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154 - Bell Airacobra P-39 - Ota oddball #finished#


alt-92

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Contestant numero 2:

 

The 1977 P-39 Airacobra kit. 

This one has suffered a bit. The cockpit bits are missing, so a seat & floor will be scratched and modified instead.

The four blade prop is missing one blade. 

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A secondhand PE set may help here :)

 Accuracy-wise, it's not going to matter too much because this one will not exactly end up as a P-39Q/N as boxed.

I've chosen some oddball markings.

 

Some 19 USAAF Operation Torch P-39s from the 81th and 350th FGs didn't quite make the ferry distance, and were interned in Portugal and pressed into service with the Portuguese AAF.

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  • alt-92 changed the title to 154 - Bell Airacobra P-39 - Ota oddball

I like the Heller Airacobra, it was a big improvement upon what went before.  A great choice and I like your choice of markings too.

 

Good luck with this one.

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Another Allied Heller classic kit and one that looks good when built. Now I didn’t know that this came with a Four blade prop, what version would that be for?
Cheers and welcome to this GB.. Dave 
 

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9 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Another Allied Heller classic kit and one that looks good when built. Now I didn’t know that this came with a Four blade prop, what version would that be for?
Cheers and welcome to this GB.. Dave 
 

P-39Q

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  • 4 weeks later...

While waiting for stuff to dry on the three other builds on the go, made a start with having a look what needs to be done for the P-39.

As said, all the cockpit bits apart from the instrument panel are missing. 
Looking at the instructions, it's clear that the floor extends up to the nose and also forms the attachment point for the nose wheel.

So:

Floor cut & sanded to size, wheel well sideboards made.

Also need to build the back firewall up.

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The scraps were used to fashion a basic seat - which still needs a bit of cleanup & mods.

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Found some PE meant for the Hase kit, and will use some of that to dress up the internals.
 

y4mmkRB7LhqNWYWglEJHFFRGtQa3ejTTDrlzR7Ns

 

Fun ensued.

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  • 1 month later...

Update: 

Added the cockpit flooring bits and primed with black. 

y4mdrS6GJRWaDI4YuLotUV4yR2-H4dkp2UkKfdoV

 

IP blanked and PE stuck on, light drybrush and dots of klear to be added.

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Oil and Radiator bits stuck on the bottom wing:

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Added around 10gr of lead pellets, interior splashed with bronze green and closed up the fuselage:

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The seat scratchbuild is almost ready to be put in, just the belts to be added (upper right) and the control column.

A look inside:

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It's quite interesting to read about the number of permutations and changes, and how many of these changes were based on Soviet feedback - even the P-63 ended up what it became with their input. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Cockpit complete (apart from the gunsight that needs to be scratched).

All the wingsy bits have been added, she's looking like a proper aircraft now :)

 

initial Olive Drab laid down..

 

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Oh, look. A stray fiber. 

 

For USAAF OD 41, I tend to start off with a base layer of Vallejo US Loam, then pick multiple shades of Olive greens to break up the monotone colours somewhat.

I'm leaning towards a more bleached, tattered look with this one. 

 

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Masking the canopy and windscreen at the moment, to be continued.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

@JOCKNEY Slowly picking up the pace again, I'm one of those lucky sods who have had to keep working over the holiday season.

Due to lockdowns, the schools and nurseries were all closed down which means colleagues with kids can work less and us folks without spawn have to take up the slack.

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Hi mate

Great to hear from you, ditto on the working during the holidays. 

Mrs Jockney is a Parkinson's specialist but gets called up for covid duties at the local hospital. 

I'm on call for the electric company, keeping the lights on, so alcohol free ! Its enough to give a Scotsman nightmares :weep:

Cheers Pat 

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Managed to do some fading & blotch template use, which gives a nice degraded effect to the OD. 

And as usual, when you cover it with a clear coat to prepare for decals, it comes out way darker :D

it''ll be fine with a final matt coat...

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The underside is bog-standard Neutral Grey. 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Because the original cockpit & nosegear bay parts were missing, the positioning on the nosegear is slightly off to what it's supposed to have in the box.
In order to camouflage that a bit, it's slightly offset in a turn.
The main gear struts have been shortened half a mm, drilled out and some albion alloy .5 rod inserted. That lower sit compensates a bit for the angle on the nose gear.

 

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The LF model decals are printed a bit like the newer Eduard decals. So: inks on top of the carrier film layer, without top coating.
That also means you have cut them off the sheet individually.
Despite that, they are thin enough and handle fine.

 

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The P-39 models used by the Portuguese are different from the P-39Q kit in that they don't use the underwing gun pods, but instead use the 4x wing mounted guns.
So, drilled out the offset holes and added the barrels - again AA tube. 

 

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The LF decals were sealed in with a thin coat of HG floor coating (a product similar to Future)

So now, a bit of detailing, satin coat and light weathering to do. 

 

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Great job and nice to see a historic Portuguese Air Force aircraft being built! 

 

10 hours ago, JOCKNEY said:

I wonder if my old mate Jaime @jrlx has been watching this ?

 

Pat, thanks for calling my attention to this build. I haven't been very active in Britmodeller recently and didn't notice it. By the way, I built this kit as a kid. At the time it was very refined compared to most kits available. I still have the remains somewhere.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

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  • alt-92 changed the title to 154 - Bell Airacobra P-39 - Ota oddball #finished#

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