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67th Fighter Squadron P-400 at Guadalcanal


ChuckD

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Finally, the Special Hobby 1/32 P-400 is complete!  This kit is pretty rough and is more or less and upscaled version of the Eduard 1/48th scale P-39.  As such, it doesn't fit together all that well, and the details are pretty chunky.  To make matters worse, both the build and the paint processes fought me at pretty much every turn.  This is the second time I started a SH P-39 of some variety... the first attempt yielded me nothing more than a paint mule because the kit fit is so lousy.  In any case, I'm really happy with how it ultimately turned out, though it took ~6 months to get here. I added the Eduard PE seatbelt and interior set and used a set of Montex masks for the goofy-but-historically-accurate shark's mouth.  Is it perfect?  No, but I'm pretty stoked.  :)

 

This is meant to represent an aircraft of the 67th Fighter Squadron as it fought desperately to hold the line against the Japanese on Guadalcanal.  The P-400 is the British export version of the P-39 and featured a 20mm Hispano Suiza cannon in place of the more traditional 37mm refrigerator thrower.  Rejected by the British, they were transferred to the USAAF who dubbed them (no doubt tongue-in-cheek) P-400's because that's supposedly the top speed the aircraft was supposed to be able to reach.  P-39s and P-400s were handled roughly by the Japanese in the Guadalcanal campaign, and without a supercharger, they couldn't climb high enough to hit the bombers they were built to intercept.  Nevertheless, their pilots fought valiantly despite their fighters' inferiority and were pivotal in stopping the Japanese advance in the SW Pacific.  I have a thing for underdogs and the P-39/P-400 is pretty much defines "underdog."  There's a saying that goes, "the P-40 and P-39 didn't win the war, but they sure as hell made sure we didn't lose it."

 

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Edited by Gewehr 43
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Thanks!  I kinda have a *thing* for the Airacobra family.  Such a neat concept, just so poorly realized.  But, in places like New Guinea and Guadalcanal, it was crucial in stemming the tide of the IJA and IJN despite its many shortcomings.  As I'm on a huge early-Pacific war kick, I've been working on building as many examples of Guadalcanal combatants as are available in 1/32 scale.  

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  • 1 year later...

Beautiful Airacobra!  I've always liked the P-39 for some reason, maybe because it looks like such an engineering challenge.

 

BTW, looking at the grip on the control stick I see what you mean by "scaled up 1/48 parts"!  Special Hobby must think the pilots flew with two hands on the stick.

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Beautiful P-400 Chuck!  Weathering, painting and cockpit are all first class.  Given how terrible the fit is on this kit you did a terrific job.  I attempted to build the same kit some years ago and it ended up in my version of the "shelf of doom" - the trash can.  Great job!

 

Ernest

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