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Frogspawn F415 P39 Airacobra


English Electric

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On 8/5/2019 at 6:01 PM, Aardvark said:

Blue & Green nothing extraordinary....but "flash"....on my mobile I see this mould as  pink or pale purple. Maybe this plastic was weathering and fresh he was violet ? Then "the color range of castings of BFI, plastic of a very unusual violet color, the end of the 1980s."

http://retromodels.ru/f415-bell-p-39-airacobra/

 

B.R.

Serge

 

 

Looking closely at it last night I'd have to say it's always been this 'flesh' colour, like a very very light salmon pink. Anyway, it's workable, unlike some lovely Soviet plastics, so I'm not complaining!

 

Main fuselage filled and sanded last night and am now preparing the canopy for fitting and masking. The two 'car' doors have also been added - these are clear parts, with the window at the top needing masking off.

 

The main canopy is in two sections - the bubble at the back and the more complex part at the front. The only usable canopy of the three kits is the blue one. The other two are either damaged or just so opaque as to be a write off.

 

So yes, masking. I'm going to attempt - foolishly - liquid masking for the first time. I have a bottle of MicroMask and a bottle of Maskol. Any tips or suggestions? All are welcome, believe me. I just want a quick build and I don't want to go down the whole tape route.

 

Finally - wheel wheels zinc chromate yellow-green and main gear legs etc bronze green? Sound ok?

 

If I get this sorted I'll dip into my box of bagged kits as there's Frogs galore in there, including a P-82 I do believe :)

 

best wishes

 

Chris

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2 hours ago, English Electric said:

bottle of MicroMask and a bottle of Maskol. Any tips or suggestions?

MicroMask from Microscale it's , as for my, PVA with blue pigment. They say that his only advantage is that he does not harm acrylic paint and it can be cut when dry. But it is poorly applied, there may be strong adhesion, is poorly visible on the model and poorly removed. MicroMask from Microscale don't like me. 

Maskol from Humbrol it's liquid rubber containing and diluting ammonia. Since it is believed that ammonia is harmful to acrylic paint, Maskol

can destroy acrylic paint, also it is badly cut. But 

Maskol good applied & good removing as for my. 

Duration of MicroMask from Microscale

preservation is higher than Maskol from Humbrol.

 

B.R.

Serge

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, English Electric said:

So yes, masking. I'm going to attempt - foolishly - liquid masking for the first time. I have a bottle of MicroMask and a bottle of Maskol. Any tips or suggestions?

I use micromask quite a bit, my only suggestion is to do two or three coats. I learned the hard way on an Hasegawa F-16D canopy that if you only use one you will have to strip everything and repaint. Micromask even with the blueish tint settles due to gravity down the sides of the canopy. Leaving the top very thin and spotty. So i wait about 8-12 hours to make sure it is dry. Then i apply a second coat & wait again. Once its dry you can paint over it. To remove i use the tip of my scriber to pick a corner up then i use very strong tack paint to pull it up. 

INcyCTY.jpg

 

iXrdRXs.jpg

These both have the mask on them, the 1st one i just gave up trying to get it into the little cornerson the windscreen so i will have to go back and hand paint the light and grey colors. With the japanese one in 1/48 it was easy to get it into the fine corners so the whole canopy is still clear. My last suggestion is to try it on one of the bad canopies first for practice, tape off the inside and mask the outside. This way you wont get over spray.  I hope this helps ? 

 

Dennis

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And it was all going so well...

 

Well I found the weakness of the kit - the canopy.

 

I think that if this had been moulded perfectly, it would have been a nightmare to get right, but with the warped and brittle USSR mouldings, it's a positive horror. It's the same with the Wellington canopies as well... anyone who has a Frogspawn Wimpey will know exactly what I mean 

 

Of the three kits only one had usable glazing, the other two were write offs or were too damaged to use. I've micromeshed, Kleared and Micromasked the usable ones and they've come up just about OK, but I'm not happy.

 

On wards and upwards I guess...

 

2019-08-10_11-16-40

 

 

Note the gaps between doors and canopy 

 

2019-08-10_11-17-01

 

FROG actually got fine detail on the moulds though... no heavy framing here, they did a nice job!

 

2019-08-10_11-17-57

 

The alternatives... the one from the right is off the green kit, the one on the left from the pink one

 

 

Edited by English Electric
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This multi-coloured Frog kit is in desperate need of some primer. I'm sure that will lift your spirits a bit. Keep going EE, it's coming up quite well in these photographs. Have you actually decided on a colour scheme as yet? 

