Arma Hobby recently released an Iwo Jima VLR Mustang boxing of their popular 1/72 North American P-51D Mustang kit. It was released in mid-May 2026, and is now making its way into US online retail hobby stores. The box art is striking with a 21st FG VLR Mustang loaded out with 165 gallon drop tanks and six HVAR rockets. Very cool!

There are two decal options. The first is a 531st FS, 21st FG P-51D-20 NA (Serial No. 44-63918) 312 Snortin’ Phyllie flown by 1st Lt. Herbert Straughn. Nice to see a decal option for a 531st FS Mustang other than Major Harry Crim’s 300 My Achin’ Ass.

The second decal option is a 458th FS, 506th FG P-51D-25 NA (Serial No. 44-72612) 576 Little One/Jeannie assigned to 1st Lt. Max E. Ruble and 2nd Lt. Francis J. Pilecki. On June 10, 1945, 1st Lt. Ruble was credited with shooting down a Mitsubishi JM2 Raiden.

Again, thanks to Arma Hobby for providing two decal options not seen in other kits, and not well covered by after market decal manufacturers (decals for 576 Little One/Jeannie are provided in all three scales on the decal sheet which comes with the book: 506th Fighter Group: The History of the 506th Fighter Group, Iwo Jima 1945 by Robert Grant). This book is published by AJ Press as part of their Fighting Units in Color series. My review of this book can be found here: https://iwojimamodels.com/2019/12/14/book-review-506th-fighter-group-the-history-of-the-506th-fighter-group-iwo-jima-1945-by-robert-j-grant/

On to the sprues. Arma Hobby’s original release of its 1/72 P-51D Mustang (Kit No. 70070) contained three sprues; two molded in light gray plastic (A & B), and one in clear plastic (T) for the canopies and other clear parts. The Very Long Range boxing includes an additional sprue for the 110 and 165 gallon drop tanks, sway braces, and HVAR rockets. As can be seen from a review of the sprues, you can build any variant of the D model from the D-5 to the D-25 from this kit.

The first sprue (A) consists of the wings, control surfaces, standard drop tanks, bombs, landing gear components, wheel well components, propellers (both Hamilton Standard and Aeroproduct), and the two Uncle Dog antennas (parts A4 & A5). Arma Hobby gives you two different horizontal stablizers; one with fabric covered elevators and one with metal covered elevators. A nice feature on Arma Hobby’s part, and each set is molded as one piece which should help with construction and alignment.

A couple of items worthy of note. First, the panel lines on the wings are very faint except for the parts of the wings which would be accessed be maintenance crews. I am assuming this was done in this manner so if you wanted to represent model as having the puttied wings, it would not take much to fill the panel lines. In addition, the top wing halves have been molded as one piece so as to provide detail for the top of the wheel wells. Again, a nice touch on Arma Hobby’s part as this will allow for ease in masking the top of the wheel wells when painting the support stringers.

The second sprue (B) consists of the fuselage halves, interior and cockpit parts including both the Warren-McArthur and Shick-Johnson seats, separate spinners for the Hamilton Standard cuffed propeller and the Aeroproducts propeller, both types of dorsal fins (swayback for modified D-5s and early D-10s and the regular dorsal fin for later blocks), and both shrouded and unshrouded exhaust stacks.

A couple of items worthy of note. First, unlike the 1/72nd Eduard P-51D Mustang, the rivet detail on the fuselage halves is very restrained. So if rivet detail is important to you in 1/72nd scale, you are going to have to break out your riveter. Second, the structure of the cockpit sides is molded into the fuselage halves as seen below.

I like this approach because the cockpit sides will be easier to paint and detail and it should allow for an easier insertion of the completed cockpit into the fuselage.

The additional sprue contained in this boxing includes both styles of drop tanks carried by Iwo Jima VLR Mustangs, the sway braces for each type of tank, and six HVAR rockets that were carried during strike missions toward the end of conflict in the Pacific Theater. The shapes and contours of the drop tanks look good.

The sprue containing the clear parts (T) contains the windscreen, all three variations of the canopy, and the other clear parts. The windscreen and canopies are crystal clear and the clear sprue is bagged separately to avoid scratches.

The additional parts at the top of the sprue are parts for a display stand and/or construction jig as shown below. The main landing gear wheels fit in the slots at the front of the stand with wing supports at the sides and fuselage support at the back. Neat idea.

Are there necessary parts missing? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is yes. Arma Hobby failed to include the SCR-695 IFF transmitter that was situated behind the SCR-522 radio transmitter on Iwo Jima VLR Mustangs as shown in the computer generated image below.

This omission is confirmed by their own assembly instructions.

How big of an omission is this? Not very. First, in 1/72nd scale, most people viewing a built up model in your display case or even at a model contest would not even recognize this omission. Second, you could easily sand off the detail on the battery and add some plastic pieces to accurately represent the SCR-695 IFF transmitter. Third, you could build an early Iwo Jima VLR Mustang with a single mast antenna before the SCR-695 IFF transmitter/Uncle Dog twin antennae were installed as field modifications. There are a lot of pictures of 15th and 21st FG Mustangs after their arrival on Iwo Jima in early March with the standard single mast antenna.

The decals look really good and are printed by Cartograf so they should work well. Fuselage and tail stripes are provided for the 458th FS Mustang 576 Little One/Jeannie so you will not have to do all of the complex and tedious masking. Nice touch on Arma Hobby’s part. There are also aluminum colored decals for the tops of the wheel wells at the bottom of the decal sheet. The use of the decals will eliminate the need for masking. Just paint the tops of the wheel wells Zinc Chromate Yellow and apply the decals in their appropriate locations. An interesting and novel approach.

The aircraft profiles in the instruction booklet are well done. I do not have any photos of 312 Snortin’ Phyllie, so I reached out to Mark Stevens of the 7th Fighter Command Association to see if he could share any photos he has of the plane. Surprisingly, he did not have any photos either, and I could not find any on the internet. Someone obviously has a few photos of this plane.

The 506th Fighter Group Association has several very nice photos of 576 Little One/Jeannie in its collections.

This looks like an extremely nice 1/72nd North American P-51D Mustang kit. From what I have seen of already built models, they certainly look every bit the part of the real thing. If you are wanting to build a Iwo Jima VLR Mustang in 1/72nd scale, this is an excellent option.

Kudos to Arma Hobby!