**** DONE: 1/48 Bell P-39 Aircobra - Aircraft in Foreign Service WWII

[dneid]

Hey, Guys,
Thank you all for the very nice feedback and the time you take looking over my fumbling through this kit. I have the canopy masked off and set in place with Gator Grip. I have the preshading complete. I decided to experiment with 3 levels of preshading on this one. Black panel outlines, lgt ghost gray outer panel, and flat white panel "centers". The lgt ghost gray just does not show up in the photos all that clearly. Additionally, I think I will go back and touch up most of the black preshading after seeing the photos. After that, let everything setup and settle in tomorrow night and start painting by the end of the week. Sure is nice to have work settled down so I can spend an hour minimum each night at the bench. The Eduard kit is damned nice. Overall fit is good to excellent. Other than the lft wing root work that needed filled and the couple of smaller spots on the fuse seam, the fit is very good. Nice molding, nice details.

The next few pics show the gunsight and glass in place and a couple of more close ups of the IP.

I need to figure out how to close up the door openings for painting. I MAY just tack the doors in place with some Elmers, after masking the side windows of course. My biggest concern is using anything like sponges or wadded up tissue and knocking things lose in the cockpit. Any advice?

One other question for you all..... color for the gear legs? I am reading many different colors (ZCG, dark green, Bell green, silver mostly). I have found a couple of refs on the web for the Soviet birds and I cannot quite decide on the color. Some are too dark to really determine, one or two sure seem silver in the B&W pics. Any comments?

 

[fubar57]

If you haven't started painting yet, go into the ladies make-up section and look for sponge make-up applicators. The ones I have are triangular but can be cut to shape. These can be squeezed into irregular openings. I'll look for landing gear info.

Geo

 

[Crimea_River]

I'd glue the door in with a couple of spots of PVA glue, just enough to hold it there.

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far!

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Looking good, and nice work on the cockpit. I think I'd agree with with Andy, and tack the door(s) in place with PVA. When removed, any excess PVA should peel off easily.

 

[dneid]

Hey, Guys,
Thanks for the feedback and ideas. I wound PVAing the doors in place for now. I started painting last night. I was out of neutral gray, so I started with a very light coat of OD over the top. Ran out before I got to the tail, so that still needs to be done. I definitely need to shoot another coat over the top to tone down the pre-shading. I ran by my LHS today and grabbed a bottle of neutral gray. I decided to get the belly done before I return to the OD work. The belly needs another light coat as well and I think it will be completed.

On the subject of color for the gear legs. I find many references to Bell Green. In the few color photos I have found, the color seems to be a dark green. Anyone have an FS# I can reference? I do find a few shots of birds with steel to silver colored gear legs, but I am leaning hard to the Bell Green IF I can find some reference for the Bell Green.

Pics follow:

 

[Wayne Little]

That's looking alright Dale, keep up the good work!

 

[Crimea_River]

Yep.

 

[Wurger]

With all.

 

[Gnomey]

Looking good so far!

 

[dneid]

Hey, Guys,
Once again, thank you for the kind words and looking in. I have the final, basic paint on the '39. Overall, I am happy with the fading effects I am seeing. I think I will spend a lil more time weathering this one up once future/decal/detail finish is complete and see what I can do without messing her up too bad. All in all, the Eduard kit is a damned nice kit. Only think I am still trying to sort is the Bell Green for gear legs. A google search gets me tons of references to a Bell Green that was popular on Dodge trucks in the 60s. Anyone have any ideas on this one?

Pics:

 

[vikingBerserker]

BEAUTIFUL!

 

[Crimea_River]

Bookmark this handy site Dale: Camouflage Markings: Interior Colours of US Aircraft, 1941-45 (Part II). The below excerpt says:

Bell P-39 Airacobra

Despite its massive production numbers, this aircraft appears to be relatively poorly documented. Available colour photos show Interior Green and Bronze Green for cockpits; Interior Green, Zinc Chromate Yellow or Aluminium lacquer for wheel wells; nose undercarriage legs painted with Olive Drab and Interior Green; wheel hubs in Interior Green and natural metal. It would seem that the jury is still out for this aircraft.

According to Bert Kinzey in his Detail and Scale book on the P-39 the interior colour used by Bell was called just Bell Green. That included the cockpit, the wheel wells, the landing bay doors and the undercarriage struts. There has been a lot of discussion as to what exactly Bell Green was. The suggestions go towards something similar to Medium Green.

Based on the analysis of a preserved Lend-Lease P-39Q-15, the inside of the wheel wells was painted in Zinc Chromate Yellow for the wing part and Olive Drab in the part overlapping the lower fuselage, apparently a result of separate painting of the subassemblies at the factory. The undercarriage legs and internal faces of wheel covers were Interior Green, with smaller actuating arms finished in Bronze Green. Additional piping and wiring was painted in Aluminium lacquer.

 

[Wayne Little]

Dale...

 

[woody]

Looking good Dale.

 

[dneid]

Hey, Andy,
Thank you for the link! Excellent reference.

 

[Wurger]

 

[ccheese]

Sweet !

Charles

 

[Gnomey]

Looks good so far!