main wheel wells have a nice amount of detail with plumbing and structure work all provided which was good, and I did a quick test fit of the undercarriage, which did not reveal any major problems that I could forecast. As already stated above, the tailwheel section is molded with open doors, so these were removed and putty applied to fill up the gap for a wheels up model. The instructions are not very clear on which of the gear doors actually belong to which side, so I test fitted them first before gluing them in place. The fit was very poor and the doors needed to be trimmed and constantly test fitted until they were of an acceptable shape, with super glue used to plug up the gaps.
Another problem was encountered with the distinctive underfuselage oil radiators, firstly with the part number, incorrectly identified on the instruction sheet as parts 26 (on the sprue they're 28) and then the fit. While one fitted quite reasonably the other of course did not. I enlarged the locating hole into the fuselage running the excel blade carefully along and shaving a bit more plastic off and it was necessary to do this to get any semblance of any reasonable fit! In the end that was still not enough, and I had to snip the top corners at the back of the intake at a forty-five degree angle to enable it to slip in. I noticed afterward that this radiator is also very slightly wider than the fuselage so out came the sandpaper to smooth it back accordingly! The radiators themselves do not have the grill plate inside, just a single vertical bar in the middle of the mouth. I painted the inside of the radiator and the back wall black just to hide out the interior. There is also another glaring inaccuracy here too - where the radiator/belly section blends back into the rear fuselage, it actually has a distinctive step on the kit where it should actually just blend into the fuselage - so I suggest filing this down to blend in accordingly.
Since the main part of assembly had been completed, it was then a matter of filling in the numerous gaps evident around the model and sanding them, and all the join lines, smooth. So there went half the panel lines on the model as well! In the meantime the underwing stores were being sub assembled ready to affix to the wings. The kit provides a fuel tank and bomb for underwing stores and then half a dozen rockets for the centre underwing section (F-82E) or drop tanks and the large radome for the Night fighter (F-82G) version. An antenna and pinto pipe are also affixed to the underside of the port wing, which was affixed with super glue as there are no locating holes, and the instructions are not fully clear on positioning so reference material was consulted also. The rockets had to be affixed with superglue into the undulating grooves and they were painted black. At this point one must also remember that the underwing stores and antennae will impede placement of the underwing decals, so you may want to add the decals before affixing the stores or cut them to suit (as I did) and apply later. In any event, none of the pylons or stores fitted into the locating holes on the underside of the wings, due either to poor fit/undersized locating holes or flash encumbering the holes. So (especially the centreline rocket pylon) all the locating holes had to be enlarged and the stores test fitted before they could be affixed. The drop tanks wanted to lean to one side, probably due to enlarging the hole too much, so these had to be delicately left to dry.
The final assembly component was perhaps the worst and most frustrating part of the kit - the canopies. The main canopy is attached to a "canopy prop" - basically a rim around the bottom of the main canopy section. This prop has a small "tap" that is supposed to slip into a narrow groove behind the pilot's seat and the instructions say not to glue it to the top of the fuselage, obviously for the intention of being able to slide the main canopy back and forth - a novel idea.... if it worked/fitted!! The main canopies were affixed to their respective props but there was no way that the tap would slip into the groove, not even widening the groove allowed any success. It seems the tap is not long/low enough to pass through the groove, you essentially have to lengthen the stem. So I gave up - nipped off the taps and simply affixed the main canopy in place. The windscreens are separate, which means you can still display an open cockpit if you wish. This is probably recommended - because the windscreens for each fuselage were actually slightly different in size and shape!! One was cruder than the other and encumbered by a bit of flash. The end result was that there was really no way around having to have a small gap to contend with on one of the cockpits as the windscreen was a very poor fit. The other was a reasonable fit at best and I should point out that this was still the case swapping them around and trying different combinations. To make things less than satisfactory for the modeller there are no frames on the windscreen or canopy sections - they are just clear bits of plastic. So when it came down to painting - especially the frames on the windscreen section.... well good luck!
