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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

KH P-39 Airacobra

Peterpools
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Peterpools

Peterpools

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P-39 Q/N Airacobra

Kitty Hawk

Yikes, a Kitty Hawk kit … With the F4J just about ready for priming, I wanted to start a 32nd scale kit, so I could bounce back and forth between the two, keeping the juices flowing. I decided to try my hand at the HB P-39 Airacobra and yes, I’ve read a boat load of reviews and builds, followed hopefully all of John B’s builds and thought I knew the awaiting pitfalls I would have to be dealt with: how wrong I was.  

After reviewing the instructions, doing more research on the kit, the aircraft and paint colors, (I don’t have much faith in Kitty Hawks color call outs), I started on the engine, step number one in the instructions. How weird as that is where the ZM He219 also starts construction and both not following the standard practice of beginning construction with the front office.

Step One: The Allison 1710-85 V12

 

I wasn’t that surprised that even on the opening round, I found mistakes in the instructions: part numbers, part location and even part numbers called out in the instructions I couldn’t find on the fret. Right from the start, I found John B assessment of the kit to be right on the money: a tough kit to build with a high cuss factor!

More work needs to be done on the engine, concentrating on what will be seen through the access panels on the finished model.

HB’s choice of block color of Air Superiority Blue didn’t look right and I decided on Mr Color 72 Intermediate Blue applied over MRP Light Gray Primer looked a bit closer to my refernece photos. The intake manifolds are called out as silver and the photos I have been using show them to be the block color, so I brush painted them with Mr Color 72 Blue

The exhausts are made up of 24 stubby and flash ridden parts, labelled incorrectly(?) and I decided to replace them with a resin set from Eduard.  I’ll leave the engine sitting for the time being until the Eduard exhaust set arrives.

The Front Office

 

I purchased with the kit Eduard’s Interior PE and canopy mask sets and thought I would now give it a whirl. I wasn’t going to go overboard and planned on only using the PE set to add some additional details to the front office.

Step one, remove all the molded-on details on both Car Doors – no canopy for the P-39, added the PE and what a difference it’s made.  Lots of folding and making PE boxes which is a ton of fun and loads of time to get to this point.

I thought why not take the plunge and build the PE seat included with the Eduard Interior Set. The seat is getting close to being finished and a first for me. Since I don’t have a soldering Iron CCA was used to assemble the seat and I’m sure isn’t as strong as solder but you have to go with what you have.  I have the Eduard Fabric Seat belt Set on order and thought it would be a better way to go then the PE seatbelts included with the kit.

Looking a bit ahead (for me, unheard of) the cockpit color roadblock/question raised its head: what color is the interior? The instructions basically call out for Bronze Green chromate/Dull Dark Green but the color is going to be too dark for my taste, so I dug in and did a some additional research. Using IPMS/Stockholm three-part color reference which includes information from Bert Kinzey and Dana Bell; 

“…   Despite its massive production numbers, this aircraft appears to be relatively poorly documented. Available colour photos show Interior Green and Bronze Green for cockpits; Interior Green, Zinc Chromate Yellow or Aluminium lacquer for wheel wells; nose undercarriage legs painted with Olive Drab and Interior Green; wheel hubs in Interior Green and natural metal. It would seem that the jury is still out for this aircraft.

 

According to Bert Kinzey in his Detail and Scale book on the P-39 the interior colour used by Bell was called just Bell Green. That included the cockpit, the wheel wells, the landing bay doors and the undercarriage struts. There has been a lot of discussion as to what exactly Bell Green was. The suggestions go towards something similar to Medium Green…”

I picked my poison and am going to be using good old MRP Interior Green. This is where I am at right now and my overall plan is to work on the P-39 until it’s ready for priming and then both it and the ZM F4J will share the paint shop.

Thanks for checking in

Peter

 

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DocRob

DocRob

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Nice progress Peter, with all the shiny brass galore. I hope the overall fit of the kit is ok enough, to have fun with the build. The seat should be rigid enough, without soldering, there is no 100kg pilot sitting in, CA should be fine :D. I have a Special Hobby P-39 in stash, which I pulled out of the shelf several times in the last weeks, which could possibly mean...

Cheers Rob

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Peterpools

Peterpools

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Thanks Rob

So far even with the HB  curse of the modeling gods, it's been a lot of enjoyment playing with the kit and the Eduard PE. Sure hope you're right and all pilots will have to weigh in before nestling down in the seat!  There is a small two part bracket you make under the seat out of PE for the seat to sit on and I'm thinking of reinforcing it with some plastic for the long run. Right now I'm just need to remember to take into account the PE floor when fitting the cockpit in place.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

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Peterpools

Peterpools

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Thanks Phil

Yup, I'm starting to accumulate a nice long lists of words for sure.  Just seems the smaller the part, especially PE, the harder it is to figure out how to place it and fit. Of course, that doesn't count my good buddy: the Carpet Monster. In the back of my head, I keep thinking about all the places the PE can mess up the fit due to it's added thickness. Guess we'll find out down the road.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

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Martinnfb

Martinnfb

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I had a thread on LSP, it s basically dead now, but still there are some pictures and useful info left. I should probably get back to it before I loose my eyesight completely :). Peter are you planning to go with Russian or US  marking?

 

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Peterpools

Peterpools

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Jeroen

Much appreciated. Finding with all the PE tougher then I first imagined as I'm finding how the PE adds to the thickness and size of parts and might become a fit issue when gluing up the fuselage. See how it goes.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

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Martinnfb

Martinnfb

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Hi Peter,

despite the bad reputation of USAF cobras, they still have insanely high cool-factor. I am going to finish mine in VVS colours, just as a tribute to the Russian airmen , they loved them and were able to utilized this unorthodox design to the hilt.

(the link is embedded in the letters "LSP" of that post)

 

 

Bell-P-39-Airacobra-in-beautiful-color-courtesy-of-Niagara-Aerospace-Museum-17.jpg

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Bell-P-39-Airacobra-in-beautiful-color-courtesy-of-Niagara-Aerospace-Museum-21.jpg

USAAF-42-18284-Bell-P-39-Airacobra-118TRS-Alan-S-Davis-USA-03.jpg

USAAF-42-18285-Bell-P-39-Airacobra-118TRS-USA-01.jpg

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