Bell XFL-1 Airabonita, RS Models, 1/72

[2996 Victor]

Following a short discussion on my Arma Yak-1b thread with @Bertie McBoatface about P-39s, my crazy thought processes sent me off down yet another rabbit hole. Utter lunacy. A P-39 intended for the US Navy, but only ever a prototype.....

 

RS Models Bell XFL-1 Airabonita in 1/72 scale. Kit ordered. Am I completely crackers?

 

Cheers,

Mark 

[TonyOD]

1 minute ago, 2996 Victor said:

Am I completely crackers?

 

Yes, Mark. Yes, you are.

[Col.]

20 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

RS Models Bell XFL-1 Airabonita in 1/72 scale. Kit ordered. Am I completely crackers?

Well yes, you are, but to be fair look at the people you are associating with  

[2996 Victor]

12 minutes ago, Col. said:

Well yes, you are, but to be fair look at the people you are associating with  

That does make me feel better, Col, thanks 

And the medication is kicking in as well, which definitely helps....

[PeterB]

Should be an interesting subject and one I have never seen modelled before - a slightly smaller and lighter version of the P 39 with a conventional tailwheel undercarriage for carrier use. In my Putnam's book on Bell aircraft it barely gets 2 pages compared with 15 for the P-39 and another 8 for the P-63. Other than the undercarriage and modified cooling system it looks very much like the original XP-39 and quite elegant, but the Navy wanted more speed and firepower so went for the F4U instead, or so the book says.

 

Pete

[2996 Victor]

1 minute ago, PeterB said:

Should be an interesting subject and one I have never seen modelled before - a slightly smaller and lighter version of the P 39 with a conventional tailwheel undercarriage for carrier use. In my Putnam's book on Bell aircraft it barely gets 2 pages compared with 15 for the P-39 and another 8 for the P-63. Other than the undercarriage and modified cooling system it looks very much like the original XP-39 and quite elegant, but the Navy wanted more speed and firepower so went for the F4U instead, or so the book says.

 

Pete

Somehow, it does look more elegant than the P-39.

 

The Airabonita suffered with some weaknesses, notably in the landing gear which caused issues with the deck landing trials. Also, the Allison engine wasn't boosted in the same way as in the P-39, so delivered significantly less power.

 

As I understand it, although the F4U was heavier than the Navy wanted, the potential performance and firepower of the Corsair outweighed any disadvantages that caused.

 

Cheers,

Mark

[2996 Victor]

Here's a link to the Wiki page for a bit more background on this ill-starred child:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_XFL_Airabonita

 

Incidentally, I've oft considered the pronunciation of the name. Should it be "Aira-bonnet-ah" or "Aira-bon-eetah"? I've settled on the latter as my preference.

 

Cheers,

Mark 

[Bertie McBoatface]

4 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

Here's a link to the Wiki page for a bit more background on this ill-starred child:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_XFL_Airabonita

 

Incidentally, I've oft considered the pronunciation the name. Should it be "Aira-bonnet-ah" or "Aira-bon-eetah"? I've settled on the latter as my preference.

 

Cheers,

Mark 

 

I followed the link. It does look elegant with a tailwheel. Will you be doing that yellow winged one? please.

[2996 Victor]

22 minutes ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

 

I followed the link. It does look elegant with a tailwheel. Will you be doing that yellow winged one? please.

Definitely! I'll be sticking with the prototype, silver lacquer and chrome yellow! And those unusual for the US vertical rudder stripes.

[PeterB]

21 minutes ago, 2996 Victor said:

Definitely! I'll be sticking with the prototype, silver lacquer and chrome yellow! And those unusual for the US vertical rudder stripes.

Nice!

I read somewhere (D&S P-39 book I think) that it was the last USN plane to have the tail stripes!

 

Pete

[2996 Victor]

45 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Nice!

I read somewhere (D&S P-39 book I think) that it was the last USN plane to have the tail stripes!

