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P-39 Airacobra, by Kitty Hawk


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Hi Dany Boy,

 

Most of those profiles above are ex RAF Airacobra Mk 1's or P-400's.  They're still in standard RAF camouflage of green/dark sea grey/light sea grey which became standard from about August 1941.  I must hunt down a copy of that Airacobra Aces of WW2 as I have very little info on the P-39.  I've also found a book dedicated solely to Russian front Airacobras and Kingcobras, so I might get that.  I will be building mine Olive Drab/Neutral Grey USAAF colours as that was the standard colour scheme representative of VVS Airacobras, and the kit provides two options, one of which appears in the first profile you've provided with the Yak 9.  But who knows?  I might get another kit if this one turns out well.  Very much enjoying this build at the moment.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

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Update time, except that this update is a "take 2", as the hour I spent writing one last night got lost when I tried to post it.

 

More work has been done on the instrument panel, none on the engine thanks to broken fine drill bits (of which new ones are in the mail), a bit more work on the fuselage halves, partial wing assembly, and at long last, some painting.

 

I'll begin with the further enhancements to the instrument panel, and in particular the Eduard photo etch I'm adding.  This includes switches for the IP, which I eventually abandoned after much swearing and cursing.  I have neither the talent, the patience nor the eyes for details that small.  You'll see what I mean in these pics, starting with the instruction leaflet, which isn't drawn to scale :hmmm:.

 

No9Rw9.jpg

 

And these are the actual switches, which the pencil points at.

 

z953o6.jpg

 

In the end, I reamed out the holes with a 0.3mm drill bit and used wire of that size glued in place, then trimmed.  You can barely see it, but here it is at present.

 

y9mU9P.jpg

 

There's not a lot of work left to do on this, but I won't do any more for fear of knocking off the parts before gluing it in place.  Once I'm ready to attach the assembly, I'll finish it off then.

 

Next I started work on the cockpit doors.  As with my Typhoon build, I've made hinges for them.  This will simplify masking, keep dust out of the cockpit, and reduce the chances of them being knocked off accidentally if I were to glue them in place.  Dusting models can be a precarious business :rolleyes:.  I started with a length of 1.0mm brass tube and inserted a length of 0.45 brass rod then bent the rod into D hinges at each end.  Gluing this in place only gunked up the hinge so after soaking it in some acetone, I mounted the hinge in U stock then glued that into the model.  Grooves were filed into the doors after removing all the detail in the plastic, as this would be replaced with Eduard etch pieces.  The etch was "adjusted" to allow for the D hinge then some percussive perssuassion to fix my adjustments.  Lastly, I glued the etch to the inner door and quickly pushed this into place.  Here's the results.

 

aTwpyu.jpg

 

In the next pic, you can also see the hole drilled for the crank handle for the inertia starter.

 

EEBwc0.jpg

 

iflIcF.jpg

 

This is reasonably unobtrussive, and hasn't interferred with the mounting of other parts yet to go in to each cockpit half.

 

At long last, I was able to do some painting.  I like to do as much airbrushing as I can in one go, as cleaning the airbrush usually takes longer than the actual painting.  The wheel wells for the undercarriage were assembled, and the wings assembled.  This gave me the opportunity to check the fit of each wing part to the fuselage before they're joined to the fuselage as a whole, and make any adistments.  I've left out the 30cal wing guns as P-39Q's didn't have them.  They could be fitted with an externally mounted 50cal machine gun, but most of the pictures I've seen of VVS Airacobras show them without.

 

jdWwQI.jpg

 

Lastly, the cockpit floor has been completed and I've begun weathering.  I painted the floor in rattle can aluminium, them airbrushed everything you see above, and more still on the sprues.  When I went to scratch the floor, paint peeled off.  I tried to fix this with a silver pen I have, but as you can see it looks naff.  It's since been fixed with drybrushing of green and silver  which looks a lot better.

 

asi3xe.jpg

 

Next up is to start work on the seat belts which always make me feel :BANGHEAD2:, but they're a must in models of this size.  I'll then install the seat, joystick, finish and install the instrument panel and do more work on the engine, then start on the guns up front.  This plane packs a lot into the fuselage for a single engine fighter and I'm going very carefully in light of the experience here of others.  So far, I have to say this is a well engineered kit, but the reality is that I've got a long way to go before I can close up the fuselage.  One thing I have found is that each part needs very careful cleaning as you remove it from the sprue, then check the fit before gluing, including checking the fit as a whole in each half of the fuselage.  Also, the plastic is soft, so if you file any bits, make sure that you remove any "fur" around the edges before test fitting.

 

That's it for the moment.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

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Thanks Larry.  BTW, that's a terrific Tempest build, and the addition of the engine and your work on that is great.

 

I saw Quang's build, but as presently on the forum, it doesn't mention the actual length.  Three sixteenths does sound familiar, as I remember all the discussion about this when the kit was released.  I'm still humming and harring about chopping my kit up, so we'll see as I progress.

 

At the moment, the build is more or less stalled as I'm waiting on some supplies sent from Melbourne on 11th Feb and still not arrived.  This order includes some fine drill bits needed as I broke mine over two evenings and I can't finish the engine, instrument panel and cockpit sides without them.  Tomorrow, please, postal pixies?? 

