WW2 | 1/32 P-51D Cockpit Sets Comparison: Wingz, Grand Phoenix

Reviewed by Craig Quattlebaum

One of the most FAQs over the years on the modeling boards has been; What's the best P-51D cockpit set? And as usually, there will be several replies, each one with their own opinion of the one they think is best. Not a thing wrong with that, everyone has their favorites. So, as the P-51 is my most favorite aircraft, I decided to gather up the four sets made for the 1/32 Hasegawa D model and compare them.

There are currently three available sets; Wingz, Grand Phoenix (hereafter referred to as GP) and Verlinden's "Super set". The fourth set, Paragon, is currently OOP but hopefully Neil will release this one again as Paragon is once again in business. I then looked through all my P-51 material to decide what refs I wanted to use. I settled on my P-51D Erection & maintenance Manual, P-51D Illustrated Parts Catalog and the books Production Line to Frontline and the Squadron P-51D Walkaround.

I started by comparing the cockpit side panels. The Wingz, GP & Paragon sets are resin with the Verlinden using PE along with resin.

The Wingz set has good detail but suffers from a couple of things. First is the too large rivet detail and the thick, square formers and longerons. Secondly, the oxygen hose is routed over the top of the radio circuit panel, in front of the radio panel itself and across the front of the circuit breaker box below the oxygen regulator.

The GP set has most of the right components but detail is lacking and some of the boxes etc are incorrectly shaped. Not much going on here at all.

The Verlinden set has a resin right side with added PE. The left side is PE with individual resin pieces. The detail of the pieces vary from good to not so good. Some pieces are nicely shaped and detailed and others suffer from having little detail. Some of the individual pieces seem to be a bit oversized, the oxygen regulator, canopy crank handle and flare port among them.

The Paragon set, even after 11 years is still best captures the look and feel of the P-51D cockpit. That's not saying it's perfect, but just still the best. The detail is nice and crisp, most all the components are correctly shaped and sized, But it too could use a tweak here and there to update it to today's standards. A Waldron cockpit set would really be the icing on this one.

I next looked at the instrument panel and the switch box that sets below it. The Wingz set has a decent resin panel and will detail out with patience and also captures the shape and look of the switch box below it.

The GP set includes a PE panel and acetate gauges from Eduard and they look great. But, GP missed the shape of the lower switch box badly. Nothing more than a narrow rectangle with very little detail added to it.

Verlinden also has a PE front with acetate gauges that look good and correctly placed instruments. Also, the switch box is PE and will look great when finished as it looks the correct shape and size.

The Paragon set includes a resin instrument panel that with patience will detail out nicely. The gauges look good and in the right place and the bezels are crisp and positioned properly. The lower switch box is also well done in shape and detail.

The Paragon and Wingz sets include resin rudder pedals while the Verlinden and GP sets provide PE sets. They are all passable to use but the PE versions will better reflect the look. The floors of all sets are good but all leave out some of the detail, ie: either the air/heat vent control knobs are missing or the wing fuel gauges were left out.

Seats; The Paragon set has the best seat of the sets, it looks like a P-51 seat, no back cushion to it and it fits the Has kit really well too.. The Wingz seat is in two pieces and while the bottom is OK, the back has a cushion that looks like it was cut off short. The GP seat is one of the best parts of that set, it too has an added cushion but covers the seat back like the ones I have pictures of. I do question the tuck n roll cushion though, to date I have yet to see one like this, all the ones I have seen pictures of were smooth. Ditto for the Wingz seat. The Verlinden seat is also a two piece affair. However, the back is a little short and the seat as a whole is a little wider than the others. I was unable to actually scale it as I could not locate where I packed the notes I have the dimensions written.

Staying with the seats, the Paragon and GP sets are the only ones with what comes close to correct seat mounts. Most, including the Verlinden and Wingz sets have a flat piece to glue the seat to. Paragon got close and GP made a good effort in this area. They both cast the mounts in the basic shape and it makes it easy to run something to replicate scat hose behind the pilots seat for the pilots air vent system.

Behind the seat, it goes downhill from here with the exception of the Paragon set. The P-51 had a rubberized fuel cell behind the seat with a radio rack over it mounted to the fuselage sides. Paragon has a good rendition of the fuel cell, although the side scallops could have been made with a radius instead of sharp inside corners. Also is a good replica of the rack along with separate radio and battery.

Verlinden supplies the early radio set and a PE rack, but places this on top of a solid shelf instead a fuel cell as the D had. The Verlinden set would better be utilized in a B or C model (If there was one in 1/32!)

The Wingz offer isn't much good, the radio and battery look good but must have an interconnecting block of resin cut out. The fuel cell is a block of resin with some thick cross pieces on it for a rack, not done well at all.

The GP set also has passable radio and battery but again, misses badly on the rack and fuel cell.

To summarize things, the Wingz and GP sets could be combined to make one decent cockpit but that's too expensive and unnecessary to get good results. The Verlinden set offers more options on building a suitable cockpit.

The PE supplied is a little thick but should be unnoticeable when its all said and done. The individual resin pieces can be discarded or tweaked to make better without damaging any of the other detail.

The Paragon set as mentioned is currently OOP but maybe Neil will release it again. Maybe he will tweak it a little here and there(it don't need much) before he does. It's a set that would once again be well received on the market. Especially with the Dragon kit on the horizon and should it need some help.

So my answer to the FAQ of what set is the best is this:

Having all four sets I personally would not buy the last two on the list unless that was all that was available. Buy the Verlinden set for now and hope Paragon turns their set loose again.

Just be sure to build more MUSTANGS!

© Craig Quattlebaum 2006

Related Content

This review was published on Saturday, July 02 2011; Last modified on Wednesday, May 18 2016