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Cavalier Turbo Mustang III 1:32 Halberd Models Conversion for Tamiya P-51D After WWII, the P-51 Mustang continued to serve with the US Air Force for a while as their standard fighter, although with every day it became more out-dated due to the headlong rush of aviation technology after the advent of jet propulsion and the race to break the sound barrier. By 1957 the last Mustang left US service, and North American sold the intellectual rights to the design that they then considered worthless to Trans Florida Aviation Inc., who intended to create a high-speed executive transport by taking surplus airframes and rebuilding them as an improved two-seat civilian aircraft. The initial Cavalier Mustangs were stripped and rebuilt without their military equipment, but apart from their livery and the taller rudder fin, they were visually almost indistinguishable from the old warhorse. They were well-appointed, with new avionics and luxury interiors, were powered by an improved Merlin engine, and were available with various-sized fuel capacities that gave a range from 750 up to 2,500 miles. Around 20 were made of the initial mark, then the Mark II was designed, with tip-tanks for extra range and various structural and avionics improvements. It was also outfitted with hard-points for weapons, and another boost to the power of the Merlin engine. Some of these were sold to Asian and South American countries, where some El Salvadoran airframes took part in the Soccer War. During this period Cavalier were actively courting the US Air Force trying to sell them the improved airframe as a Counter Insurgency (COIN) or Close Air Support (CAS) platform, but they weren’t biting, so sales were low to other customers. Soon after, they retired the trusty Merlin and replaced it with a Dart 510 turboprop, again from Rolls-Royce, although they had really wanted a Lycoming engine. It reduced the maintenance burden and was more gutsy and fuel efficient, but they still couldn’t get the US government interested. The design with the preferred Lycoming turboprop engine replacing the Dart was sold to Piper, and became the PA-48 Enforcer, but only four were made and shared so few parts with the original Mustang that there was little in the way of cost-savings from use of existing Mustang parts. Only two of the four survived the years in between, and are to be found in US museums. This was probably the ultimate Mustang and a world away from the original design. Many of the original Cavalier Mustangs were converted back to their original specification when Warbirds and heritage flights became popular. The Set This is a new resin conversion kit for the Tamiya P-51 Mustang in 1:32, and will convert it to the Rolls-Royce Dart equipped Turbo Mustang Mk.III that was unsuccessfully marketed to the US Air Force, we’ve already reviewed the original Cavalier Mustang here. The conversion arrives in a large box with a sticker and a profile of the aircraft on the front, plus logos and a link to their eBay shop in red. Inside are 25 resin parts in Halberd’s signature green resin, surrounded by bubble-wrap and Ziploc bags, with the two large replacement fuselage parts taped together and encased in bubble-wrap to keep them safe and aligned during shipping and storage. In addition to the resin is a small set of decals on white backing paper, plus three pages of A4 instructions printed in colour on both sides. The parts are expertly cast, and the fuselage parts have all the detail of the kit parts, carried over flawlessly onto the new nose that extends from the front of the canopy. The new and old details are perfectly matched, which is very impressive, given the finesse of the originals. This finesse is carried through to the large square-tipped prop blades, the oval side-mounted exhaust and the antennae that are attached to the new taller tail fin. As usual, take care with sanding resin, as the fine dust can be hazardous to your health if you breathe it in. Wearing a mask and wet-sanding will help keep you safe. Construction begins with adapting the seat to remove the head armour, adding it and the new resin rear passenger seat to the cockpit along with the headrest as part of building the kit cockpit with whatever upgrades you may or may not wish to apply from other sources. The new fuselage needs little in the way of clean-up, but ensure it is done before you begin adding the kit parts, and remember to use CA to glue them, as resin cannot be bonded together or with styrene parts by our usual plastic glues. Epoxy resin can be used for large parts if structural strength is needed. It’s your choice of course. At the tail the fin has been adapted ready for the