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

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On 2/24/2020 at 7:35 AM, LSP_Kevin said:

FWIW Michael, I think the kit looks fine without modifying the fuselage length:

 

PjhQoU.jpg

 

Mind you, I'm not saying it's correct or accurate, only that I don't think it looks obviously problematic to me.

 

Kev

 

I agree, Kev.  It just bugs me a little knowing that the length is incorrect.  I have to wonder how this happened in an otherwise excellent kit.  Perhaps someone needs new batteries in their calculator :lol:.  That said, I'm going to leave the length issue alone now as I think I've gone too far.  Chopping the fuselage now could do too much damage to the work I've already done.  If I ever have another go at this kit, and I have a second one floating around in whatever it is that passes for my mind, I'll definitely lengthen it before I do anything on the build itself.  I think that would be the way to go.

 

So on Wednesday I finally got my package couriered over from Melbourne by a company who use the word "fast" in their title.  Someone should tell them this name is delusional as it took 15 days to cross the country.  I could have driven there and back faster, even though Melbourne is a 6 day drive for me.  At least I'm happy with the contents - drill bits, wire and a couple of tools that have already proved useful.  So I was able to finish off the instrument panel, but I had been tinkering away with other work that didn't require the above bits.  I kept going on the cockpit floor with the gun assembly and compressed air bottles.

 

1HxnuO.jpg

1HxnuO.jpg

 

I had some difficulty with the bottles due to the thick yellow paint, but a little scraping and repainting once fitted sorted that.  Then the cannon went in as did the completed seat.  When I started this build, you may recall I had a set of HGW seatbelts to go in.  These are now in the bin, along with the torn out lengths of my hair.  I've seen videos on how to do them, so I duly scrunched them all up, and finished up with a scrunched up mess that lay about as straight as a politicians promise.  I did use the buckles from that kit, along with KH supplied belts, and I'm happy with the results.  Sorry, Mr HGW, but never again for this little black duck, which is a pity as I've seen some great results from other's builds.

 

04GNYQ.jpg

04GNYQ.jpg

PNz58M.jpg

PNz58M.jpg

 

Given the issues I've seen other have with this kit, I'm checking the fit of everything before assembly and after, in the fuselage halves.  So far, so good.

 

HPV366.jpg

HPV366.jpg

IG1MyA.jpg

IG1MyA.jpg

 

Once my drill bits arrived, I was able to finalise the instrument panel.  I like to drill out a locating hole for all the little switches and levers that come in the Eduard kit, rather than a simple glued butt joint.  Here's the IP before assembly.  Wiring to the instruments has been added, as later pictures will show.

 

NqDPOU.jpg

NqDPOU.jpg

 

Once I had that finished, I could glue it into place and add the 0.5in machine guns and the magazine.  Incidentally, with all the nose detail, I added lead weight inside every component that it would fit into.  Here's the floor, still with a little work to do.  You can also make out a little dirt added to the cockpit floor, courtesy of some light brown wash.

 

BpfxEv.jpg

BpfxEv.jpg

ivMxWL.jpg

ivMxWL.jpg

 

The engine can be seen, out of focus, and here it is installed, with a little extra detail.

 

684iYr.jpg

684iYr.jpg

 

I've been working on this sporadically since the start of this build, and it still needs to have the top spark plug lead trunking added, but I won't be adding the individual leads as they won't be seen.  The side leads will, and I made my own as the kit pieces were inadequate.  I used 1.0mm plastic rod stock, 0.3mm wire, wine bottle lead and a short length of guitar string to cover the joint between rod and string.  It helps to have a son who makes and plays guitar :D.  The grey tube provided in the kit that goes nowhere is in fact part of the engine cooling system, and the right hand kink in the kit part has been removed.  This part actually connects to a pipe that goes down to the radiator below, and there's a return line on the left side only that comes back up.  On the real plane, these go into the bulkhead between cockpit and engine, but don't come out in the cockpit, so the bulkhead is clearly double skinned.  As I had already put the bulkhead in place before air brushing, I couldn't replicate that double skinning, so this is the result.  Another "next time" moment.  This plumbing detail is all from research, both drawings and videos.  The exhausts were painted in steel, then weathered with some flat black and rust, dry brushed on.

 

From this point on, I'll be finishing off the canon, cockpit sides and a little tidy up, before putting the fuselage together.  More soon, I hope.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited by Dpgsbody55
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Update time again, and at last, the fuselage is together.  Here's the final steps to making that happen.

 

The last bit of this assembly that needed finishing was the cannon feed.  I glued in the back part of the feed first, let that set, then added the bullets and front part of the feed.  Of course, in  bending the bullets to fit, they broke, but I was able to repair that quickly enough.

 

BDZzcC.jpg

 

Next up was to complete the cockpit sides.  Here's the right side.

 

mvpD98.jpg

 

And what it looks like with the floor added.

 

gBGobB.jpg

 

This is the left side.  The throttle quadrant is Eduard photo etch, but it's mounted to a scratch built plastic backing, as the kit part is for the 1/48 scale version.  I glued 3 pieces of card together then filed it to shape, then built a mount on the back so that it would attach securely to the door post.

