Central American Warbird

[Foxbat]

Couldn't decide which scheme to go for, so had no option but to build two. This is an AT-6 from 1980 which puts it right at the start of the Contra rebellion against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Based again on the Revell issue of the Heller kit, with decals by Blue Rider. I wrote this intro second, so less daft comments. Sorry  

 

 

This one has two tone olive wrap around camo, with the upper wing schemes being unknown so it looks like I have free reign to muck it up as I see fit. This is what I'm aiming for though: 

 

 

Going to be fun carving those stripy decal to the right shape for the rudder, but it shoud look authentically used when I'm done

 

Andy

Edited March 30, 2021 by Foxbat

[Wez]

@RidgeRunner gave me a set of those decals, very keen to see how this comes out, an unusual and interesting scheme from a seldom modelled user.

 

Welcome to the GB.

[zegeye]

Revell kit seems to have different canopy than Nicaraguan example.  Do you have some vac replacements or you going to make it in the other way?

[Foxbat]

12 hours ago, Wez said:

@RidgeRunner gave me a set of those decals, very keen to see how this comes out, an unusual and interesting scheme from a seldom modelled user.

 

Welcome to the GB.

Thanks. I'm going through a bit of a Latin American phase just now, must be to balance all those African MiGs in the pipeline. 

 

2 hours ago, zegeye said:

Revell kit seems to have different canopy than Nicaraguan example.  Do you have some vac replacements or you going to make it in the other way?

I build for fun and relaxation so I'm going to do my usual and just ignore it. I have to be scrupulous and detail obsessed at work, I'm not letting that intrude on my fun time 😊

 

Andy

[Wez]

Nicuraguan Texans were AT-6D, so had the shorter rear fixed canopy fairing same as the T-6G, so same shape as the kit.  They also had the (my description), earlier style canopy unlike the T-6G which has the (again, my description), later type canopy with fewer frames.  All you'd need to do is add the extra frames from paint or decal or whatever your chosen method is.  No biggie really.

[Foxbat]

As I have options I'm going to keep my powder dry on this one, leave Nicaragua to Brad and indulge in something else Central American. I have a couple of Aztec sheets that feature Texans, so this build will metamorphose into either a dark green Mexican one with an interesting shark design, or a camouflaged Salvadorean example from the 100 Hours War (also known as the Football War) in 1969, a favourite topic of mine as the last conflict I know of where the combatants both used piston engined fighters (P-51 Mustangs v F4U Corsairs, although F4U v FG-1 all Corsair combats would have been possible).

 

Andy

 

Edited March 30, 2021 by Foxbat

[Wez]

There's some good choices there, if you need any help I have Dan Hagedorn's very informative book on Texans and Harvards in Latin America.

[Foxbat]

24 minutes ago, Wez said:

There's some good choices there, if you need any help I have Dan Hagedorn's very informative book on Texans and Harvards in Latin America.

That would be great, thank you. My own references are a bit limited just now, and mainly concern jets. 

 

Andy

[John Masters]

23 hours ago, Foxbat said:

puts it right at the start of the Contra rebellion against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

Excellent Foxbat.  That should be a good looking aircraft.  Not usually seen, as others have said.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

On 3/29/2021 at 2:46 PM, Foxbat said:

Going to be fun carving those stripy decal to the right shape for the rudder, but it shoud look authentically used when I'm done

Take a piece of tape and place it over the rudder. Rub a pencil over it to get the shape right. Place the tape on a piece of stiff card and cut it out. You have a perfectly sized master and bobs your uncle. 

[John Masters]

5 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Take a piece of tape and place it over the rudder. Rub a pencil over it to get the shape right. Place the tape on a piece of stiff card and cut it out. You have a perfectly sized master and bobs your uncle. 

So simple.  I never thought of that either.  Thanks Dennis.

[RidgeRunner]

As the front edge is straight I’d apply them as is, using Micro Sol and Set. Give them a rough cut to shape. Then, once dry, blend them to the plastic with a little more Micro Sol setting agent And a hairy stick

 

Martin

[Foxbat]

OK, moving on to Plan 9, I'm going to do a Salvadorean SNJ-5 from the 100 Hours War with Honduras in 1969.  Both sides used Texans, but the Honduran ones were mostly NMF and I hate trying to paint that.

