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P-39 Snooks 2nd


CANicoll

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Chris, I had a couple of thoughts while reviewing your thread, and working on the wings of my own build. Firstly, remember that "Snooks 2nd" only had those markings on the starboard side of the aircraft, and not on both sides as shown in the kit's painting guide. This was the major determining factor in my decision to open up the port side, as I wanted to be able to show off those markings fully. Otherwise, I would have preferred to do it the other way around.

 

Secondly, as a P-39Q, the only wing armament it would have carried is the underwing gun pods; it didn't carry the internal wing-mounted machine guns. This has pushed me into closing up the wing panels, too, as the main detail they appear to be exposing is for the deleted .30 cal. wing guns. I better go open up the mounting holes in the wings for those gun pods!

 

Kev

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Chris, I had a couple of thoughts while reviewing your thread, and working on the wings of my own build. Firstly, remember that "Snooks 2nd" only had those markings on the starboard side of the aircraft, and not on both sides as shown in the kit's painting guide. This was the major determining factor in my decision to open up the port side, as I wanted to be able to show off those markings fully. Otherwise, I would have preferred to do it the other way around.

 

Secondly, as a P-39Q, the only wing armament it would have carried is the underwing gun pods; it didn't carry the internal wing-mounted machine guns. This has pushed me into closing up the wing panels, too, as the main detail they appear to be exposing is for the deleted .30 cal. wing guns. I better go open up the mounting holes in the wings for those gun pods!

 

Kev

 

You know that is right, markings only on the right side, not the left. Hmm.. Crap.  I'll see if I can flip my strategy and open the left and close the right - thanks for the reminder!

 

I almost forgot to open the mounting holes as well, but I think there are something like five mounting holes for the gun pods.  I cut off all except the ones at each end (cut off all the ones in the middle that is) and only opened up those two holes.  I just didn't trust that all five would match up to the gun pod, plus, you don't really need FIVE mounting holes for a straight-forward part. 

 

I did close up the dive brake under the wing (just didn't appear to be worth opening it up and having to do that detail work).  

 

Going to head down to the basement this afternoon and do more work, but its lovely outside so may get out for a bit of sun.  More later!

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Am working on the nose panels and definitely I think they are going to bow out at the top.  I THINK I can anchor them with CA, but I have no idea how the overall fit is going to go.  I'm waiting on the back part of the lower two nose panels to dry as closing the nose part of these panels puts a bit of stress on the back join.

 

The top two panels seem to have a marginally good fit on the dry fit - hoping that improves when I get the bottom two panels anchored.   I think the front is going to look like it has a big bulge in it.  We will see.

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Non-picture update as I'm beyond frustrated with this kit.  

 

The ENTIRE front end was too high including the cannon magazine, the square units in front AND the front bulkhead, to allow the top pieces to join with the bottom nose pieces.  So I just cut all of that out, leaving the machine guns basically floating.  And now the nose may have too much of a droop to allow the top nose pieces to connect with the fuselage near the windscreen.  

 

So rather than do anything REALLY drastic, I put it away for the evening and will maybe look at it tomorrow to figure something out.  I may just assemble the entire nose, closed up (after all that work and time!!!) and then look to see what the gap looks like.

 

Never had a kit fight me like this before, at nearly every step of the way.  Oh well.  First world problems huh?

 

Cheers guys!!

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Chris,

 

This kit has been a bit of a pill.  It's a prime example of why I usually do not like kits that have everything opened up: it's a pain in the backside to get everything to fly in formation.  

 

Keep at it.  Let the kit rest a day or two, work on something that fits nice and easy, and tackle this beast when recharged.  That's why I dabbled in the cockpit of mine so much.  I dreaded getting those nose panels assembled.

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Ok, contrary to my earlier statement, there MAY be some fit problems that aggressive sanding won't solve.  :mental:

 

Got the nose panels on and and this is what I'm looking at:

 

DSC_0068_zpswllghcuz.jpg

 

DSC_0067_zpsjfjhrme9.jpg

 

and then the top view.  Notice the slight twist to the nose, which I didn't notice until I looked at this picture.

 

DSC_0066_zpsaei9cvqt.jpg

 

So this should be fun.  I'm letting the glue on the panels set up nice and solid as I think this will take a bit of... encouragement to get into place.

 

One misalignment I also didn't notice until putting these nose pieces together is this:

 

DSC_0065_zpspemzzn2r.jpg

 

So maybe this is the root of my front-end problems.  If the panels were to sit higher, they'd join the fuselage much better and maybe have the clearance to have fit the cannon magazine and the other bits up front.  BUT, in order to fit these panels higher, then the bottom has to be up higher as well and I can't figure out why its sitting so low.  I was very careful to make sure everything underneath was buttoned up tight.  So who knows.  :frantic:

 

Going to let the glue dry so don't know if I'm going to try this tonight or tomorrow/Sunday.   Stay tuned, the fun never ends!

 

:help:

 

Chris

Edited by CANicoll
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I'm getting the impression from this and the other builds going on that perhaps it is best to build this plane all buttoned up unless one is determined to have some panels open? It certainly seems that would add stability to the front if I'm understanding the problem.

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I'm getting the impression from this and the other builds going on that perhaps it is best to build this plane all buttoned up unless one is determined to have some panels open? It certainly seems that would add stability to the front if I'm understanding the problem.

 

I definitely think so, at least up front in the nose, which is a shame since there is so much interesting stuff there.  Just amazed at how each build runs into different fit issues.  Oh well.  Its a great subject, just wish KH put more time and effort into the engineering of the kit. 

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Wow, Chris - that's nasty! It looks like there's no way you can win with the nose on this kit if you include the internal detail. Mine's starting to come together now, but will probably look too fat in end. Good luck with yours mate. I've got my fingers crossed for you!

 

Kev

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