1/48 Halberd Piper Enforcer 1971
The Enforcer was the brainchild of David Lindsay, founder of Florida based Cavalier Aircraft in the late 60's - early 70's. He envisioned developing heavily modified surplus P-51D's for counter-insurgency purposes, hoping to land a USAF contract during the height of the Vietnam War. He sold his Enforcer plans to Piper Aircraft and helped them produce two fully functional test prototypes that were constructed in 1971.
The real deal above.
With Lindsay's input (he was also the test pilot), Piper redesigned two P-51D airframes to accept the Lycoming Y55L-9A turbo prop engine along with many other modifications. One Enforcer had single pilot controls and labeled PE-1 and the second was built with dual controls and two back to back seats designated PE-2.
After logging 200 hrs of Piper flight testing at their Sarasota facility, PE-2 crashed off the Florida west coast prior to its USAF PAVE/COIN evaluations but PE-1 went on to out perform all expectations during its USAF trials. In the end, the USAF changed direction and Piper did not get a contract. Lindsay and Piper revived the Enforcer again in 1983 building two completely new airframes from scratch as the PA-48 Enforcer. Although the two Enforcer performed extremely well, once again the USAF did not place an order thus ending the Enforcer project permanently.
The Model:
Halberd Models is small outfit from the Ukraine that has been making superb and highly detailed resin conversion kits for some time now. Having built their Cavalier Turbo Mustang III, I was anxious to try Halberd's Enforcer 1971. This conversion kit is designed to be combined with Eduard's 1/48 P51D series. I used the Weekend P-51D-10 as the donor. Halberd supplies the fuselage, pilot seat, prop blades, spinner and more for a total of 32 green resin parts plus 2 clear pieces and decals. All of this is mates to Eduard's wings, landing gear and canopy. I added some Eduard Brass-in wheels and used the unused Eduard kit seat as a jump seat to fill the void behind the pilot.
The Build:
Everything fit quite nicely and the Halberd pieces just needed a little cleanup here and there. It's really important to scrub the fuselage parts thoroughly to make sure the paint sticks. I had some issues with that. I sanded off the canopy antenna attachment and polished it accordingly as Enforcers did not use it. The only tricky part is working on the area where the Eduard bottom wing joins up with Halberd's fuselage. Takes a bit of filler, careful sanding and patience to get it to look good. Not much else to do other than follow the Eduard instructions and admire Halberd's fine attention to detail on all the dark green resin parts.
Paint Shop
I mixed my own Tamiya Vietnam era colors thinned with Mr. Color leveling thinner following Halberd's paint guide and referring to color photos of PE-1. I began by priming the plane with Alclad II grey to hide the green resin. I sprayed the entire upper sections with a dark tan mix and then went to town with the rest of the camo. I did experience issues with the paint pulling up in certain areas. Grrrrr.
Conclusion:
Halberd makes great resin sets and it amazes me they can still produce these gems amidst a full on war going on around them. Life during wartime. Halberd just announced a brand new Piper PA-48 conversion kit so I immediately jumped on it because their sets often sell out. It should arrive any day. I will be using Eduard over trees this time. This will complete my Enforcer Trio.
Thanks for looking.
Speak of the devil, look what the postman brought today: Halberd's PA-48 Enforcer 1983. First time I've seen them include a PE set. 46 resin parts. Looks terrific.
-
- 1. resin goodies
- 2. PE Fret 14 parts
- 3. Amber ID light and clear lenses
- 4. Correct
wheels
- 5. bottom wing template
for drilling pylon holes
- 6. wing tanks
- 7. prop blades
and speed probe
- 8. correct PE48 elevators
- 9. fuselage just needs a
bit of cleanup
-
- 1. Amber light resin
This is really cool Eric
The paint looks awesome , like the rest of the model does.
Fantastic conversion, Eric @eb801!
She looks great, my friend! 
"Stay away from the window, they might see you up there."
An interesting story and a beautiful build.
Great work, Eric @eb801. Combining resin and plastic is never easy, but your result is exquisite. I have heard great things about the Halberd kits. Well done.
Great work on this conversion, Eric, I can’t see the join.
Excellent conversion and really great result, Eric!
A very nice conversion, Eric @eb801
Your own mixture of the Vietnam colors does look really good.
Great job, Eric. Agree, the Halberd "conversion" kit is a nice one. Again, looks great!
That's a great build - I've always admired those Cavalier birds.
Excellent build - Halberd makes some great conversions.
Superb work and a great result @eb801.