Special Hobby P-39Q Airacobra

[Greg Kimsey]

My friend John Montgomery purchased this kit to build, but after reading the reviews and looking through some build threads he decided it was too difficult for him and gave it to me to see if I was brave enough to try it. I am not sure "brave" is the right word, but "naieve" may be more accurate. The kit looks solid enough with lots of extra goodies in the box. There are two PE plates and two bags of cast resin parts. I did not take pictures of the sprues since I have already clipped "step 1" parts off, but the instructions show the sprue trees. I already clipped off some resin parts as well, breaking 2 of the delicate parts even though I was being extremely careful and nibbling away with the back of an Xacto blade. The joystick was repaired with a bit of brass rod, and superglue fixed the other.

This is the color scheme I am planning except it will have a white tail. I found a pretty good walkaround with the white tail and I like it.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

The fit of the first step pieces are absolute shit! My goodness. No wonder he was scared.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

I have this kit with some Russian markings to do a "Lend Lease" plane. Only thing I would suggest is to get a jeweler's saw and some fine saw blades. Xacto tools and saws are not the best for resin parts as you have discovered. Take things really slow and test fit even way beyond where you think the parts might interact. Test fit, test fit, test fit. If in doubt, make posts and ask questions. Saúl will have plenty of reference I am sure and I can give suggestions on this as well. It will be a learning process, but you don't have to figure it out on your own.

 

[moon puppy]

Off to a bumpy start but a really nice start to a build thread. Thanks Greg, nice to see you back at the bench!

 

[centaur567]

Hope you can work the bugs out. I've always like the looks of this aircraft. My uncle flew them at Guadalcanal. Gary S.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Thanks guys! Ok, so I dismantled the disaster of the front wheel well. The problem is that there are no register tabs of any kind and everything is butt joined and there is NO way to know if you have it right. I took Paul's advice and dry fitted with tape to see how things should be assembled so they fit.

It seems to fit OK as I have it. I think it is weird that the instructions give an image of a piece to be scratch built. My 3rd attempt is the least bad looking. I can see a 3D print piece being nade but will slow production because my printers are still boxed from moving the store. I may do it anyway and put the build on a slight hold.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Let me find my kit tonight and see if that part is in it. It might be that your kit was just missing that part and the guy marked it up.

Yeah resin kit parts are not shake and bake builds. Some are good, some are horrible. The main reason I have not yet attempted any of my HPH kits, though with some of the correction mods I have done on builds that shouldn't be much an issue these days.

The tape bit is good, also you can lightly tack parts together with a few "spots" of super glue and then easily pop them apart. That is little spots of 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch here and there along a big seam just to hold it together a bit better while testing. I have found that the super glue from Hobby Lobby is more brittle and will pop easier. Lately I have been using the Medium Gap Filling super glue from BSI as it "isn't" brittle. My local hobby shop has it with their name put on it.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

I also never apply super glue from the bottle. I make a puddle on a sapphire watch crystal and use a small applicator to place small amounts along a seam.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

The "C61" part IS on the sprue but looks nothing like the drawing, and is X'd out on the sprue drawings as "not used". There is a little drawing on the instructions that says to make the part and thin as shown. Really? I have created the part in Blender and will see if I can get one of the printers going today.

 

[Sharkmouth]

I also never apply super glue from the bottle. I make a puddle on a sapphire watch crystal and use a small applicator to place small amounts along a seam.

Now I do as well! Thanks @Heavens Eagle as I was using the polypropylene lids on jars prior to that.

 

[Sharkmouth]

@Greg Kimsey, check this part as what you state is missing is the rear of the front landing gear bay with the wheel indent.

The scratchbuilt part doesn't look too bad...

The real deal...

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Thank you Saul! My goodness, you have everything. Here is the Blender image of the part I have made. I have my printer set up but my resin is at home and I am at the store at the moment, so tomorrow I will print four of these.

These are the walkaround images I found in case anyone is interested:

 

[Sharkmouth]

@Greg Kimsey, the bowl in which the front wheel rests within the gear bay should have a radius a touch larger than the tire and not be simply indented. I can't tell from your art if that is the case. I obviously have manuals and loads of photographs as the Airacobra series carried quite a few schemes baring teeth!

 

[Greg Kimsey]

@Greg Kimsey, the bowl in which the front wheel rests within the gear bay should have a radius a touch larger than the tire and not be simply indented. I can't tell from your art if that is the case. I obviously have manuals and loads of photographs as the Airacobra series carried quite a few schemes baring teeth!

Hmm, I didn't think about that. I am not sure of the radius and width of the tire. If you have those specs I can be more accurate and exact. I can make the tire, then enlarge it somewhat and use that to make the indention.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

I did see one version with teeth and thought of you Saul @Sharkmouth and also thought it would be a cool version!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Hmm, I didn't think about that. I am not sure of the radius and width of the tire. If you have those specs I can be more accurate and exact. I can make the tire, then enlarge it somewhat and use that to make the indention.

Measure the model part.

 

[centaur567]

I did see one version with teeth and thought of you Saul @Sharkmouth and also thought it would be a cool version!

I just saw a video about the shark mouth versions on Guadelcanal. They were P-400's of the 67th fighter squadron and they had a different exhaust and armament. Nice work so far and great pics. Gary S.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Measure the model part.

do the letters D-U-H mean anything to you!?

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Been there done that Greg. Sometimes the most obvious solution goes right over our head.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Been there done that Greg. Sometimes the most obvious solution goes right over our head.

Yeah, when I saw that I thought "Brilliant" and "I'm an idiot" both at the same time LOL