The model was then fully painted in primer which was in my opinion necessary, and of course revealed a few imperfections from the construction process. A bit more filling and sanding to correct these and then it was given two coats of Humbrol Polished Aluminium metalcote, with a black antiglare nose section. I had to hand paint the frames on the canopy as best as I could from studying reference photos and while it turned out okay, keen observers will spot a slight difference in alignment between the right and left windscreens!
Versions & Decals:
Two versions can be produced by the kit, a natural metal Escort Fighter
version (as depicted on the boxart) and a black all weather night fighter version,
whose colour is best matched against reference material first. The decal
sheet is not the greatest I have ever seen, the stencils are just blurry lines
and cannot be read, some of the decals are scratched and the others are a bit
blotchy/blurry. I didn't strike any problems as such putting
them on, but they needed a fair bit of soaking time and, especially for the
larger decals, you had to delicately prize them from the backing sheet,
loosening one side before sliding it from the other. Since the underwing
stores were in place the largest serial underwing decal was cut into sections so
that the portions could be slid in between the pylons. There was a couple
of instances of white edging/bleed through and three out of the four USAF
roundels had small white scratches on them. Overall the decals were
adequate but could have been (and is recommended to be) replaced with better options.
The night fighter decals which of course do not have any blue on the USAF
insignia looked a little better.
Accuracy:
It would be fair to say that this kit is a "reasonable"
representation of the Twin Mustang at best, and certainly would not be the definitive
answer to a replica in this scale by any stretch of the imagination. There
are a number of anomalies that bring the kit down in this area and these are
ones I have noticed without too much of an effort. Since I am not an expert on the
[Twin] Mustang by any means either, there may well be more!
The F-82 had a more streamlined canopy than that depicted in the kit, and since there is no frame work on the windscreen or canopy itself it is difficult to even say whether the canopy supplied is accurate for any Mustang. The carbie intake under the nose is absent and the distinctive radiator under the belly is not well represented as far as its trunk and grill are concerned, but the shape looks otherwise okay. The wing shape looks okay but the tips are more rounded than they should be while the underside of the nose rounds up far too much to the nose cone, it should have a flatter profile. There is a very noticeable "step" on the belly of the fuselage[s] leading to the back of the aircraft, where the radiator is supposed to blend smoothly into the rear of the fuselage - no Mustang variant has this step, and so this needs filing down/sanding smooth as discussed in the construction above. There is also the absence of antenna and mast on top of the right fuselage.
But where the kit really falls down is in its dimensions - quite abysmal really. The kit scales down to the size of a P-51 Mustang (or more correctly, two Mustangs side by side, if that makes sense) when in fact as already mentioned in the aircraft history above, length alone was some 6ft longer on the F-82. Consequently it is a good 2cm short in length (it measures at about 15.8 cm when in fact the model should be about 17.8 cm) and a full centimetre out in span - or about 4ft and 2ft converted to full size respectively.
Overall:
This was in many respects a disappointing kit and I have heard
elsewhere it was essentially molded to copy the Monogram version. Fit of
the parts ranged from very poor to good at best, with perhaps a
"reasonable" label worthy of being placed on the kit as an overall
assessment. It is not a kit for the novice, they will be frustrated by
poor fitting parts and at times vague instruction directions but it still within
the scopes of the intermediate modeller who has patience and is able to use
filler and improvise (eg: enlarging holes, snipping corners of parts) to
optimise the fit of some of the components. The real bane of the kit is
its many flaws in accuracy, as discussed in the paragraph above, as well as a general lack of sufficient detail in areas, such as the oil
radiator. If my information regarding the Monogram kit being the original
(and better) mold is correct, then I would strongly suggest getting the Monogram kit over
the Hobbycraft/Idea version. However, if this kit is the only option for
you (as it was for me) then the end result, with a fair bit of work and
patience, is at least a reasonable 1/76 or thereabouts representation of the
F-82 - at best!
