quang

I added some wiring here and there and on the back of the IP Oxygen regulator with hose from guitar string I spruced up (reinforcement strips) the RH side of the seat since it will be in full view with the right door open. LH side left untouched. Now off to the paint shop. Until later, Quang

Aaah nice! Just what I needed Thank you for the heads-up, comrade komissar!

Hey madcop, Here's the link: http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/lendlease/p-39/p-39.html

I know about Misios66's work. Thorough research, very informative stuff. I check it regularly. Martin, you do read cyrillic, don't you?

Haha! Thank you Martin but these are the very same photos I used to correct mine!! On other pics, the intake appears flatter on its top. Optical illusion? Depends on variant? As for the paint scheme, it would be a Russian of course. I like to the idea of telling the history of a particular plane by the different paints it wore. I haven't decided which one yet but certainly not one of the well-known aces. May be a run-of-the-mill machine with a twist

I'm still busy with that pesky dorsal air intake. As soon as I think I got it right, a new photograph comes up with something different. Is it possible that there were several types of intake? Does anyone (Martin?) have a photograph with a plan view (from above) of that @ intake ? Thank you for your help, Cheers Quang

That's a great compliment coming from an accomplished modeller like yourself. Thank you Alan. Cheers Quang

@Marus: thank you for the kind words. There are still the seat belts and some wiring to add, then off to the paint shop. @madcop: You're right. I like doing cockpits and interiors. Some say it's the main reason I build model planes. Others say I stop at that !

Now that most of the foundation work is done, I'm turning my attention to the cockpit. KHM gives us the bare essential and some more. The basic componants (seat, instrument panel, control stick, …) are er… basic but they're accurate size-wise and their respective location spot on. What we have is a very sound base for some super-detailing work. Let's start with the seat. The edges are thinned up and a tiny amount of Milliput applied all around to simulate a rolled metal effect. New rails from plastic rod. The instrument panel. The lay-out of the instruments differs from variant to variant but I won't be too touchy about it. More important is the central console with its distinct 30° slope. I used the stock IP as a base for Eduard photoetched instruments. The console was scratch-built with plasticard. The cockpit floor of the P-39 was a particularly cluttered affair. Boxes and controls were added with scratch-built items and others from modified Eduard etched parts. Of note is the all-important relief tube from Milliput, a nod to the old Monogram kits. Complete cockpit lay-out. I reworked the control stick cover with Milliput. Cockpit in situ in the LH fuselage half. I intend to keep the left door closed like it was in practice. Brass lining on door comes from Eduard. A view from the right. Brass parts from Eduard (the map case is particularly nice). I removed the armor plate behind the seat and added a harness attachment bar from stretched sprue. That's all for today, folks. Thank you for watching. Cheers, Quang

It's a pity that you chose to portray Filatov's personal plane. At the time Filatov was CO of 1st Squadron, 30 GIAP and a Hero of the Soviet Union. It's unlikely that his plane was left in such a condition. Or else his ground crew would be digging potatoes in some gulag in Siberia

This is HEAVY weathering allright but very nicely done and completely convincing when compared with photographs of Ivan Baranovsky's P-39 salvaged in 2004.

Hi William, I'm disappointed to learn that that plaid is a decal. After all the work you lavished on the models, you could at least hand-paint a tartan on that dress!

Excellent in every respect. The plane, the car, the figures. Even the collie And I won't mention the square pattern on the skirt !

Welcome Marco! That must be the Revell kit. Man, that was a long, time ago….

Haha I'm trying to catch up with you myself. Now turning my attention to that damn air intake!

Correcting the tail. A sheet of celluloid is placed on the reference photo and the correct contour cut out. The resulting shape is transferred to a sheet of 0.10" plasticard. Plastic card with the correct profile The correct profile is glued on the right fuselage half. Milliput is applied and sanded. It may be just a matter of half a millimeter but the result is noticeable and well worth it. [/u

Hi David, The gun panel joint is perfectible. I admit I was a little heavy-handed. In fact all the removable panels fit admirably but they need a very light touch and a thin plastic cement like MEK applied with a fine brush.

Thank you Martin. It's your build that convinced me to jump into the fray. Up to now, my main worries were the fuselage length and the wheels. But no doubt there's more Your insight is very welcome of course.

Hi Steve, That would mean I'll have to move the radio hatch somewhat. I have the rudder and the supercharger intake to deal with first.

Hi Madcop, thank you for your suggestion but according to my 'reference' photo, the extension must be located just behind the spinner. Furthermore, putting the plug in front of the windscreen would only move the nose gear forward .

The sanded area is kept small to preserve a maximum of detail. Behind the scene. Apart from some epoxy putty used to reinforce the plug, the original plastic is left untouched.

There's a small step indeed to be dealt with, but nothing horrific as you can see; Before sanding A thin coat of acrylic paint is applied to the plug area. First rough sanding with half-round files. Thin layer of Milliput added; Fine sanding with Micromesh followed with thin coat of acrylic primer.

Aah! Don't tell me, old school modelling!

With the clear parts on. Again, a very good fit.

Thank you all for your comments. I always thought of the P-39 as a pudgy little fellow, well it's NOT. Other than extending the fuselage, my biggest concern is to restore the compound curves with a minimum of puttying and sanding. I think that the staggered cut method is one way to do it. I dry-fit the the fuselage halves together with the internal chassis. Everything fits perfectly as per the book. And most important, the fuselage is not distorted, the vertical tail is straight and true. So far so good.