Dirk's Airfix Bell P-39Q Aircobra

[dirkpitt289]

Time for some paint :woo:

First I sprayed the bottom of the aircraft Neutral Gray, and then masked it to receive the top cote.

Looking at some of the paint pallets for this aircraft it doesn't appear to me that this crate should be straight Olive Green like the directions say. The one I liked best was from Wings Pallett. It seem to have a little brighter mix of green over all as opposed to the olive color around the Soviet Star on the fuselage. To obtain this color I used a combination of Model Masters Olive Green and Testors Beret Green.

Let the spraying commence

 

[Crimea_River]

Nice job Dirk. I'm no expert on the colours but take what you find in Wingspalette with a grain of salt.

 

[T Bolt]

Looking good Dirk.

 

[dirkpitt289]

After the top side was dried I set to work on the nose, but first I needed to mask off the rest of the plane to keep any red from going where is shouldn't.

Unmasked

Till next time, thanks for looking

 

[Wurger]

Looking very nice. But I'm not sure if the green and the one on undersides are correct. I think these might have been the Olive Drab and the Natural Grey paints though.

 

[Crimea_River]

We'll call it Rudolph now. Nice reveal Dirk!

 

[dirkpitt289]

Here is the profile I'm using as a guide

While I didn't have any Crimson red for the nose I feel the green is pretty darn close. I think once it gets a matt cote gets applied it should look pretty close. The next P-39 I build which is already in the stash will be straight Olive.

Thanks for the comments guys. It means a lot

 

[dirkpitt289]

Back to the Russian Kobra.

As with most kits the landing gear doors are extremely thick. This Airfix kit is no different. At first I was going to make some new ones with an old beer can but decided against it this time. Instead I broke out the old rasp file and filed down the plastic to a more reasonable thickness.

Next I gave it a cote of Future and while I was at it I gave the B-29 a second cote to seal in the decals.

Thanks for looking

 

[Wayne Little]

Doin' great Dirk!

 

[Crimea_River]

Agreed.

 

[rochie]

some great paint work there Dirk

 

[T Bolt]

Looks cool with that red nose!

 

[Wurger]

Here is the profile I'm using as a guide

I have found a couple of profiles of the P-39 including our Mate Clave's one. Please don't get me wrong. I would like to show you all how different can look images of the same thing issued by many different publishers. And ....I would like to make a focus on a minor detail that can be noticed in these all profiles. The US ( I assume just these were on the plane ) national markings were overpainted with darker green paint. If the entire plane was re-painted with the " Russian" green, these wouldn't be seen at all. Or the US stars and the strip on the fin would be seen from under the paint partially.
Also please notice how different the two profiles of the one you followed seem to be. I used the profile from the Wings Palette site. Then one was brightened up.
Comparing to Clave's profile both of them look more different.
Finally the profile ( I found on the Wing's Palette site too...) from a Russian source ( a book ? ). I think the one is the best of them. Of course the differences in tonalities of colours might be the effect of the printing process. But these seem to be very close to the real ones. I don't think Russians " were playing " with re-painting planes they received because of the Land-Lease help when all of them were worth a fortune at the front line. The red ( crimson) "nose" of the Airacobra might have been caused by the Olive Drab dark background as well. But the dark red (crimson) paint is also possible. To sum up... I think, the camo scheme of the plane was of Olive Drab/Natural Grey colours with the dark red or crimson painted front part. The US national and other markings were overpainted with a dark green paint.

 

[dirkpitt289]

That's some good information. I admit I like the top two profiles better but alas neither was available to me so it's going to have to be what it is. Thank you for the information thou. Keep it coming...

Decals applied. Next is another clear cote to seal in the decals and then some weathering. The finish line is in sight...

Thanks for looking

 

[Wurger]

Although I wouldn't be sure of these red stars on wing top ,the final effect is really nice.

 

[magnu]

That's a real Red snouted hooter shooter you have there Dirk

 

[Crimea_River]

Looks great Dirk!

 

[Airframes]

Nice one !

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Very sharp Dirk! Great job sir!

 

[Wayne Little]

Nice mate!