"Best" 1/32 P-39 ?

[Pauldoe]

Nice, Stefan! 

Cheers,

P

[Phantom2]

33 minutes ago, Pauldoe said:

Nice, Stefan! 

Cheers,

P

 

Thanks, Paul! 

[Rowen]

As a sort of side note to the Special Hobby 39D.....  (sorry if this is sort of off topic but some of you might find it interesting!)

 

I built this kit several years ago, right after it came out. I built the model as "Nips Nemesis II" as stationed in New Guinea in 1943. The finished model was sitting on my modeling desk one evening and my father happened to walk past as I was working on something else. He lived with my wife and I and at the time was 89 years old. He saw the 39 sitting there on my desk and said "That's Doc McGhee's plane!"

 

I was sort of surprised as I have been building models since I was a kid. My father saw tons of them over the years but was never much interested in modeling. I asked him how he knew that plane? Turns out he was stationed with Doc (my dad was a medic in the 5th AAF) in New Guinea and told me how they used to drink whiskey (when they could get it) and play poker under the airplane in the shade on hot days of little action to pass the time. Dad always commented on how small the P-39 was compared to the other planes he was always around (namely P-38's and B-25's).

 

Strangely enough my father was at the battle of Leyte Gulf and his medic jeep was hit by a mortar shell. Dad was seriously injured and spent several months recuperating. In June of 1945, he refused transfer back home and went to serve on Okinawa for the remainder of the war.

 

A couple of years after the Special Hobby P-39 was released, we modelers were treated with the excellent release of HK Models B-25J. The B-25, like the P-39, was one of my favorite planes so I had to build one! I wanted to do something different and came across the [then] newly released decals from Kits-World and decided to do the B-25J "The Ink Squirts".  I did some photos of this model and posted them on here:

 

Again, Deja-Vu! One evening at the modeling desk, dad walks past and sees the completed B-25: "Oh! Yeah! I know that one well! Used to fly on it for quick run supply missions!" Apparently, the B-25s were not always used for bombing/attack runs against the Japanese.

 

Interesting second side note: The Ink Squirts B-25 flew a mission on the final day of the war.

 

It's cool having a sort of personal connection to the models.....

 

-Ro

 

[dennismcc]

I built the SH kit way back in 2009 and found it to be fine apart from the fiddley undercarriage (nose mainly) and the wing air intakes otherwise it was a good build.

Here's the build thread https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/26399-special-hobby-p-39d-132-scale/

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Dave Williams]

18 hours ago, Darren Howie said:

Had both SH and Kittyhawk and sold Special Hobby.

KH anyday over the SH thing...

 

 

Seems to be contrary to all of the other opinions in this thread.  Curious for the basis for your preference?

[Darren Howie]

5 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

 

Seems to be contrary to all of the other opinions in this thread.  Curious for the basis for your preference?

 

The lack of quality molding in the SH kit combined with very rough resin parts is just the start.

The molding quality is far superior in the KH.

The international rule of convenience ie not bashing resin into a crude fuselage compared to a 21st century tooled kit.

Both kits have errors the SH error to my eye is far more obvious than the KH one.

Ill take the more complex build over the difference in quality any day.

Kevins review sums it up nicely.

In short i cant think of one redeeming feature of the SH kit compared to an all in the box, no resin injected kit.

When you lay the parts out on the bench and compare them its to me not even a close race.

Sorry to the SH kit lovers just my opinion...

 

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Darren Howie

[GSNeil]

I can't speak to the KH kit, but the SH is my current build. You might want to add PE/aftermarket to the cockpit - I find some of the oob pieces to be pretty rough. Not far enough along to comment on fit but I'm attempting to build it closed up/gear up mounted on a stand...we'll see how that goes...

 

Oh - PS - issue #51 of Model Airplane International has a build article on the SH - kind of using it as a guide...

Edited July 27, 2018 by GSNeil

[Pauldoe]

Thanks Neil for the link. I went ahead and ordered the SH kit - we'll see!

[Phantom2]

From what I can recall, fit was pretty good all over, but it´s almost 10 years since I built her.

Only issue I can remember is that it took a whole lot of weight in the nose, It´s a really tail-heavy aircraft, and the stance is tail-low!

 

I have two more in the stash....

 

Linky to my build-tread on a Swedish forum, but you can use google-translate or just take a look at the pics;

 

http://ipmsgoteborg.clubdiscussion.net/t939-p-39d-airacobra-special-hobby-1-32

 

Good Luck with your build!

 

Cheers

 

Stefan 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Phantom2

[GSNeil]

Yep - I definitely recommend looking at Phantom2's pics - good shots of what the stock interior looks like...