Like most of you, I sometimes run across things that grab my attention. At the recent Indianapolis show, I came across a vendor selling racing plane decals. These are all ALPS printed sheets and to be honest, I had to dig around a bit to find one that wasn't scratched.  You can see this on the nose and lower tail of the upper set. This is a problem with ALPS decals and the sheet recommends coating it with clear gloss paint or Micro Decal Film prior to using them. I wonder why the decal maker doesn't do this prior to selling them if it is such a problem.

Anyway, this is a 1/48 sheet for the 'Miss Bardahl' #14 in the years 1965-69. During those years, while the basic white with black checkers scheme stayed the same, there were some minor changes to the rest of the markings. Most of the differences are the use of the wing serials and the change in font for the fin serial. From more detailed reading of the instructions, specifically the history section, it seems that only the 1965-67 plane can be modeled as the race number color was changed to black in 1968 to go along with the change of main color to yellow. It also got a new canopy in that year that was not stock, though fit on the stock frame. Guess it pays to read and understand the instructions and not just go by the decal application notes.

There is no indication of what kit to use but it does state that you need an Aeroproducts prop and I'm sure that you'll need to remove all the military gear from behind the seat. May well also need an updated instrument panel with more modern radio gear. This will mean removing a bunch of stuff from the sidewalls as well. The guns were formed over and a 'horn' style antenna was added in between the gear wells.

I'm sure that this will fit almost any 1/48 P-51D, but most of us will go with the Tamiya kit and to get the right prop, that will mean the F-51D boxing.

Thanks to me and some impulse buying for bringing this to you.

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