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As stated over in the build thread HERE May I present a few pictures of the tiny beast: Notwithstanding the miscues along the way, this was a fun build. Hope you enjoy the pictures, and thanks for looking. Ed

This Boeing P-26 of the 17th Pursuit Group's headquarter section was my first exhibit for Britmodeller. It is possibly the personal mount of the Deputy Group Commander, based at March Field, CA in the spring of 1935, shortly before the Peashooters were handed over to the 20th PG and the group became the 17th Attack Group. I decided to do a little upgrading on this fairly good Hobbycraft kit. Besides installing a Vector R-1340 engine and cockpit detail from Eduard (48 265) I replaced the prop blades (too short), the wheels (too narrow), the windscreen (too thick) and added hollow blast tubes, new carburettor intakes and a few more things. The following pictures show two other modifications: the additional covers around the rear of the cylinders and the gap between elevator and stabilizer (I removed, sanded and re-attached the elevators). To fix the rigging wires to the undercarriage I drilled through the fairings, rebuilt the tips with paper jackets and, after assembly, pulled Griffin Jewelry Wire through the wheel spats. (Two different grades of wire were used on the Peashooter). This method required an unusual approach of installing the wheels later. There is a couple of bugs that I spotted too late and didn't correct. The engine face plate appears a trifle too small, but it's a very nice piece and I wouldn't know how to change it apart from vacu-forming a completely new one. In hindsight it would have been easy to adjust the second small error, which is the position of the upper cable fairings on the inside of the wheel spats. They should be higher up towards the wing than shown in the instructions to have the wires go across more symmetrically. All 17th PG markings are home-made since they are not represented well on any decal sheet. Likewise, the available underwing 'ARMY' inscription (Starfighter Decals 4001), which is too wide across the span, needed to be applied letter by letter with less space in-between. Unfortunately my printer's color cartridge failed when I printed the group crest and I didn't get the texture as clear as I wanted. I thought the Matchbox 1930 Packard Victoria in 1/43 is an amusing complement to give a feeling for the era. You will notice the modified front. When I was 13 years old my father accidentally stepped on the car and broke the headlights - big drama! I hope you enjoy the pictures and my experience with the Hobbycraft kit is useful. Happy modelling! Michael References Boeing P-26A, Profile Publications No.14, Peter M. Bowers, Leatherhead Air Corps, J. V. Mizrahi, Northridge, 1970 Boeing P-26 "Peashooter", Aero Series No.22, Edward T. Maloney, Fallbrook, 1973 Boeing P-26 Variants, Aerofax Minigraph 8, Peter Bowers, Arlington, 1984 P-26, Mini in Action No.2, Larry Davis, Squadron Signal Publications, Carrollton, 1994 The Official Monogram US Army Air Service & Air Corps Aircraft Color Guide Vol.1, Robert D. Archer, Sturbridge, 1995 The P-26 has now been joined by the contemporary Kawasaki Ki-10 which I built as my contribution to the 'High Wing' groupbuild here. Both were active in China in the fall of 1937. While the Peashooter appears more advanced it was perhaps not as efficient and successful as the 'Perry'. With comparable performance ratios the Ki-10 was faster and climbed better. This juxtaposition is a fine illustration of the technology transition that occurred in the thirties.

Dear friends, This is the last addition to my collection, a P-26 Peashooter in Chinese colors (in fact the Chinese version was named Boeing model 281). Painted in overall light grey, the majority of these aircrafts were changed to green later. The kit was surprisingly good for its age, no fit issues, a good cockpit (that I enhanced with some belts), and a good engine too. The only difficulty in construction concerned the engine exhausts and rigging, which I represented using Albion Alloys 0.2mm nickel rod. Overall a pleasant construction. Hope you like it, Dimitrios K.

Recently I've fnished this revell P-26. I bought it some time ago to train myself in rescribing panel lines and as the training went satisfactory I felt that I would built the entire kit. The kit is quite old so I used a Starfighter upgrade set and starfighter decal.

Finally decided upon this as its simple (so should be quick and easy), I've built the kit before so know what to expect and it epitomises the transition from Biplane to Monoplane fighters... Not sure what scheme yet - have both the Minicraft kit decals and the old Microscale sheet. Iain