Last Legs Ponies: P-51 Mustangs, P-47 Thunderbolts (and other American WWII fighters) around the Caribbean

[modelling minion]

Far and away the majority of Cuban F-47's were in NMF and I believe that the concensus of opinion is that the OD finish applied to the one or two aircraft that carried it was likely a local mix which gives it the chocolate brown appearance. 

[ModelingEdmontonian]

On 1/20/2025 at 1:50 AM, TeeELL said:

The Cuban airforce received the F-47s in 1953 and, as you have probably seen, finished in NMF.  You have identified the only photo I’ve discovered showing a camouflage finish; this is both an advantage and disadvantage.  Until definitive proof of colour is discovered - very highly unlikely (1. any surviving Cuban F-47 pilots would be in their 90’s and Castro’s regime rather ‘thinned them out’ anyway, 2. there appear to be no remaining airframes for reference,)  you can paint your model any colour that you perceive to match the colour in the photo.

I went for ‘silver’ myself.

 

 

 

On 1/20/2025 at 7:08 AM, TeeELL said:

The Cubans received 29 Thunderbolts fleet numbers 450 thru’ 478.  I can find 3 other photos of Cuban F-47s, one moderately clear photo of 473 and 2 photos showing lines of F-47s taken from the left and right sides but different Sqns or era's as the engine nacelles are painted/unpainted.  The 3 photos only show silver(?) finish aircraft.  

Records show that the F-47s were used as fighter/bombers against the rebel forces (there is a report of the loss of one when the bomb it was carrying exploded whilst still attached to the wing).  F-47s had attacked the airfield into which the Rebel F-51s were going to land unfortunately, this caused the F-51s to be shot at and damaged by their own nervous/trigger happy AAA rebel gunners.

There is every reason to assume the F-47s would be camouflaged (as seen in the photo posted by @ModelingEdmontonian) but by this time the Batista government was no longer in receipt of US support so what the source of the paint might be is anyone's guess - quite possibly mixed from local supplies?

 

Very help, @TeeELL, thanks for all the info, and for sharing your version! 

 

On 1/20/2025 at 7:34 AM, marvinneko said:

If the brown p47s were repainted NMF, and the NMF had the black anti glare, it's possible the camo was darker over the nose. I believe that was the case for my Japanese Ken.... it was NMF with antiglare, then later painted over with blue-grey and the nose part was darker. Some people interpreted that as a black antiglare reapplied, which would be unnecessary, but another interpretation is just a darker area because it was over black paint instead of NMF. I just made an antiglare area that was a darker version of the overall colour.

Interesting thinking, David, this could be the case. I also found a photo of a P-47 in which the propeller blade cast a shadow such that at first I thought there was black antiglare overtop of camouflage, which made me wonder if that could have been the case, too. But, I also note that the finish appears quite glossy in the photo, so maybe there could have been a different colour or at least matt finish to mitigate potential of glare? 

[ModelingEdmontonian]

On 1/20/2025 at 8:23 AM, modelling minion said:

Far and away the majority of Cuban F-47's were in NMF and I believe that the concensus of opinion is that the OD finish applied to the one or two aircraft that carried it was likely a local mix which gives it the chocolate brown appearance. 

Cheers, @modelling minion I figure what I've gone with is fairly chocolatey... I mean, nobody is going to try to take a bite of her or anything, but I'm satisfied.

 

 

Probably inclined to leave off the anti-glare, but not entirely decided yet. Still, I went ahead and put on most of the decals.

 

[ModelingEdmontonian]

While we're considering P-47 paint colours... what do folks think about the colour for Mexico? Aztec describes it as OD in one place, but later suggests adding 15% black. In the photo provided (which I acknowledge I am not reproducing well...) it honestly looks like a dark blue to me, and certainly doesn't look like particularly OD. Any thoughts?

 

 

Meanwhile, the fuselage yellow stripe on Mexico is done and I have started masking it.

 

[modelling minion]

I think the colour you have achieved on your Cuban F-47 looks pretty good to me and gives a good representation of the colour seen in the one colour picture. I don't think the Mexican aircraft are OD, from what I've seen they are a dark green.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

56 minutes ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

While we're considering P-47 paint colours... what do folks think about the colour for Mexico? Aztec describes it as OD in one place, but later suggests adding 15% black. In the photo provided (which I acknowledge I am not reproducing well...) it honestly looks like a dark blue to me, and certainly doesn't look like particularly OD. Any thoughts?

 

 

Meanwhile, the fuselage yellow stripe on Mexico is done and I have started masking it.

 

I’ve always thought very Dark green with the tail being zinc chromate green or close to British interior green. 

[ModelingEdmontonian]

8 hours ago, modelling minion said:

 I don't think the Mexican aircraft are OD, from what I've seen they are a dark green.

8 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I’ve always thought very Dark green with the tail being zinc chromate green or close to British interior green. 

Thanks for weighing in on the Mexican colour @modelling minion @Corsairfoxfouruncle. Alright, a very dark green is making sense more sense to me when I look at the photo... I'll see what I have in that vein. I think it's even darker than RAF Dark Green.... and yes I was thinking my RAF interior green could work nicely for the tail, too. 

