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Cessna O-2 DON'T SHOOT


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Hello everyone,

Recently I bought the Draw decals set dedicated to the Cessna O-2 Skymaster DON'T SHOOT. The decals look good but by examining the instruction sheet I realized that the decal sheet reproduces actually an aircraft restored and maintained in flying condition by a museum in the USA and not an operational O-2 in Vietnam . I did a search on Google, but I did not find any photo of an O-2 in country with such markings. Now I ask myself several questions.

- Did theses markings really exist in country ?

- If Yes, is the Draw Décals set accurate ?

- Can You tell me if there are pictures to prove the existence of these markings in Vietnam

Any help will be greatly appreciated

Sorry for my poor English

Have a good day

Patrick

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I'm almost positive that it is not based on actual wartime markings. The rest of the markings are also non-standard. Similar to most warbirds, the markings are more creative than what it actually wore when it was in service. Even that fancy identical Snoopy/doghouse marking it has in four(!) places is pretty artistic. I'd be amazed if that too accurate. Most FACs were pretty plain, although some simpler smaller hand painted Snoopy markings were used.

There are genuine Vietnam markings with large "THE FAC" on the top wing though of one of the black painted O-2s.

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For your question 2 about the Draw decals being accurate: those decals are definitely based on the current warbird markings shown, so in that case they may be accurate in that sense. Accurate as far as the source of the markings is concerned I mean.

Edited by ziggyfoos
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I'm almost positive that it is not based on actual wartime markings.

This is exactly what I feared! It remains only to find another decal set dedicated to the aircraft but with operational markings;

A brand of good decals ziggyfoos advise me? :whistle:/>

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those decals are definitely based on the current warbird markings shown, so in that case they may be accurate in that sense

I agree with that but my goal was to build an operational aircraft "in country"

(I have already in stock the AOA decal set for the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog. Superb, Wonderful work :thumbsup: )

Thank you

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This is exactly what I feared! It remains only to find another decal set dedicated to the aircraft but with operational markings;

A brand of good decals ziggyfoos advise me? :whistle:/>/>

Personally I'm holding out for the Roden 1/32 kit for considering decals. Not sure if you're talking 1/48 or 1/72 but I think Caracal made/makes an O-2 sheet in 1/48 but I can't speak to its accuracy.

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  • 7 months later...

Hi all,

dear Patrick, I've the same questions and doubts about 'Don't shoot' livery! I've sent an e.mail to the Museum on early November without answer...

 

Caracal sheet is very well done but all liveries 'on the field' are pretty anonimous :( The upper wing logo instead, gives an amazing (but real?) choice.

 

These are some pics of my O-2A 'wip'

keep in touch Patrick!

Cheers, Alex, Rome

 

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4 hours ago, Aerodata.it said:

 

Caracal sheet is very well done but all liveries 'on the field' are pretty anonimous :( The upper wing logo instead, gives an amazing (but real?) choice.

 

The black aircraft with white "THE FAC" is definitely real, with multiple photos showing the marking in detail. Too bad none of them shows the serial numbers clearly. I chose to provide the marking and clearly mention that the serial was not known.

 

I personally think the "Don't shoot" marking was pure fiction based on a warbird. The decal manufacturer should have honestly stated this in the instructions.

Edited by KursadA
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To their credit, Draw Decal's description does clearly state:
"Decal depicts the Cessna O-2 currently residing at the Museum of Flight Restoration Facility at Paine Field, Washington.  This aircraft is in flyable condition."

 

It's safe to say that majority of warbird schemes (and museums...) can be very inaccurate and pretty fictional. As I mentioned earlier in this thread the decals do show a real scheme, just not "real" as in the sense that the scheme was used in service. Kit World does similar, they have several sheets of warbirds.

 

The standard grey O-2's in Vietnam from what I've seen are pretty generic mostly - like the other FACs really. And like the others, the O-2's seemed to be pretty much limited to at most some small artwork/names with tail tops/bottoms having some color. If/when Roden releases their O-2 kit I'll probably do some of them.

 

Edited by ziggyfoos
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Hello all, hello Alex

 

OH WOWW ! Is this old topic still alive ?!

 

Dear Alex, Nice start on your O-2! The radios are very realistic and perfectly reproduce the busy aspect of this area. The IP is fantastic too ! Please keep posting a lot of photos of your WIP. I will follow your progress with great interest.

I have definitely abandoned the spectacular markings DON'T SHOOT in favor of an operational airplane with anonymous markings, perhaps with tail tops/bottoms having some color.
 I still hesitate for the O-2 in black maybe a little sinister. For the moment I keep collecting pictures and I would decide when I would be ready to start the model.

 

Regards from France

 

Patrick

 

 

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Patrick,

thank you for kind words and encouragement! Project is going ahead a little slowly due to my decision of adding extra details as much as I can.

I moved to a more 'smooth' O-2A, 67-21331 now in a museum and showed in Caracal sheet 48084 (excellent).

Unfortunately, after a long check on BAT21 movie, the O-2A is fictional for sure, with undefined civil registrations on the fin and details present just on civil C337 but I'll get a little tribute to the movie through the CMK pilot very close to Danny Glover face and flight suit.

More to follow...

Cheers, Alex

Rome

 

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Alex thanks so much for posting your WIP. I have my O-2 under construction using the old Hawk kit and put it away as I was having trouble finding info on the radios in the back. I knew they would have some but could not find any pics. I did see a museum example in the US but ws not able to get close enough to see the set up. I will use yours to go forward. Great work on your detail.

 

I have the Draw Decal too but I think I will use the set from Caracal as that black scheme always fascinated me.

 

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Mr. skyhawk174,

thank you too!

Before starting the kit I spent a couple of months to collect pictures from the web. I tell you the truth, you can find some articles about O-2A in magizines (e.g. FSM March 2016, fancy interiors) and forums (e.g. Britmodeller) but the real craft is showed in my model.

Send me a private message here and I'll glad to send you a lot of documentation!

 

Happy modelling and get Caracal sheet for a real Cessna 'on the field'!

 

Alex

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  • 1 year later...
5 hours ago, SinisterVampire319 said:

If this will help. Here are a few photos I took of Don't Shoot at the local airshow a few years ago.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/7288196@N03/albums/72157691432730065

Excellent walk around pics, nit pick though that's not the DON'T SHOOT warbird, but it does have similar artistic markings.

 

Didn't seem like it's been that long on this thread but time flies. Plug now that Roden has released their kit, I've finished the decals I had mentioned earlier for legit period markings. www.aoadecals.com/32025

 

 

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Welcome back to Oscar Deuce!

 

This is my result, hope you like it! It took 6 consecutive gold medals in 2017 Italian challenge ;)

 

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P.S. I'm on short final with 1/48 detailed Bird Dog and AOA decals for s/n 57-6273

 

Cheers, Alex

Edited by Aerodata.it
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On 1/2/2018 at 5:07 AM, ziggyfoos said:

Excellent walk around pics, nit pick though that's not the DON'T SHOOT warbird, but it does have similar artistic markings.

 

Didn't seem like it's been that long on this thread but time flies. Plug now that Roden has released their kit, I've finished the decals I had mentioned earlier for legit period markings. www.aoadecals.com/32025

 

 

Interesting there is another floating around. Thanks for the info.
Love your O-1 sheet btw.

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