extended tip, and you should drill two holes in the sides for the antenna on each side. The fin fillet from the kit will fit in the gap at the leading edge of the tail, and the kit rudder will fit too once you have removed a short section from the top, using the new fin top as your guide. It should be noted that it will be difficult to adapt the Revell 1.32 kit for this conversion as the tail is different from the Tamiya kit. Next up the kit canopies are used, but with the stiffening hoop omitted to fit the new resin part at the rear. Going back to the fuselage, the front is finished with another fine resin part, with a top intake and a small gap between the cowling and the gearbox housing, with some fine stators visible at the back of the space. The prop boss has recesses for the four blades cut into its sides, and a peg that mates with the recess at the centre of the nose for easy installation. The prop blades however aren’t keyed, so you will need to set the angle yourself to ensure they are all correctly aligned and facing the right way. It may be an idea to create a small temporary jig to help with this. The large exhaust is fitted through an oval opening in the starboard side of the fuselage, and the inner end butts up against a recess inside the nose, so insert that before you get too far ahead of yourself and can no longer see the part’s destination. The tip tanks have their fairings and a shallow peg to mate to the open wingtips, and they are moulded with the nose separate to allow them to be cast as smooth as possible. Due to the size of these resin parts some extra reinforcement maybe needed? The pylons for the numerous weapons the Turbo Mustang could carry are attached to the underside of the wing on pins, and you should first measure and drill the holes, preferably before you have completed the wing, so take care there too. There are six pylons in total, two from the kit, and four resin parts from the conversion, all of which are set 20.25mm apart in a line. The rest of the kit is put together in the same manner as the kit instructions suggest, but it will be key to your success to familiarise yourself with both sets of instructions to ensure you know exactly where all the parts go, and at which stage in the build you should insert them into the model. Markings There were only a few of these aircraft made, so there aren’t many options unless you’re going to go with a “what-if” scheme. From the box you can build the following: Cavalier Turbo Mustang III, Sarasota, Florida, 1968 The colour call-outs use FS numbers and colour names, and the few decals are shown in an enlarged form where necessary to save straining your eyeballs. The decals are well-printed with a thin carrier film, and a small arrow is printed next to the step-marks on the wing roots so that you fit them correctly. Stencils for the large prop blades are included, as are a selection of RR logos and fire warning stencils. Conclusion The previous sets were excellent, but the sheer strangeness of the nose of this version makes it strangely irresistible. This is crying to be built and has worked its way towards the top of my stash. We can only ope sales encourage Halberd to keep working on the unusual. Extremely highly recommended. Halberd Models sell their products via eBay for their ease, and the link below will take you to their shop there. Review sample courtesy of
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Cavalier F-51D Mustang/Mustang 2 Conversion Kit 1:32 Halberd Models for Tamiya Kit After WWII, the P-51 Mustang continued to serve with the US Air Force for a while as their standard fighter, although with every day it became more out-dated due to the headlong rush of aviation technology after the advent of jet propulsion and the race to break the sound barrier. By 1957 the last Mustang left service, and North American sold the intellectual rights to the design to Trans Florida Aviation Inc., who intended to create a high-speed executive transport by taking surplus airframes and rebuilding them as an improved two-seat civilian aircraft. The initial Cavalier Mustangs were stripped and rebuilt without their military equipment, but apart from their livery and the taller rudder fin, they were visually almost indistinguishable from the old warhorse. They were well-appointed, with new avionics and luxury interiors, were powered by an improved Merlin engine, and were available with various-sized fuel capacities that gave a range from 750 up to 2,500 miles. Around 20 were made of the initial mark, then the Mark II was designed, with tip-tanks for extra range and various structural and avionics improvements. It was also outfitted with hard-points for weapons, and another boost to