 

Meanwhile, I have the decals on Cuba's bombs...

 

[2996 Victor]

2 hours ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

Alright, a very dark green is making sense more sense to me when I look at the photo... I'll see what I have in that vein. I think it's even darker than RAF Dark Green.... and yes I was thinking my RAF interior green could work nicely for the tail, too.

This is a scheme that's caught my eye, too, particularly as I want to do a few Mexican WW2 aircraft and it would sit well alongside. I'll be interested in seeing what colours you arrive at!

 

Cheers,

Mark

[ModelingEdmontonian]

Persistent research found me this lovely photo showing the Mexican P-47! Certainly much more clearly dark green to me in this one than the photo Aztec provided. May be quite close to RAF Dark Green, actually... I'll do some experimenting and see what I think matches, but I was very pleased to find this photo.

 

[marvinneko]

Fantastic find! The tail colours sure match up with the greenish plane.

 

Looking at the dark bluish photo, the green tail stripe is also the same dark bluish.

[ModelingEdmontonian]

1 hour ago, marvinneko said:

Fantastic find! The tail colours sure match up with the greenish plane.

 

Looking at the dark bluish photo, the green tail stripe is also the same dark bluish.

Great point. That's a useful observation for me as I identify a paint colour to use.

[opus999]

Cuba looks very sharp and judging by the nice photo you found, I suspect Mexico will look pretty great as well!  I'd have to agree that the photo doesn't make it look like OD.

[ModelingEdmontonian]

Ok, Cuba is all done and looking kind of bad a** if you ask me.

 

 

She's the third P-47 I've finished and my favourite so far.

 

Meanwhile, I re-primed Mexico after getting that yellow fuselage stripe painted and masked.

 

 

I've landed on XF 13 for the green, and tested it out on the UC doors.

 

 

It'll do, so I splashed it all over the underside.

 

 

Cuba's done, Mexico is well on its way, let's look at Venezuela again... I got the engine painted quickly...

 

 

Then I dry fit the cowling and took her outside to spray aluminum.

 

 

Oh, and I popped the lightning bolt decals on the UC doors.

 

 

Venezuela will be 23-A-36, so most of the work now will be getting red, blue, and yellow painted on the cowling and rudder.

 

Edited January 27 by ModelingEdmontonian

[stevehnz]

On 1/25/2025 at 8:48 AM, ModelingEdmontonian said:

Persistent research found me this lovely photo showing the Mexican P-47! Certainly much more clearly dark green to me in this one than the photo Aztec provided. May be quite close to RAF Dark Green, actually... I'll do some experimenting and see what I think matches, but I was very pleased to find this photo.

 

FWIW, looking at your photo, Aztec appear to have missed the dark underside on this. I'd hesitate to propose a colour, but after taking a bit of the green tinge out of the photo, it cold be black or a very dark blue/black, a bit like RAF night. The wavy demarcation toward the tail & the clearly dark U/C doors which are well lit convinced me this is a lot more than just shadow. Its neighbour looks similar.

Steve.

[opus999]

Cuba does look mighty fine.  The others are moving at a good clip as well.

[ModelingEdmontonian]

On 1/27/2025 at 2:20 PM, stevehnz said:

FWIW, looking at your photo, Aztec appear to have missed the dark underside on this. I'd hesitate to propose a colour, but after taking a bit of the green tinge out of the photo, it cold be black or a very dark blue/black, a bit like RAF night. The wavy demarcation toward the tail & the clearly dark U/C doors which are well lit convinced me this is a lot more than just shadow. Its neighbour looks similar.

Steve.

Interesting observation! Of all the profiles and models I've found online nobody seems to have caught this. I keep looking at the photo and can't say that I'm entirely convinced, but especially at the rear fuselage it sure does look like a distinct colour and not just shadow. Anyway, I'm not changing the camo now as I've already added the decals to the underside of the wings, so Mexico's still going to be all green. I also unmasked the yellow stripe, which needed some touching up, and I've begun painting the light green on the tail. I've also made some progress with Venezuela, getting the red painted on the cowling and so on. Here they are both together.

 

[ModelingEdmontonian]

I got all of the decals onto Mexico. The yellow stripe on Mexico and yellow on the rudder for Venezuela have been frustrating and are slowing me down. The yellow on Mexico's wings are Revell decals and mostly worked nicely. 

 

 

I took a break from those annoyances and masked up Venezuela . . . 

 

 

. . . to get the anti-glare black sprayed. That worked out nicely, thankfully.

 

 

Now back to painting yellow... actually, I probably am good with the paint, now I need to sand it because after so many brushed coats I have a mess to clean up. 🙄

[RidgeRunner]

I like these, MM, particularly Venezuela. 

[ModelingEdmontonian]

On 2/23/2025 at 2:03 AM, RidgeRunner said:

I like these, MM, particularly Venezuela. 

Thanks, @RidgeRunner

 

I've been slowly trying to wrap up both Venezuela and Mexico. I'm settling for where I'm at with the yellow, which means Mexico should be able to move fairly fast from here. Just waiting to spray a matt coat before I finish her up.