 

Pete

Interesting - I didn't realise the USN used a vertical rudder stripe marking!

[PeterB]

1 hour ago, 2996 Victor said:

Interesting - I didn't realise the USN used a vertical rudder stripe marking!

 

No, I had forgotten as well, but apparently, according to the Putnam's  book on US Naval Aircraft, when the US entered the war in 1917 both Army and Navy planes had full height rudder fin flashes of blue/white/red with the red at the rear. Between February 1918 and August 1919 the red and blue were switched at the request of their allies, and then they reverted to red at the rear until 1941 though the flashes were not always painted on. From around January to May 1942 the more familiar 13 alternating horizontal red and white stripes were applied to rudders only and then the flash was discontinued, having been made redundant a little earlier with the fuselage star being added and one each of the upper and lower wing stars being subsequently deleted..

 

Pete

Edited January 19, 2023 by PeterB

[2996 Victor]

The kit has arrived, so here are the obligatory photos!

 

Box:

 

Instructions (), consisting of two sides of A4 folded into an A5 "booklet":

 

Sprues:

 

Not much detail in the fuselage:

 

But there's this, the definitive reference work:

 

Armed with Mr Thomason's book and a couple of internet threads, some research has begun.

 

The RS kit depicts the Airabonita in its earliest iteration, with small fin/rudder and tailplanes, early carburettor intake, anti-aircraft bomb doors (yes, really!) in the lower wings and radiator/oil cooler outlets in the upper wings. At this point, the radio antenna was encased in a clear perspex fairing on the leading edge of the fin. I'm not sure if it actually flew in this configuration, as most early flight test photos show the increased-span tailplanes a revised rudder hinge line (as can be seen in the cover photo of the book) with the rudder stripes removed and a conventional radio antenna.

 

Later test photos show the XFL-1 with a further-enlarged fin and rudder, conventional underwing radiator/oil cooler outlets and removal of the anti-aircraft bomb bays. Six-stub exhausts were also fitted, as was a P-39 carb intake, and the majority of cowling louvres deleted.

 

So far, so good!

 

The primary problem with this kit, which it seems to have inherited from its resin forebear, is an incorrect wing planform. The XFL-1 wing has a considerably wider chord toward the wingtip than the P-39, which you can see where I've overlain the upper wing panels over the drawing here:

It appears that the wing panel lines are largely spurious anyway, and indeed the notes on the drawing indicate that the majority of panel lines were invisible anyway. The photos seem to bear this out. One of the internet threads suggests adding a wedge-shaped insert into the wings to address this error.

 

Decision time!

 

Build it out-of-box and ignore the errors OR correct the wings and alter the empennage and other details to depict the Airabonita in its final flight-test configuration, and do a proper job on it. You can guess which way I'm leaning, can't you.....

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Bertie McBoatface]

Do it the way that suits you, said Bertie, nailing his colours to the centre of the fence.

[2996 Victor]

22 minutes ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

Do it the way that suits you, said Bertie, nailing his colours to the centre of the fence.

I like it!  Somehow or other, I've ended up with two kits so if I make a muck of it I can try again  

[bissyboat]

Sometimes you can judge the book by the cover, because this Airacobra is going to be a beauty. ⚓🌟

[2996 Victor]

1 minute ago, bissyboat said:

Sometimes you can judge the book by the cover, because this Airacobra is going to be a beauty. ⚓🌟

That's very kind of you, thank you - time will tell!  

 

Cheers,

Mark

[ModelingEdmontonian]

Wow this is cool. Really look forward to seeing it come together!

[2996 Victor]

23 minutes ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

Wow this is cool. Really look forward to seeing it come together!

Thanks, ME, that's extremely kind of you - I hope it'll turn out alright!!!

