A fun build of the superbly engineered AFV Club Corsairs to represent AU-1 aircraft used by the French in Indochina in 1954. I only made minor mods, adding 5 pylons under each wing and extra fins and aerial cables to the rear. One has a loading based on a photo - a 1000lb bomb and a fuel tank (which I suspect may have been for napalm?).
Delivered direct from the Korean war where the US Marine pilots had made heavy use of them, most of the airframes were ready only for scrap, but hard work from Aéronavale mechanics made them flyable in the last desperate defence of Dien Bien Phu.
Thrown straight into battle, the aircraft were given roundels and markings if time permitted. So I have mixed up the markings based on photos, including roundels without the yellow ring, roughly sprayed anchors and a partly complete tail flag. On one of the airframes I put a set of US markings then lightly painted over these so they are just visible as though poorly painted over.
Decals were cobbled together from a few sources including Berna decals sheets for Dauntless and Helldivers (a far more obscure kit!) and some from the Dora Wings P63 as no-one makes specific Corsair schemes.
Weathering was Flory wash light and dust to represent exhaust staining and some thinned black paint around the fuel caps.
The base is scratchbuilt to resemble PSP with some generic N gauge figures and accessories. A pile of fuel tanks at the back has a few laser-cut paper ferns poking through.