Final Comment: Monogram v
Idea/Hobbycraft:
A bone of contention here, and by all means if someone knows the
definitive answer let me know! I have heard from modellers that the
Monogram and Hobbycraft kits are one in the same and even according to
"Detail & Scale" the Hobbycraft kit rates as one of best fitting
kits available. My understanding of the situation is that both these
statements are incorrect. The Monogram kit is the original mold and I have
heard other modellers state that it is a decent kit, good replica and fits
well. The information I have suggests that Idea (for Hobbycraft) kitted
this version essentially as a copy of the Monogram mold. They are
therefore different kits and as for Detail & Scale's assertions, they must
have gotten the two molds mixed up because this is far from being a "very
good fitting" kit! Revell also had a F-82 in their range, which I
assume - and hope - is a reboxing of the Monogram kit! Now, see below for
some additional comments from Kevin Ronayne.
Revell boxart of this same kit, thanks to Kevin
Ronayne
It is not known which mold is inside the box, but given the companies long
association with Monogram, it is expected (and hoped!) to be the Monogram mold.
Supplied by Kevin Ronayne:
I have examined an unbuilt copy of the Revell (Monogram) kit: it
is definitely same basic mold as in the IDEA/Hobbycraft kit. Almost all mold
details are the same, including all the quirks. The Revell kit represents the
night fighter (intruder) versions (F/G). The F and G used different radars, but
one assumes that the radar pod was the same. The kit includes parts for one 'W'
rocket set - 5 rockets (2 with stubs), rack and pylon. The instructions indicate
that these parts are not required for this kit. I assume that a second set of
parts would be needed for a full symmetrical rocket armament. The windscreen
parts have framing definition, but they are different from each other.
Maybe inferior mold / manufacturing quality accounts for differences between
this and the IDEA kit. There is comparatively little flash on the mold, which
also suggests that this is a better quality pressing than in the IDEA kit.
The Revell box cover gives kit dimensions, but I checked the kit myself. I found some differences, which are summarised in the table below. Bear in mind that the 'actual' figures are based on dry fits, not on a completed model - and they do take into account the central radar pod.
| Kit Dimensions | Quoted | Actual | ||||
| In Scale | Imperial | Metric | In Scale | Imperial | Metric | |
| Length | 172 mm | 40 ft. 07 in. | 12.38 m | 169 mm | 39 ft. 11 in. | 12.17 m |
| Span | 214 mm | 50 ft. 06 in. | 15.41 m | 218 mm | 51 ft. 06 in. | 15.67 m |
Now let's deal with reality. Wingspan is universally quoted as 51 ft. 3 in. (15.62m) for all F-82 versions. So it looks as if the actual Revell/Monogram kit is only marginally too big in this respect. Not perfect, but acceptable. Length is a far more contentious issue. I have used several printed and online references, including Joe Baughers F-82 pages, which themselves draw on a range of other printed references. The P-51D had a length of 32 ft. 03 in. (9.83m) - this is a universally accepted figure. However, the Twin Mustang was based on the H-model, which had a length of 33 ft. 04 in. (10.08m). According to Joe Baugher's text, the rear fuselage was lengthened by 57 inches. This works out at of 38 ft. 01 in. (11.61m). This is the length given for the F-82B, which agrees with the F-82B length given by the USAF museum at Wright-Patterson AFB. So far, so good.
For later versions, there are two factors to consider. The first is that the engines changed from Packard Merlins to Allison V-1710's, from the E-version onwards. I don't know if this caused any change in length. Some sources quote F-82E length as being unchanged at 38 ft. 01 in., but others quote it as being exactly 1 ft. longer. The -F and -G models would in turn have been slightly lengthened because of the central radar pod projecting ahead of the propeller spinners. While a number of references quote the F/G length as being 42 ft. 05 in., I feel that this is far too much of an increase. My guess is that the actual increase was between 12 and 16 inches. So what should the length be? For the F/G versions at least, I am inclined to believe that 39 ft. 01 in. is the most likely. Therefore, the Revell kit is about 10 inches too long, by my (imperfect) reckoning. It looks as if the jury is still out on this one.
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