the power of the Merlin engine. Some of these were sold to Asian and South American countries, where some El Salvadoran airframes took part in the Soccer War. During this period Cavalier were actively courting the US Air Force trying to sell them the improved airframe as a Counter Insurgency (COIN) or Close Air Support (CAS) platform, but they weren’t biting, so sales were small to other customers. Soon after they chopped off the Merlin and replaced it with a Dart 510 turboprop, again from Rolls-Royce, although they had really wanted a Lycoming engine. It reduced the maintenance burden and was more gutsy and fuel efficient, but they still couldn’t get the US government interested. The design with the preferred Lycoming turboprop engine replacing the Dart was sold to Piper, and became the PA-48 Enforcer, but only four were made and shared so few parts with the original Mustang that there was little in the way of cost-savings by using existing parts. Only two of the four survived the years in between, and are to be found in US museums. Many of the original Cavalier Mustangs were converted back to their original specification when Warbirds and heritage flights became popular. The Conversion For this conversion set you get a replacement cockpit floor; replacement Seat head rest; replacement part for the rear of the canopy; a new propeller hub, and cuffed blades (plus a jig to attach the blades); new tip tanks, new wing drop tanks and their mounts; new underwing racks, new underwing rocket stub attachment points; and for the tail new aerials and the fin tip. You get a full set of instructions printed in colour on both sides of two pages of A4, plus three pages of profiles for the four decal options, including the undersides on the back page. The conversion begins with cutting off the head armour and headrest from the seat, then adding these to the new cockpit floor. The tip of the rudder and fin get the chop, and are replaced by the new fin-tip, with a pair of large swept blade antennae inserted into holes in the fin on both sides. For the canopy the rear brace is not used and a new part for the rear of the canopy goes in. The new propeller is made up from the central hub and four new cuffed blades. A Jig is provided for this to do one blade at a time. The lower wing will need a set of holes drilling if you are fitting either the resin pylons for decal option 4, or the rocket stubs for Options 1 and 2. All dimensions for these are given in the plans. Again, for markings option 4, you will need to remove the original wingtips from the finished wings and use the resin tip-tanks, which have separate nose cones and a tiny resin vent on the top, with the kit tip lights slipped into a hole in the outer sides. While this conversion is designed for the Tamyia kit I am hopeful it will fit the new Revell kit due out later this year. Markings As already mentioned, there are four decal options, three of which are F-51D Mustangs, the last an F-51D Mustang 2 with the tip tanks, which happens to be my favourite option, other than the Enforcer. From the box you can build one of the following: Cavalier Mustang F-51D US Air Force Sarasota, Florida, 1968 Cavalier Mustang F-51D Bolivian Air Force, 1971 Cavalier Mustang F-51D Bolivian Air Force, 1972 Cavalier Mustang F-51D Mk.2, Fuerza Aérea Salvadoreña, El Salvador, 1969/70 The decals are printed anonymously with good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion We have been wishing for a good Cavalier Mustang conversion for a while now, and this set ticks all of the boxes, with a generous four decal options into the bargain. Based upon the excellent Tamiya kit, it doesn’t get much better. Very highly recommended. Halberd are currently marketing their products via eBay, so the links below lead to their site. Conversion Review sample courtesy of
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Resin2detail is to release soon a 1/32nd Cavalier Mustang conversion set for the Tamiya North American P-51D Mustang kit. Sources: https://www.facebook.com/RESIN2detail/posts/616838121840277 https://www.facebook.com/RESIN2detail/posts/616086501915439 https://www.facebook.com/RESIN2detail/posts/616838831840206 https://www.facebook.com/RESIN2detail/posts/617100458480710 V.P.
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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
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This was my first resin kit that I built last August. I've adding lighting and a few other details to complete this project. I used Automotive 2K clear lacquer for the final finish and the decals on the front wings were from a Aoshima kit of the Mad Max 2 car that I have in my stash. Enjoy the ride guys!
