Hispano Ha-1115 'Toro Bravo' COIN/FAC aircraft

[deathjester]

Seen here in service with the Royal Thai Airforce, the Toro Bravo (Fighting Bull) is a dedicated COIN / FAC aircraft, powered by a  3,245 HP Rolls Royce Dart Turboprop!

[Librarian]

Now that's good . I take it that's an Me/Bf-109 with a cut back fuselage? Good job.

[ChernayaAkula]

Lookin' good. The camo seems pretty cool!  Bigger pics would be nice, though! These are awfully small. 

[Dizzyfugu]

OMG, what's THAT?! 

Looks cool - are there bigger pics available?

[deathjester]

Will do when I can - In the meantime, can ya guess what it is!?!

[Dizzyfugu]

Tail looks Bf 109F or later-like - maybe the fuselage comes from the HUMA Me 209 V4? The latter seems plausible as the fuselage overall looks a bit big for a "pure" Bf 109? Wings look as if they come from a F4F Wildcat - they are too small for a Skyraider, IMHO, even for a F6F Hellcat? Nose looks scrathed/improvised, reminds me a bit of the Skyly fighter from 'The Sky Crawlers'?

[Captain Canada]

Cool. Love the clipped wings, and the weapons load...that's why the last pic is my fave 

Camo is pretty neat too. The nose is ugly, but hey, it works !

[deathjester]

My thanks Gents!  And you are quite right Librarian - a cut down Bf109, with clipped wings - really lends itself well to the 'Cavalier Mustang treatment'.

Went together very nicely, and as I often prefer tomake my moodels, quite plausible.  The Bf109 was produced by Hispano right up until 1958, and used until 1963-ish by the Spanish Airforce.  The Dart turboprop was in extensive use by this time, and there were plenty of insurgencies/brushfire wars popping up around this timeframe, so, I thought it would be the perfect candidate for a somewhat different COIN aircraft...

Construction is simple:

Take your -109, and cut down the rear fuselage level with the canopy lower edge line.  Then glue the fuselage halves together.

Now plasticard over the big hole in your plane, and sand it to be slightly rounded.  This makes it a lot sleeker, and provides room for the bubble canopy.

Clip the wings, and drill some mounting holes for extra pylons - then glue them all together, with the pylons and gun pods from the kit.  I also attached the practise bombs/pylons from a Frog Harrier GR1, and the kit supplied rocket tubes as White Phosperous rockets, along with a drop tank/Napalm canister!

Cover over the wheel wells, and replace with scratchbuilt P-40 style undercarriage, for rough field landings - something I recommend you DON'T try in a -109!!

Now for the prop: I used an old paddle bladed Mosquito prop, cut down in length, with the spinner made from the turbine blade insert from an F-101 Voodoo.

Finally, your choice of bubble canopy - I think mine was from a Typhoon/Tempest...

[Tophe]

Balated congratulations for that one!

[deathjester]

Here is a nice close up pic of the 'Toro'..enjoy!!

[Army of One]

Great work there mate.....really like that....

[deathjester]

Cheers Hank!  Turned out quite nicely - something a little different to the other COIN planes that have popped up recently - maybe they should get their own section!! 

[ChernayaAkula]

Now that's better!  The camo scheme is brilliant!

[reddfoxx]

Awesome!

[deathjester]

Thanks guys, it was really fun to make! 

Dizzyfugu: I've got the Sky Crawlers game - you know the only plane I haven't unlocked?  Yep, the Skyly - I have no idea what it looks like!!