P-51 Mustang — Handmade Metal Model Airplane, 1:40

The fighter that finally let Allied bombers reach Berlin and come back.

Handcrafted at 1:40 on an iron frame, hand-painted with decal insignia, metal propeller and rolling landing wheels. The bubble canopy, laminar-flow wing and long nose are all there.

Details

• 1:40 scale, 100% iron frame
• Metal propeller
• Landing wheels that roll
• Hand-painted with decal insignia
• Canopy, wing and tail detail
• Ready to display

The aircraft

The Mustang began as a rushed British order and was, in its first form, mediocre above 15,000 feet. The fix was an engine swap — a Rolls-Royce Merlin in place of the original Allison — and it transformed the aircraft into arguably the best piston fighter of the war.

What mattered was range. With drop tanks a Mustang could escort bombers from England to Berlin and fight when it got there. Before that, bombers flew the last leg alone and paid for it. Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring reportedly said that when he saw Mustangs over Berlin, he knew the war was lost.