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Taking the Plunge: Kitty Hawk P-39 Airacobra WIP


quang

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... And then there is the question of how a Soviet female pilot would use the relief tube :) ...

Love the cockpit !

Hubert

I suspect the female pilot would have to hold it a little closer Hubert...........;)

 

Cheers,

Wolf

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The subject may sound trivial but it's not when one realises that most of the ferry flights – from the point of manufacture to locations where they were shipped overseas – were done by women pilots.

P-39%20WASP%20.jpg

 

To close the matter on relief tubes, here's the one found in Baranovski's salvaged P-39 (next to the control stick)

p39%20lake%20cockpit.jpg

 

Cheers,

Q

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A question for all P-39 modellers if I may.....    On the Kittyhawk kit there is a fairing on the bottom fuselage just behind the wing.   It's the attachment point for the radio direction finding loop antenna.    I cannot find any photos of this fairing on US operated Airacobras.     Good photos of the ventral surfaces are scarce, but even good profile shots from a slightly below angle do not show this fairing.  I'm guessing that this fairing would not be on US Pacific Theater P-39's that do not have the RDF loop.    I'm 'thiiiissss' close to shaving the fairing off of my model.    Can anyone either confirm my hypothesis or warn me off of the surgery.    Thanks.

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Hi Tom,

For all I know, only P-39's in Soviet service had the RDF loop. But I may be wrong. Hopefully Cobra experts will chime in and come to your rescue.

 

Sincerely,

Quang

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A quick update on my status  :innocent:

The cockpit is nearly done. Still some shading and highlighting left to do and I can go to the next step: wheel wells!

Below is a photo of the IP in situ. I fell obliged to add the two dampening pads as per Martin's photo of the cockpit. :rolleyes:   

 

Please excuse the fuzziness and the washed out colours on the photo. It's a quick, hand-held shot under my work lamp light.

 

Cockpit%20painted.jpg

 

I used water-based Gunze Mr Hobby over Vallejo black primer for the main airbrush work.  Details, shadows and hightlights were hand-brushed with Vallejo and Prince August acrylics.

 

Until next time,

Cheers,

Quang

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I think your cockpit looks quite nice and the photography is good. I'm shopping round for a new camera myself, but not aggressively. I'm sure once the rest of the fuselage is wrapped up around that with all the other stuff thrown in, it will look great.

 

david

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Thank you for your kind words, David.

 

The radio apparatus was often removed on VVS Cobras so I sanded the upper decking behind the cockpit bare and added some structure from plastic strips. Note the silent blocks bushes on which the original radio transmitter was mounted.

 

Decking1_1.jpg

 

Decking2_1.jpg

 

Thank you for looking.

 

Sincerely,

Quang

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  • 3 weeks later...

Dear comrades,

 

I'm back from the Eastern front with some news.

 

The seat is painted and weathered. Shoulder straps courtesy of Fine Molds Models. Lap belts are masking tape with Eduard photo-etched buckles.

Weathered%20seat1.jpg

 

Weathered%20seat2.jpg

 

Kitty Hawk provides us with 2 different gunsights: N2 and N3. The N2 is passable while the N3 is downright psychedelic! Of course, it's the N3 that I needed so I built it from scratch.

IP%20wgunsight.jpg

 

Weathered%20IP1.jpg

 

I also corrected the dorsal air intake which is undersized and of the wrong shape. Still have to add the splitter plate.

Air%20intake2.jpg

 

Modified%20air%20intake.jpg

 

Next episode: the wheel wells

 

See you then

 

Cheers,

Quang

Edited by quang
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