 

These are the decals. My bird is the first one, sporting the camo and minimal markings:

 

Revell give you four grey sprues and a clear one to work with. Not all parts are needed to build OOB,and I'm using even less than that: 

 

 

 

 

I'm tempted to track down an original Heller boxing now just to see what the armed version looks like - there ae gun and roclet pods on the sprue, plus what looks to be 6 rocket rails. 

 

Construction starts in time honoured fashion with the cockpit. I've gone with the Revell colours as Aztec don't provide any info (but they do have some photos of the Honduran ones). I expected interior green but Revell say it's a shade of grey that translates to Deck Tan in Vallejo's range, a colour that isn't at all brown but is in fact a very pale grey green. Seats are USAF Grey which doesn't have a Vallejo equivalent so I went with generic light grey. 

 

 

Instrument panels at the bottom of the picture are dark grey rather than black. I've dry brushed the dials rather than break into the decal sheet in case it's useful to someone else later.

 

Engine and landing gear are gun metal. The engine got a smokey tint wash, everything else had to make do with black.

 

 

Next stage is to build up the engine and prop and put the cowling tgether round them. Exciting stuff!!

 

Andy

 

[RidgeRunner]

A very nice choice, Andy :). I gave a long held love for Central American aircraft. However, the SNJ-5 was another earlier variant that was different t from the T-6G. Sorry! 

 

Martin

[Foxbat]

That figures 🙄🤣

 

Apart from the canopy are there many physical differences? I've had a quick Google but the results were a bit confusing (including one site which said the -6D and G were both SNJ-5s). I made a lot of progress yesterday so I'd rather not have to hack it around too much.

 

More Googling and I'm even more confused. Wings Palette (not noted for absolute accuracy) have a profile of this aircraft wich is clearly an SNJ-5. The Aztec decals picture matches pretty well what I have on the bench which very much isn't. The Aztec sheet has photographs of the Honduran Texans which are clearly later models (later canopy, radio mast behind the cockit, no forward gun) but doesn't have a photo og the Salvadorean one.

 

Just to really confuse things, the DP Casper sheet for the same conflict shows the Honduran Texans as also being AT-Ds/SNJ-5s which the Aztec sheet photos show is wrong. The DPC sheet also shows the Salvadorean Corsairs with yellow bands which a couple of places tell me weren't added until the 70s when the planes were in the US so I'm not sure if there's anything useful to be had there.

 

I'm inclined at this point to trust Aztec, build what I have and hope it's close enough for jazz 😕 

 

Andy

Edited April 16, 2021 by Foxbat

[Foxbat]

In between worrying what version of Texan I should be building, I got on with building what I had. The engine and cowl went together with minimum fuss, although there was quite a step at the bottom. Filler, filingand an air intake will hide the worst of it. That done, I closed up the fuselage so I had somethin to stick it to. There was a little step along the bottom of the fuselage but again, I seem to have delat with the worst of it and not lost too much of the raised detail.

 

 

 

The wings went together easily enough, but the upper wing to fuselage join took some persuading. Once I had, it was nice and tight so I didn't bother with filler, even after a coat of primer everywhere to check for gaps (and to hide some massive gluey fingerprints - must be the worst kit for this I've done in 35 years  )

 

 

 

OK, just noticed I didn't photograph the wings in their primer coat. You're just going to have to trust me there. I didn't get a snap of the tailplanes and air intake going on either - reading this is a bit like reading Dragon instructions; bits just appear between steps without ever having been mentioned.

 

Pale blue dry, it was time for the real colours. Started with tan up top. First coat dried a bit blotchy despite the prime. Second coat applied quite wet fixed that. It's still drying here. 

 

 

Light grey undersides. The demarcation is done freehand without a safety net. It's not bad considering. I'll do a wee tidy up before I'm finished - promise

 

 

That's where I left it last night. You can maybe see why I'm concerned that I don't have to do too much to make this the right version for the decals I'm using.

 

Andy

[John Masters]

Nice Andy.  You're coming along just fine I see!