1/48 Halberd Cavalier Turbo Mustang III

The Cavalier Turbo Mustang III (Enforcer) prototype was a piston driven aircraft based on a Cavalier modified P-51D platform specifically re-designed for ground attack against guerrilla insurgencies and similar COIN operations. In 1968 Cavalier Aircraft built one flying example mating a Cavalier Mustang II with the tried and true Rolls Royce RB.53 Dart turboprop engine used on the Vickers Viscount. Hence the need for the elongated nose cowl.

Based on what few color photos there are of this slick looking steed, Cavalier owner/creator David Lindsey while marketing the Turbo Enforcer to the USAF and several small countries in Latin America and Asia. There were no takers.

Realizing that Cavalier Aircraft didn't have the resources needed to produce this plane in numbers had there been sales, Lindsey sold the Turbo Mustang III design to Piper Aircraft. Lindsey shut down Cavalier Aircraft for good in 1971 and went over to Piper to facilitate production of a re-designed version designated the PA-48 Enforcer. Just 4 of these were completed. Once again, no takers.

The Kit:

Halberd Models (Ukraine) issued this 1/48 Cavalier Turbo Mustang III conversion kit in 2021 on their website. It features a highly detailed stretched fuselage,propellers and wingtip gas tanks all impeccably molded in dark green resin along with a very decent decal sheet. This set is designed to be used with an Eduard P-51D Mustang donor kit. In this case the P-51D-20 weekend edition. Halberd's resin fuselage halves are just as detailed and finely molded as Eduard's and the fit is excellent, although a little surgery know-how is required on the fuselage bottom where the rear of the Eduard kit wing mates to the bottom of the Halberd resin fuselage.

Construction:
After studying Tom Cleaver's posted iModeler Halberd build for tips, I simply followed Halberd's and Eduard's instructions verbatim. Everything went smoothly. As other fellow modelers have pointed out, Halberd kits are a great introduction to working with resin models because of their simplicity. Halberd is to be commended for their superb level of detail, casting quality and ease of construction. Eduard Mustang kits speak for themselves. A perfect pairing.

I added the following extras: Eduard PE belts, BarracudaCast wheels, an Eduard Löok dashboard and sourced the weapons from True Details and ICM.

Paint:

Surprisingly there are very few photos of Cavalier's Turbo Mustang III out there. It boils down to three well known available images. One is a B&W photo that shows the plane in all NMF. The other two are color shots displaying the Turbo Mustang in shiny pristine condition, posed on the tarmac wearing Vietnam era camouflage with a full load of underwing ordinance.

It's safe to assume the above photo were staged for sales purposes because there is absolutely no evidence of wear and tear, oil stains or exhaust marks. I decided no weathering was necessary.

Dialing in the canopy tint however required a bit of experimentation on some extra spares I had. But first I removed the antenna wire attachment “bump” on top of the canopy and polished the area clear. I airbrushed a heavily thinned spray of Tamiya clear green on the inside of the canopy, let it dry over night and then dipped it Future/Pledge to smooth the finish out.

Back to the basic paint job: I made my own mix of Tamiya acrylics throughout. I rolled out adhesive putty “worms” to mask the camouflage. Glossy finishes are a pain to get right, right? Unfortunately I made the age old mistake of airbrushing the model while a massive and very chilly rain storm was right happening outside my non climate controlled workshop. Learned something, again.

But, I have to say, this Turbo Mustang III is quite the standout in my corral of like minded ponies!

Last Words:
A tip of the hat to TC for encouraging me to order this conversion set directly from Halberd back when it was first released before it quickly sold out. It has since been reissued.

I enjoyed this build so much that I ordered up Halberd's Piper PA-48 Enforcer conversion kit. It now sits on my workbench patiently waiting its turn and tosses me an occasional wink-wink.

8 additional images. Click to enlarge.