F-82E Twin Mustang
(Build by Braille)

Kevin Farrell
The assembly directions are less than minimal and there are no interior paint suggestions. All I can do is conform to a late model (P-51H ?) as a means to get close. For those who are interested, I have uploaded the instructions sheet and decals for illustration.
If anybody would like a hard copy of the instructions let me know and I will scan & email them to you.

Kevin Farrell
I am finding as I muddle my way through the maze that this is a typical example of a short-run kit by a second or third tier manufacturer. (It's kinda cheesy!) I am building it simply because the Twin Mustang has to rank at least in the top ten aircraft ever conceived and built just because they could! (What would you pay to hear those two Merlins a) idling out of synch, b) standing next to the runway for a high-speed low pass and c) pulling out of a dive with the props going supersonic?)
There is nothing difficult in the build (with the exception of the self-inflicted task of installing microscopic P-E parts). But the parts-on-sprue are very heavy (thick) and similar to resin and will entail a great deal of clean-up.

Kevin Farrell
So far, my experience with this kit has been disappointing - at best! I thought that the Eduard P-E would add some bling, but the diagrams/instructions for this stuff is baffling. (I did get he seatbelts installed since I knew what they were and where they went.) Basically, all I have ended up doing with the cockpit is grind-off the molded-in "controls" and then cut, bend & glue microscopic metal parts together. I have no clue whatsoever as to their function (oh, I did recognize the canopy crank).
I'm admitting defeat and will now paint the interior green and the mystery metal black and button it up. So far as the body is concerned, nothing fits together here either. So I'm taking the minimalist path here as well and will hide the "I'm done" project on the very top shelf in my room. All you will see are two blue spinners (that are holding the misfit propeller blades onto the hub.)
So no, this has not been a happy and productive project. But I did learn (by somebody catching my error) that N.A. went back to the original Allison's since RollsRoyce wanted too much $$ for licensing each engine. They did have Packard-Merlins for a very brief time, though.

Kevin Farrell
During my early days as a flight instructor, I taught and flew in some really crummy equipment. When you're building time it's ALWAYS quantity over quality. My point is that I was able to "adjust" and complete the missions. So as I moved into bigger and better equipment that had flawless radios and purring engines, I could remain calm if something went bloo-ey! Whatever the event was, it just took me back to my roots where things going bloo-ey was on the normal checklist. It's not a quantum jump from flying to crafting. Sometimes you get a crummy kit and you just try to make it "home" in one piece. I am learning new skills & techniques for assembling a pile of junk-on-sticks into a passing static display. Nobody sees these things but me and the family!

Michel Huijghe
Any pictures?

Kevin Farrell
Michel,

Don't you think it was painful and embarrassing enough to confess my failure to the entire modelling world - and you want pictures of the carnage as well?? Does a EuroPass take you from Belgium to Spain? Go to El Corrido del Toros and take pictures there. It's about the same.

I'm just trying to be a comedian - please do not take my comments seriously. I will submit photos once I run out of parts. There is really nothing to show right now. But this is truly a terrible kit, in my humble opinion. I know that a good craftsman never blames his tools as an excuse for a poor outcome - but I would not recommend this kit to anyone who asks.

Kevin Farrell
After giving it another try - I finally aborted the mission. I spent an inordinate amount of time with the P-E and half of that was trying to understand what the drawings were trying to tell me. Then after a half-fast job of putting the pieces in, I came to realize that you would never be able to see the details in the cockpit anyway! I had already rotored away the existing detail (per Eduard), so the sides of the canopy were ruined permanently. Moving on to the rest of the fuse halves, they wouldn't mate without taking the chainsaw to the floor, IP & seat back. It just kept getting worse by the tasks attempted, so I calmly put all the pieces back in the box and am moving on to something fun. It'll probably be the OV-1A Mohawk and then the AH-1G snake with the Werner & Cobra Co mods. That should be a nice product if I do it right. At least I know I won't be dealing with a terrible and horrendous donor kit. If you have a Modelcraft F-82E in your stash, burn it!