Small Scale Military Headquarters

What are the most sought after/valuable 21st Century 1/32 P-51 Mustangs?

Tough call as they are all getting rare. Nearly all the P-51B/Cs and the P-51Ds seem to be hard to find now, but the P-51D "Double Nuthin" tops my list. Those only went to Target as part of the 4 Star Military spinoff line from 21c and they were rare at that. The only one I ever saw came from a fellow board member.

Other top contenders for the HTF, desired and valuable of the retolled 32x B/C/D P-51s would be the following:

P-51C "RAF Polish"
P-51B "Bullfrog I"
P-51B "Shangri La"
P-51B "Princess"
P-51B "Berlin Express"
P-51D "Mrs Bonnie"

(The RAF P-51D and the P-51B "Cripes a Mighty" seem to be the most common and easily available).

I'm not even sure on the S1 style of 32x P-51. Those have not been out for years and don't seem to pop up often. Those have great paint schemes, but the tooling stinks.

I passed up two 4 star Double Nuthin's at the local Target and later that same week I came across this one?

B Snakes

Oh, yes, they also went to Wal Mart. I never saw them there, either, but did see the Black 1 FW-190. Either way, "Double Nuthin" was at the tail end of the 21c 32x line and is the rarest. Any QC defects aside, it was the neatest of the 32x P-51D schemes in my opinion.

Double Nuthins are pretty rare, but IMHO, the rarest P-51 is Mrs Bonnie. It seems they were pretty common on the west coast, but really didn't distribute anywhere else.

I picked up 2 Mrs Bonnies & 3 Double Nuthins at WalMart as they were doing their final closeouts (TN & AR)...Paid full price for 2 of them and $9.00 bucks for the rest - Double Nuttin is my favorite of all the 1/32 Mustangs...Sold the extras on Ebay for amazing prices, kept one of each for me!

TMANTHEGREAT:

Thanks for the list.
I started collecting only two years ago, but I've read the many SSHQ posts about guys seeing stacks of unsold 1/18 Supercopbras and Spitfires on clearance.

However, I've seen my share of 1/32 P-51 Mustangs at Wal-mart that I passed on and now I see their current prices. As the old saying goes, "If I knew then what I know now..."

I managed to pick up a Mrs Bonnie for fairly cheap on ebay - seller didn't note however that there was a paint smudge on the rudder stripes. But considering how hard they are to find now I'm glad I at least have one and the smudge will be easy to touch up.

Glad I got a Bullfrog when I did, too.

I haven't seen a "Double Nuthin" come up at auction lately, to see how much they are going for. It would seem they are the rarest.

Recently a "Shangri La" P-51B/C went for over $100.

"Bonnie" comes up very few times, but rarely have I seen it go as high as "Shangri La".

The only way to get "Cripes a Mighty" P-51B is in the Dogfight 2-pk, and those command at least double original retail if not a little more (the exception being the "Detroit Miss" P-51D..which is a craptastic old tooling, with ME-262 2-pk )
Unless you can get a "Cripes a Mighty" occasionally loose, which is not common you might get a good deal though.

double post

Another question:
What's a good price for a in-the-box P-51 "Bull Frog"?

dragon53 wrote:Another question:
What's a good price for a in-the-box P-51 "Bull Frog"?

I just saw one I was watching on ebay go for $32, which is outstanding these days.
Seems some of the prices are dropping on these Mustangs lately depending on the day you bid, and now the Xmas season is over.

Though I tried to get a British Corsair the other day and it went over $100 go figure. Crazy market.

Crazy prices and to think that I have 5 plastic bins full of various 32x aircraft plus a bunch more on display, including many of these rare ones. These planes were quite addictive back in the day with the $15 Wal Mart prices and all.

tmanthegreat wrote:Crazy prices and to think that I have 5 plastic bins full of various 32x aircraft plus a bunch more on display, including many of these rare ones. These planes were quite addictive back in the day with the $15 Wal Mart prices and all.

The 45 gallon big bins? I have around the same amount of those bins. The 32X aircraft fit in there perfectly. I think you can fit 12 to 14 of them in there.

Got 5 planes on display. Plan to open some of my other extras and hang them up.
It wasn't that expensive of a hobby then, and I bought more of it than 1/18 because of the prices. Plus the larger scale disappeared first and there was a brief period of leftover 32X on the shelves is all you could get.

The prices are still not that bad even for some of the better pieces.

DAUNTLESS:

Thanks for the info...I'm the one who bought the "Bull Frog" for $32.

Sweet deal! I was at work so I couldn't bid. Good thing huh.

I think that's the one Smith flew after flying the P-40.

DAUNTLESS:

Tex Hill flew the "Bull Frog" after the Flying Tigers gave up their P-40s. He later flew another Mustang which had no name (I've got that Mustang in 1/48 diecast by Eagles International).

Getting my Smiths, Hills and Andersons mixed up lately.
I knew it was one of the same pilots who flew the Tomahawk, and have a 32X P-40B with his name.

I am missing one of those AVG P-40's. I just have to dig up the one I have, find out which it is and get the other one.
I passed on it a couple of times at Walmart thinking it was the same one I'd bought, turns out there were 2 AVG P-40B's, Hill and Smith from 21st, so I'm missing one of them.

DAUNTLESS:

I've got the 21st Century 1/32 P-40 Flying Tigers "White 47" flown by RT Smith---it has a big belly and a really funky canopy---but I got it used for a few bucks.

Yeah after doing an inventory of my 1/32 aircraft a while back, I failed to find out if it was "Smith 47" or "Hill 48" that I have.
I just marked "Flying Tiger P-40B"
Then I found out there were two:
http://www.sshqdb.com/32/index.php?cat=26

Got the 1:18 "Smith P-40B" I know because it's hanging in the kitchen.

It's back to the storage unit to take a peek at my 32X and find out which P-40B AVG I have so I can buy the other one if I can even find it.

There's a Mrs. Bonnie on eBay.

Not mine, but I thought I'd share.

Thanks RAD2112.

Got one already or I'd....good thing huh?

Got my "Shangri La" P-51 B/C today.

All is in order, but what I didn't know is that some B/C's were offered with open canopy or closed one. The instructions say so.

Mine came with a set folded open one which is kinda cool. Though I was going to hang it up, I guess it's a ground plane, or I may trade the OD green framed one on the other one I have. I don't think the bubble canopy B/C's have this feature, but only the framed one.

Check your P-51 B/C.s you may have this variation. Something I didn't know till now.

Actually, the 32x P-51Bs came with both types of canopies - the closed piece (which is what was usually on the boxed plane) and the two pieces to display the canopy opened, which would have come in a bag underneath the plastic tray. I have the Shangri La P-51B, which I bought at TRU, and it came with both canopy sets. It seems you may be missing a piece.

The P-51Bs that have the framed canopies and came with both canopy sets are as follows:
"Bald Eagle"
"Bullfrog"
"Shangri La"
"Princess"

The remaining 32x P-51B/Cs (RAF, Berlin Express, and Cripes a Mighty) had the Malcolm hood single piece.