 

iHg5zv.jpg

 

And again with the floor in place.

 

S06qbG.jpg

 

I did some more test fitting with the guns now complete, and found that the top of the fuselage was rocking, so I hollowed out the insides.  I think the cannon feed is a tad too tall.  I also filed a little material off the green machine gun magazine as it's a fraction too wide on the right side, and fractionally over hangs the cockpit floor.

 

SXqQow.jpg

 

And at last, the fuselage is together.  The halves need to be very tightly bound together as the fuselage won't meet below the windscreen, though filing that magazine mentioned above helps.  In every other respect, it's gone together well.

 

X6b9zM.jpg

 

The propeller backing plate is also mounted (you'll note my reminder on the door :rolleyes:).  The nosewheel leg is left out at this point, as I'm sure I'll break it at some stage during the construction.  As the cannon passes through the mount , I've "adjusted" it so that it will fit later, and beefed up the mount in the wheel well a little.  Alas I've come across a major fitment issue which I hadn't thought of, but more of that in the next installment. 

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

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I agree, Gazzas.  It's a very sleek design and very clean too.  Interesting that it was about 20mph faster than the P-40, with the same engine and about the same weight.

 

I think I mentioned previously that I had put the wings together, so I was able to quickly add these.  I found the joint needed a little work around the mating surfaces, but the joint needs very little filler, as the picture shows.  I glued one wing into place and set the dihedral carefully, then let this dry before doing the same with the other wing.  If you get both top and bottom wing joints tight, you'll get the right dihedral.  The tail planes are one piece, so they went on after the wings had set and were taped into place.  Then the top of the gun compartment went on, and was taped into place using the gun covers to get the piece properly centred.

 

sMyyFv.jpg

 

Next up, I started to add the canopy, but ran into the same issue as Kevin with his build.  I my case, the issue is caused by the instrument panel fowling the canopy interior.

 

6rrW9j.jpg

 

I found that the canopy interior has a raised line around the base of the windscreen, so this was scraped away, after masking the insides so as not to damage the clear windows.

 

l27XWd.jpg

 

As not shown in the picture above, my now opaque scrapings won't be seen once the masking is removed.  I hope :whistle:.  This improved things a bit, but the main culprit is the IP, which is mounted too far forward and is too thick.  Chamferring the top creates some more room to bring the canopy closer, but still no enough. 

 

IfQNaj.jpg

 

The last mod was to insert a push rod to push the IP back about 1mm.  Once dry, this mod was painted flat black too, but I don't think it will be seen when I remove the masking.

 

ymPfD6.jpg

 

Success :lol:.  It still needed only a little pressure to make it sit properly and was held in place with tape wrapped around the forward fuselage.  With a little clean up, it should look OK.  This was an issue that I didn't check for when I was building up the cockpit.  I made sure to mount the IP assembly into place square to the floor, but the IP once assembled is very thick, with a front piece and a back piece glued together, with the rudder pedals trapped in between.  I think this is only part of the cause, however, and perhaps the IP needs to be mounted about 1mm further back in the cockpit.  I think it won't fowl any other parts if you do that, such as the side detail, but you'd need to check carefully.  One other criticism is that this kit offers a number of optional parts, but doesn't give any clue as to which option is for which variant.  I'm not overly happy with the gunsight and this is one of the optional parts, so I chose the option that I thought would not fowl the windscreen.  I'll bet I chose the wrong one!! :hmmm:

 

UmaPsz.jpg

 

So here is what it looks like now.  Again, you can see very little filler is needed on the wing joint, but some will be needed on the fuselage joint.  I've used Mr Surfacer 500 on the tail joints, but this still needs filing  back.  Overall, the model needs cleaning up before paint, and there are still some parts to be added before I can do that.  As I've not really followed the instructions to the letter on this, I'm checking them carefully to make sure I don't forget any bits.  The radiator is also missing, and I will have to remove all trace of the 30 cal wing guns.  I also will not be adding the gun pods (ditto the bomb and rack) as very few Russian P-39Q's had them.  The Russians thought the plane had enough guns with the cannon and the two 50 cal fuselage guns, and the 30 cal guns were not worth the weight of carrying them around.  Perhaps this also made the plane more nimble with all that weight removed from the outer wings.  Certainly the Luftwaffe pilots weren't keen to go near them.

 

Si5d9V.jpg

 

Lastly, here's a view into the cockpit.  It's not a great shot, having taken it with my phone, but you get the idea.

 

x9qR5e.jpg

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

Edited by Dpgsbody55
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Coming along nicely.  I'm also of the opinion that the model looks fine without modifying the length, and I didn't bother when I did mine.

 

What I did do was remove the bottom of the oxygen bottles.  This gives you a bit more room to add some nose weight.  I'm using the adhesive stuff RC modellers use for ballast.

 

IMG-4839.jpg

 

IMG-4842.jpg

 

 

 

I found about 15g and a little extra for luck proved sufficient, although you may need to file the odd corner off to fit the nose panels.

Edited by MikeC
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