Dirk's 1/72 Heller P-39 Airacobra

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dirkpitt289

Master Sergeant
2,286
20
Jul 16, 2009
South Plainfield New Jersey
This is a quick mojo builder for me. nothing special just an old fashion build

Box Art



The Parts

There are 4 parts trees with this kit. 3 large trees as you can see here for the main parts and one small (not shown) for the canopy. I'n not sure of the year of this kit but the parts are unimpressive. Raised panel lines and some flash. At first glance there seems to be no injector marks that could be seen if left unattended to. I just realized this kit comes with both the 3 and 4 blade props. To be honest I know little of this aircraft so I'm not sure what the difference is. I'll have to do some digging to see which to use on this kit.



Having built one of these (Airfix) last year I know absolutely nothing will be seen in the cockpit so this won't be an issue.



The Decals

The decals seem fine



The Directions





I'm going out of town tomorrow morning and won't be back for a few days. So my goal is to get some work done today if possible. My goal will be to the aircraft pictured on the box top but Olive Drab over Neutral Gray. Also thinking I may put this one "In-Flight"

Thanks for looking
 
And we are underway

Interior green applied. It isn't worth detailing the interior because once the pilot is in place nothing will be seen. Lesson learned from the Airfix Airacobra I built last year.



The sparse interior is assembled



Cockpit in place







Lower wing in place



Upper wings installed



Some filler was needed



The Heller kit does not come with a pilot so I need to choose one from the pilots bin



That's about all for now. Thanks for looking
 
after some time away due to a business trip and lots and lots of baseball games for my son I was able to get a few minutes at the bench.

I started to scratch out the radio for the rear shelf.















The rear deck was painted and the rear canopy was masked and applied



Next we'll turn our attention to the pilot
 
Looking good so far Dirk.
Evergreen is a lot cheaper in the USA ! The prices shown on your packets approximate to around £1.55 to £2.00 - the UK prices are around £2.50 to £3.95 !
I've just found a UK supplier who's prices are more in line, and they also do large 'master' sheets of plastic card, with the prices nearer the price for a single A4 sheet !
Great! (still waiting for delivery of an out of stock item though!)
 
Next I turned to the landing gear. Because I am going to make this "In-Flight" I will need to close up the landing gear.



The kit doors just don't cut it. Using a two part putty I filled the landing gear bays







Next I worked on the mount for the stand





Inserted the Evergreen tube



Time for some trimming and clean-up

 
After about three days of trial and error I got the front canopy masked.



If you remember from a few posts back this was the pilot I choose for this mission. Some modifications had to be made to make him fit



The modifications included removing his legs from just above the knee down. I had to remove %60 of the pilots bottom and an aggressive vasectomy in order to get him to fit properly. Just goes to show being a pilot isn't for everyone. :ha:



Once I made sure he fit I mounted the front canopy.



Thanks for looking
 
I used black primer on the top of the P-39 to darken the canopy frames. I could have broke out the airbrush but I was to lazy. Once its all done no one will notice that the internal framework isn't interior green. Will they???



After the black dried I gave it an over all priming with white primer

Moving forward it was time to paint the white. I decided that the standard white would be to bright for a combat aircraft of the period so I decided to go with Model Masters Wimbledon White







After the white was dry it got masked off and the Neutral Gray was applied to the bottom



Thanks for looking
 
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