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A long and painful build, mostly self inflicted but at long last , its finished. Learnt a lot about spraying yellow, using superglue as a filler, the Airfix P-51 canopy challenge and how to mask a .5mm black stripe on a propeller (hint: use a decal unless you're me). As usual my canopy looks like its been painted by a six inch wide brush wielded by a blind troll. Pretty much lost the ol' mojo for 2 months but it seems to have nipped back chipper as ever. At some point I will replace the canopy with a one piece version from my pile of Hasegawa P-51s so you can see the beautiful Yahu IP. Build here For all of us ageing Reno fans, here is Mr Bob Hoover's pace plane- Ol' Yeller: "Gentlemen, you have a race!" .. . Good night and good gravy Anil
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Hi everyone, For show is this wee beasty which is part of the Mustang STGB. As usual I wanted to do something different for the GB and once I saw this I just knew I had to build it. This aircraft was build new by Cavalier Aircraft Corp in 1968 and was based off their Mustang II. Designed as a Close Air Support/Counter-Insurgency aircraft the original RR Merlin was replaced with a RR Dart 510 turboprop. Despite the radically improved performance and payload increase no sales were made. In 1970 the prototype was sold to Piper which spawned the Piper PA-48 Enforcer. The basis for this is Tamiya’s 1/48th F-51D, to which was added the Heritage Aviation Models Turbo Mustang III conversion kit. Unfortunately it’s not the best of resin mouldings but it is the only one I know of out there. The build was a wee bit difficult but that was mostly my fault....did things completely ar#e-about, but I’m still pretty happy to have this really unusual and brutal beast added to the collection. Please enjoy and I have attached the thread for the build. Cheers Build thread: build link
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Build a couple years ago, I was unpacking this from the trip back from the Nats, and thought I'd get a couple pics before putting it back in the display case. I have many happy memories of attending airshows with my father and the dancing yellow Mustang of Bob Hoover was always a highly anticipated. The Cavalier Mustang is a civilian-ized version of the North American P-51 Mustang. In 1957, Trans-Florida Aviation in Sarasota, Florida, (which was renamed Cavalier Aircraft Corporation in 1967) was formed with the objective of transforming the P-51 into a fast and powerful executive business aircraft. Cavalier Mustangs were rebuilt from the ground up, removing all unneeded military equipment and adding features like a second seat, cockpit soundproofing, improved cockpit ventilation, modern avionics, and a luggage storage bay. One of the most recognized is surely the Mustang flown by Robert 'Bob' Hoover. N51RH was purchased in 1971 to replace an earlier Mustang damaged by an exploding oxygen bottle.. Hoover and the yellow Mustang became famous for precision aerobatic displays though out the world. As a working aircraft, N51RH went through many changes and modifications throughout over twenty years of service. This model represents N51RH as it appeared in the mid 1970s. It all started with a gift from a friend (thereafter known as my project instigator friend) of a very nicely done decal sheet for the 70's era Hoover Mustang. Hoover had become one of my boyhood heroes with his precise and smooth demonstrations of aerobatics and many hours of my youth were spent at dozens of air shows watching Hoover and the famous yellow Mustang perform. I must admit to hording the decals for a number of years until my benefactor convinced me to get off my duff and get started. Oh yes, as long as I was building one kit I could build a copy just as easy since he had obtained a second set of Hoover's markings! What are friends for? The Korean War version of the venerable 1/48 Tamiya P-51D kit was modified into a Cavalier Mustang as it contained the uncuffed Hamilton Standard propeller and longer pointed spinner needed for the conversion. Changes to the cockpit started by replacing the kit parts with a Blackbox resin cockpit modified to civilian configuration by removing military armament panels and adding civilian instrumentation and radio panels. The fuselage fuel tank and radio were removed and the rear cockpit floor replaced. Pilot and passenger seats and cushions scratch built and seat belts/harnesses fabricated using foil from top of wine bottle. (A Zinfandel I believe). The canopy was replaced by spare part having a more bulged rear profile and green tinting added by airbrushing a mixture of Future with a drop of Tamiya clear green acrylic. Finish is a custom mix yellow Testers enamel built up in thin coats allowed to thoroughly dry between applications. A light wet sanding with 1200 paper removed small imperfections and the surface polished with fine automotive swirl remover. The decals were applied and after drying two coats of Future airbrushed at about 15 psi. After the future had dried another VERY light wet sanding with 1800 paper to smooth the surface was followed by polishing with the swirl remover. I remember N51RH having shiny polished paint, but as an aircraft that was flown regularly in aerobatic demonstrations, I also recall exhaust stains and oil on the Mustang's flanks until it was wiped down after the show. Air show aircraft worked for a living and I wanted to depict this so light weathering was applied. It just so happens my friend has two sets of markings for the Mustang racer 'Miss America' and an extra Mustang kit........... Oh yeah, we did pretty good at the IPMS Nationals!
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