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When the P-51 first went to war during WWII, nobody would have thought that the last air to air combat the Mustang would see, would take place almost 30 years later, in a war between two small Central American countries. The Mustang fighting for the Salvadoran Air Force in July 1969 was quite different, it had been “upgraded” to a COIN version by Sarasota Aviation Corp. (later Cavalier Aviation Corp.), with reinforced wing spars, additional racks and capable of carrying more external ordnance, 110 gals wingtip fuel tanks, higher vertical stabilizer, new instruments, gunsight and provision for an observers seat instead of the fuel tank behind the pilot, and designated “Cavalier F-51 Mustang II”. I took excellent Tamiya F-51D Mustang Korean War 1/48 model as the starting point to assemble one of the six Salvadoran Air Force Mustang II, FAS 404, the last Mustang ever to have been shot down in air to air combat. Apart from the quality, the Tamiya kit includes an essential part to assemble a Mustang II: the Hamilton Standard Cuffless prop (although Tamiya erroneously identifies the propeller as an Aeroproducts). A basic Eduard PE set, a vacuumformed Dallas canopy and Aeromaster resin/PE bombs were used, but most of the Mustang II modifications were scratchbuilt, including: 1. Vertical stabilizer 1,5 feet taller 2. Remove fuel tank and radio equipment behind pilot, remove armor, and add observer seat (similar to pilot seat) 3. Update cockpit, including accelerator lever, side panels, gunsight and armament panels on top of the instrument panel 4. Delete “U” shaped canopy frame reinforcement, add headrest to the rear end of the inner canopy frame 5. Add four bomb racks (these should be marginally longer than the original P-51D ones, but I simply made resin duplicates of the ones provided in the kit) 6. Add 110 gals Wingtip Fuel Tanks 7. Move the pitot tube to an outer position under the wing, not to interfere with the lateral bomb rack 8. Add VOR antennae each side of the vertical stabilizer Salvadoran Cavalier Mustang IIs were delivered in 1968 in SEA paint scheme, glossy finish, the same scheme they used during the July 1969 war against Honduras. Cockpit and wheel wells were painted light gray. External ordnance used during the war consisted only of 100 pd bombs. FAS 404 was shot down on July 17, 1969 by a Honduran F4U-5N. It´s pilot, Capt. Douglas Varela, the last pilot ever to be KIA fighting in a Mustang. The scene shows FAS 404 as it could have appeared while preparing to taxi for its last combat mission. Marco