 

All the best,

Mark 

[2996 Victor]

Sprues washed ready for priming and some additional information ferreted from the t'interweb  Decision made: I'll correct the wing planform and depict the aeroplane in its final flight-test form with  enlarged fin/rudder and increased-span tailplanes. Most of the cowling louvres will also need to be removed, the radiators need to be altered to exhaust under the wings, the collector exhaust need to be replaced with six-stub exhausts and the carb intake replaced with a P-39 item.

 

Onward!

[TonyOD]

20 minutes ago, 2996 Victor said:

Sprues washed ready for priming

 

That's enough for me to turn it green!

[2996 Victor]

7 minutes ago, TonyOD said:

 

That's enough for me to turn it green!

I thank you, kind Sir!  

[2996 Victor]

A few more thoughts before committing to surgery.....

 

For anyone interested, here's a link to Tommy Thomason's Tailhook Topics XFL-1 page, Mr Thomason being the esteemed author of the aforementioned monograph, of course. From that webpage I've downloaded the outline drawing by the author and rescaled it accordingly, giving me this:

The kit upper wing panel overlays the P-39 wing outline almost perfectly. What it doesn't do is represent the XFL-1 wing! Have another look at the Tailhook Topics page and see Mr T's solution  Yep! Well, in for a penny..... Furthermore, the lower wing is thoughtfully moulded in one piece, which will make matching the span increase and reshaped plan of the uppers that bit more difficult. Oddly, looking at the drawings in the monograph, the undercarriage appears to be aligned at 90-degrees to the fuselage centreline while the model's follows the sweep of the leading edge  

 

Watch this space.....

[SleeperService]

As the modeller responsible for @Tailspin Turtle revising the drawing may I suggest lining up the rear edge and marking where it diverges from the plan (about two thirds of the way back from the front). Then do the same at the front (about where the outer sprue attachment is). Split the wing at the central panel line but not completely through. Spread the front and rear to match the plan, Cut the front tip completely away parallel to the centre-line. Make sure the plan and plastic are both marked before measuring and cutting the infill piece, making a single piece will make life easier than two. Note all the measurements carefully before flipping the marked diagram and doing the other wing.

After shaping the tips use the wings on the long piece lower to modify both sides together. Before you cut anything make sure the span is correct first, correcting that first is a lot easier. You can guess how I know.

For the under-carriage the plans are right as confirmed by the photos.

As I'm working in 1/48 which brings other problems you may need to reposition the u/c bays - my experience is to do this second before modifying the profile.

 

Good Fortune with this, I may dig out my part-built one from the Mountain of Doom and join in if I can get something finished.

[2996 Victor]

43 minutes ago, SleeperService said:

As the modeller responsible for @Tailspin Turtle revising the drawing may I suggest lining up the rear edge and marking where it diverges from the plan (about two thirds of the way back from the front). Then do the same at the front (about where the outer sprue attachment is). Split the wing at the central panel line but not completely through. Spread the front and rear to match the plan, Cut the front tip completely away parallel to the centre-line. Make sure the plan and plastic are both marked before measuring and cutting the infill piece, making a single piece will make life easier than two. Note all the measurements carefully before flipping the marked diagram and doing the other wing.

After shaping the tips use the wings on the long piece lower to modify both sides together. Before you cut anything make sure the span is correct first, correcting that first is a lot easier. You can guess how I know.

For the under-carriage the plans are right as confirmed by the photos.

As I'm working in 1/48 which brings other problems you may need to reposition the u/c bays - my experience is to do this second before modifying the profile.

 

Good Fortune with this, I may dig out my part-built one from the Mountain of Doom and join in if I can get something finished.

Many thanks for your post and sage advice! I've already flipped the plan so that I have a mirror image for both wings. I wasn't sure where would be best to make a spanwise slice, but mid-chord seems most logical, and bending at the root to provide the corrected chord. I was thinking about detaching the entire wingtips, both top and bottom, and making new. The RS kit also has a totally wrong leading edge wing root surround to the wheel bays which will need correcting!

 

If you think of anything more, I'd be grateful!

 

Best regards,

Mark