Cheers.. Dave 

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You're totally right guys and to that extent, it's received its first coat of primer last night. I filled the gaps in the glazing with Krystal Klear and I think it's done the job.

 

I'm hyper nervous that the Micro Mask won't have done its job ok... but I've bitten the bullet and sprayed regardless. I've also realised I haven't put any nose weight in. Am I going to need it, and have I just committed a classic schoolboy error?

 

One thing that's struck me is that I can now see the panel lines more clearly, and I have to say that I think this actually beats the Heller version. It's a really nice little kit and deserved a much better fate than befell it. they're raised, but very subtle, and there's a nice amount of detail in there.

 

I'm building this in parallel with the Airfix Whirlwind hence I'm dividing my time - that's for one of its pilots, George Wood, so I want to get a wiggle on with that for obvious reasons.

 

Decals? I dug out a beautiful Authentic Decals lend-lease sheet, so it's going as a VVS example, which is only apt, don't you think.

 

Pics later when home from work.

 

best as ever,

 

Chris

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17 minutes ago, English Electric said:

I've also realised I haven't put any nose weight in. Am I going to need it, and have I just committed a classic schoolboy error?

As ive built probably 20 p-39's since i was a young'n. Id say u most definitely need weight in an Cobra, they are definitely tail sitters. I still have an Eduard cobra I'm disgusted with, because i cant get anymore weight into it and shes popping a wheelie. You should be able to get weight into the nose via the prop opening ? Just pack it in as much as you think the nose gear can stand. 

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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9 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

As ive built probably 20 p-39's since i was a young'n. Id say u most definitely need weight in an Cobra, they are definitely tail sitters. I still have an Eduard cobra I'm disgusted with, because i cant get anymore weight into it and shes popping a wheelie. You should be able to get weight into the nose via the prop opening ? Just pack it in as much as you think the nose gear can stand. 

Doh!

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47 minutes ago, English Electric said:

Decals? I dug out a beautiful Authentic Decals lend-lease sheet, so it's going as a VVS example, which is only apt, don't you think.

Absolutely agree, it will make the plane! Looking forward to seeing the pics.

 

Cheers!

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42 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

It does look very finely moulded with delicate detail. Given that the undercarriage bay is closed up I wonder if you could drill out the propeller backplate and put weight in through there.

 

Regards,

Adrian

I think that's got to be the only option now. I could really kick myself!! 

 

It really is a lovely little thing, if you can do grab one Adrian, I'm sure you'd make a cracking job of it!

 

Primer revealed some small areas of attention so am sanding a bit and then repriming tonight. 

 

On a diffferent tack in keeping with the vintage feel of this build I've rummaged through the paint drawer and emerged with some suitably vintage paints... Humbrol 155, Humbrol HU 3, 81 for the wheel wells and 25 for the fin flash and spinner! Hehe! Being old humbrol I'm not foreseeing any major spraying issues! 

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8 hours ago, English Electric said:

Slight delay. I snapped the nozzle of my trusty Iwata... ho hum. 

 

Need it re-threaded I think... Watch this space, shouldn't be too long!

 

C

Good luck with that - I dropped one last week - it squished the end, and though I managed to ease the fold out, the atomisation isn't great now. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ahhhh varnishing and decaling. Had a bit of a mare with this one as initially sprayed with Tamiya Gloss... normally it worls like a dream, but this time had some delightful blooming to deal with. Ho hum, after that used neat Klear, but I'm still a bit miffed as there's a slight element of scaliness (maybe)

 

So... onwards to the lovely aftermarket Insignia Decals sheet for the P-39. All good, yes? No. This comes complete with a plethora of fine line stencils and thin white bands for the scheme I chose - all of which broke up instantly on the backing sheet like Novo decals. Suffice to say that the others behaved the same which is why the serial looks wonky (it broke into three on each side), and there's about six stars less on the kill tally... won't be using them again then!

 

I'm starting the other bits now - u/c, prop etc... then I'm going to try and remove the masking. Pray for me people. Anyway, here we are... I know there's slight overspray on the wheel wells but I'll be touching that up soon.

 

C

 

2019-09-03_06-38-22 2019-09-03_06-38-38 2019-09-03_06-38-53 2019-09-03_06-39-16

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Hi Pat,

 

It still is... gear on, prop on, etc etc, just needs the masking fluid taking off the canopy etc but I'm damned if I can work out how to do it... terrified I might have knackered it up tbh!

 

I'll have another go tonight, as I'm desperate to finish it as well!

 

C

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