ModelingEdmontonian Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 (edited) I am many things, but one of them is an avid traveler. I especially like visiting new countries (75 to date!), but obviously the pandemic has put a real damper on that. I came up with my big Hawker Hurricanes around the world project as a bit of way to "travel" the world from my basement. That project is roughly halfway done, and time to slowly start something else! Originally, I was going to do another single-type build, but somehow P-51s did not excite me quite as much as Hurricanes do, so I decide to diversify a little. So the "rules" of my project (which, of course, I may break) are to model versions of American World War II fighters that ended their service lives in the air forces of countries bordering the Caribbean: So, my plan at this point is to model: P-51D: Dominican Republic Haiti Guatemala Coast Rica P-38: Honduras (updated plan won't include Honduran P-38, see below) Nicaragua P-47D: Venezuela Colombia Cuba Mexico updated plan to add: P-39 from Curacao (USAAF) P-63 from Honduras FG-1D from El Salvador El Salvador was nearly included, but it does not in fact border the Caribbean Sea, so it was out (El Salvador is now in with a FG-1D!). Panama, Belize, Jamaica, etc. do not seem to have utilized any American WWII fighters, so unless I find out otherwise will not be included. Brazil may get a feature due to a kit bought in error, but we'll see what happens there... (Brazilian P-47 is now being built as part of the Sexy American Singles in South American Service project) I have the decals in the mail (mostly from Aztec, but Airfix [for Dominican] and Blue Rider [for Costa Rica] are contributing as well) and the kits I have purchased so far are the Airfix F-51D (x2); Tamiya F-51D; Airfix Mustang Mk IV; Tamiya P-47D; Revell P-47M; and Academy P-47 (which is the mistake that could end up as Brazil). Actual work on these kits is likely not going to begin particularly soon, but we'll see what happens. All for now... Edited October 24, 2023 by ModelingEdmontonian 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil5208 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 Interesting plan but what about Cuba? They had the P38L model. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 & Honduras has F4U-5s according to the ever reliable Wikipedia, can't miss those out. Steve. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelingEdmontonian Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 15 hours ago, neil5208 said: Interesting plan but what about Cuba? They had the P38L model. 12 hours ago, stevehnz said: & Honduras has F4U-5s according to the ever reliable Wikipedia, can't miss those out. Steve. Cuba (P-47) and Honduras (P-38) are represented already, and my goal is to just have one each! Point is diversity of countries, not diversities of types, although I did consider a Honduras F4U-5, but opted for the P-38. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 On 1/12/2022 at 3:14 AM, ModelingEdmontonian said: P-51D: Dominican Republic Haiti Guatemala Coast Rica P-38: Honduras Nicaragua P-47D: Venezuela Colombia Cuba Mexico How about: F4U - El Salvador and Honduras F-51 - El Salvador, Nicaragua and Cuba P-38 - F-47 - Dominican Republic 😁 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelingEdmontonian Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 On 1/13/2022 at 4:21 PM, RidgeRunner said: How about: F4U - El Salvador and Honduras F-51 - El Salvador, Nicaragua and Cuba P-38 - F-47 - Dominican Republic 😁 Decals are on the way for my list above, so probably going to leave it as such, but we'll see if El Salvador manages to get represented in the end... For now, P-51s are first phase, and Costa Rica is up. This is the Airfix starter kit, well known around these parts: Kits decal for the IP, I suppose, but otherwise they'll be the Blue Rider set that is showing it's age but hopefully still works. Closer up of the little write-up they provide (probably still an eye-strain to read, sorry!): 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 Oh this looks like it will be fun! Plus it will expand my knowledge since this is a topic I know little about. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Guate Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) HI, nice to hear about your proyect, my sugestion about decals and references this can help you: https://aztecmodels.com/ here you can find a lot fo decals dedicated to latin american subjets https://es-la.facebook.com/tgdecals/ these guys have some F-51 mustang dedicated sheets. here some examples from aztec, now their sheets are printed by cartograph Any help/questions regarding latin american themes just ask. cheers from Guatemala, central america. carlos Edited January 16, 2022 by Carlos Guate more information added 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 3 hours ago, Carlos Guate said: HI, nice to hear about your proyect, my sugestion about decals and references this can help you: https://aztecmodels.com/ here you can find a lot fo decals dedicated to latin american subjets https://es-la.facebook.com/tgdecals/ these guys have some F-51 mustang dedicated sheets. here some examples from aztec, now their sheets are printed by cartograph Any help/questions regarding latin american themes just ask. cheers from Guatemala, central america. carlos Hola Carlos! I am aware of, and use Aztec decals but I wasn’t aware of TG. They look good :). I need to explore some more. I will certainly keep in contact with you on the subject. I still have a number of Latin subjects in my plan - FAE Mirage F.1, FAP Su-22, FAH F4U and Sabre, FAS Ouragan and F-51, FAU AT-33 and others. You will have seen my previous builds on Britmodeller? Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelingEdmontonian Posted January 17, 2022 Author Share Posted January 17, 2022 On 1/15/2022 at 9:49 PM, Carlos Guate said: HI, nice to hear about your proyect, my sugestion about decals and references this can help you: https://aztecmodels.com/ here you can find a lot fo decals dedicated to latin american subjets https://es-la.facebook.com/tgdecals/ these guys have some F-51 mustang dedicated sheets. here some examples from aztec, now their sheets are printed by cartograph Any help/questions regarding latin american themes just ask. cheers from Guatemala, central america. carlos Thanks, Carlos! I have ordered from Aztec and have these three on the way... This one will supply me with Guatemala and Haiti (P-51Ds): This one Honduras and Nicaragua (P-38s [I think L and M, respectively]): And this one will have the P-47Ds: Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, and Venezuela. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Guate Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 it is nice that you could find the material regarding the latin theme. Any questions related just ask by this way. latin american countries has a very nice order of battle over the years. regards carlos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelingEdmontonian Posted January 18, 2022 Author Share Posted January 18, 2022 17 hours ago, Carlos Guate said: it is nice that you could find the material regarding the latin theme. Any questions related just ask by this way. latin american countries has a very nice order of battle over the years. regards carlos Thanks, Carlos! I appreciate your interest and I'm excited to learn more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelingEdmontonian Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 The mail brought me some goodies today, and I can introduce the second Mustang kit, this one will be Dominican Republic--the only build of this project that should be all OOB! The two main sprues and clear sprue are the same as the starter kit above, but there is an additional sprue with this kit providing an alternative prop and rockets and bombs. The decal sheet includes the Dominican Republic option. Not so sure about a white underside? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturmovik Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 It does look white on this photo: https://mapio.net/pic/p-9555805/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelingEdmontonian Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 1 hour ago, Sturmovik said: It does look white on this photo: https://mapio.net/pic/p-9555805/ Indeed it does, thanks for sharing! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 (edited) 21 minutes ago, ModelingEdmontonian said: Indeed it does, thanks for sharing! Could it be the USAF light aircraft grey used in the South east asian schemes ? Which is a misnomer as it really looks line a creme white. The Green and Tan look to be the same. And Cavalier did these Mustangs to USAF Spec as they were under contract for military assistance to other South/Central American nations ? Edited January 20, 2022 by Corsairfoxfouruncle 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelingEdmontonian Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 13 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Could it be the USAF light aircraft grey used in the South east asian schemes ? Which is a misnomer as it really looks line a creme white. The Green and Tan look to be the same. And Cavalier did these Mustangs to USAF Spec as they were under contract for military assistance to other South/Central American nations ? I have only ever been interested in WWII so never paid any thought to the USAF SEA scheme. I looked it up, and I think you may be onto something. Maybe that Caribbean sun is making the grey look particularly creamy. I believe the Dominican P-51Ds actually came from Sweden though so not sure Cavalier was responsible for the paintwork? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 3 hours ago, ModelingEdmontonian said: I believe the Dominican P-51Ds actually came from Sweden though so not sure Cavalier was responsible for the paintwork? Entirely possible and very likely, though I know a bunch of Swedish Mustangs wound up in Israel. However I do know Sweden was quite a heavy user of the pony post war and if memory is correct had multiple squadrons. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 That's really neat that the Airfix F-51 comes with Dominican Republic decals! Makes me tempted to get one myself.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 15 hours ago, opus999 said: That's really neat that the Airfix F-51 comes with Dominican Republic decals! Makes me tempted to get one myself.... I’ve got the kit and have zero use for the Dominican decals. If you're interested give me D/m with your address and I’ll drop the Dominican bits into the mail next week. Dennis 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 Well, thank you Dennis! I'll send you a PM. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelingEdmontonian Posted February 6, 2022 Author Share Posted February 6, 2022 Sadly still waiting for my Aztec decals (per tracking, they reached the Mexico City airport on January 11, but I haven't seen an update since then ), but I have started chopping up sprue and gave them all a bath last night. These are the three Airfix kits. Although the Dominican Republic option is included in the Airfix kit, I've decided I'll use the Tamiya kit instead for that one because it's the only version that I will put rockets on and the Tamiya rockets are marginally nicer than the Airfix ones. So, Haiti, Costa Rica, and Guatemala will be Airfix and Dominican Republic Tamiya. Today, I was able to spray some rattle can black on the IP panels, wheels, props, and the main cockpit pieces. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VT Red Sox Fan Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 (edited) Joining this impressive thread late—really looking forward to learning from you and the bench of talent who has latched on to this thread about the details of these WW2 aircraft in post-war service—best, Erwin Edited February 6, 2022 by VT Red Sox Fan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModelingEdmontonian Posted February 10, 2022 Author Share Posted February 10, 2022 Those decals are still AWOL, but I have begun some cockpit and wheel well work. Keeping it simple with yellow zinc chromate in the wheel wells and mostly US interior green (Mission Models 059) and black in the cockpit. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VT Red Sox Fan Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 Great mass production—question/thought, did these aircraft oppose each other while serving in these nations, if so it would be an interesting match up for a collection—sorry for the question/thought as I am not trying to hijack the thread—amazing work—best, Erwin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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