Airacobra Armee de l'Air 1/72

[Doc72]

Hello everybody,

I present to you my French P-39Q that was built as part of the recent P-39/P-63 GB. The model represents a French Airacobra based in Southern France early in 1945.

 

Kit: Academy (re-issued by MPM)

Decals: Berna

Modifications:

- 4-blade prop modified from a Quickboost P-51K propeller

- guns (or blast tubes) replaced with real metal tubes (Abion Alloys)

- frontwheel was scratch-built (the Academy kit includes only the earlier P-39 wheel)

 

The Academy kit might have some shape-issues, but builds nicely and has beautiful surface details. The Berna decals are a bit on the thick side. This shows especially with the serial on the tail.

I tried to create a weel-worn OD paintscheme (see the WIP for details). Instead of using a matt cote following the Future gloss, I sprayed the model with a very thin coat of faded OD (and NG on the lower surface). This also helped to blend in the decals. The silver drop tank adds some colour to the model. On the original photo the colour of the tank is hard to verify. But this type of 75 gal. drop tank was a standard USAAF item and I suppose that by 1945 they were all silver (or NMF?).

The WIP might be found here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235042717-172-p-39q-armee-de-lair/

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HansReggelsen]

 1/72!! 

Are you sure you don't mean 1/48 or 1/32!

 

I'm very impressed! 

 

Cheers 

Hans J

[stevej60]

Beautiful build and finish!

[Meatbox8]

Seriously impressive.  Some fantastic painting skills on display here.

[neil5208]

Nice Airacobra, agree the academy kit has a few issues but its worth the effort

[RidgeRunner]

Very nice

[Marco]

Nice work, Doc!

 

The OD looks beautiful, specially on the wings. Nice worn look.

[Doc72]

Thanks everybody for your kind comments!

Here are two additional details shots (remarkable that even crappy smart phones nowadays can do quiet nice close-ups):

 

 

 

[Buzby061]

Astounding build. 1/72 - no way!

 

Pete