So now that hunting season, and the holidays are all done and over with it’s time to get back to my desk.[:D]
I picked this kit up over the summer at my local hobby store after taking a trip to the local aerospace museum that is in the old section of the Niagara Falls airport. I honestly never even knew it was there. This city is so bad at advertising anything. I’ve lived here all my life, and never know when anything is going on. Anywho, I figured I needed some more aircraft that has a history right here where I grew up.
Not a whole ton of progress, but progress none the less. My cousin gave me a magnifier lamp for Christmas, and it’s already proven to be a great thing to have when working with teeny, tiny PE parts.
What I got done today. I stopped after this because I can’t decide which model type I want to continue with. There is too many color schemes to pick from!
I’ve never built a P39 but I’m starting to think I should. There sure are some tiny parts and is that clear plastic in the headrest? Looks like you’re getting off to a good start
It’s been rather slow going with all the tiny PE parts. Most of it I have to do twice, being that there is two aircraft. I’m doing one as a D model, and the other a Q. So far the only differences are in the cockpit controls.
This is actually 13 pieces glued together.
Seat with seatbelts attached.
Cockpit all together.
Next will be drilling some holes in the fuselage for the Q model, and at the very least I’ll have two fuselage’s together tomorrow.
Looking good so far! My grandfather was an Airacobra mechanic during World War II- believe it or not he wound up at Niagara Falls air base after the war ended. The Airacobra has always been a favorite of mine- I’ve built a 1:72 P-39N and I’ve even got one tattooed on me. Looking forward to the rest of your build!
Wow! Very impressive work on the cockpit, and then it’s x2! I really like what you did on the instrument panel. Very technical and intricate. When I work with PE, I always mentally think that I’m working with glass. That is literally. It helps me get around and acclimated with PE material for the build I would be applying it for.
Your seatbelt’s look fantastic! I love it! Are you going to do a wash on the cockpit or are you going to leave it as is like a museum presentation? Thank you in advance. Great job!
I can’t imagine building a 1/72, the 1/48 is almost too small for me, lol. My hands just aren’t that steady. I’ve already knocked off such small pieces that I didn’t even realize for a while that they were missing!
The secret, take frequent breaks, lol. I got irritated several times putting those IP’s together. I had to just put it down and walk away from the desk for a while, go play a game on the computer for half an hour then get back to it. They are the smallest parts I’ve run into so far.
Managed to sneak in a few hours at my desk today. Hopefully tomorrow will be less busy and I can spend more time on these two.
Everything is taped together right now, letting the glue dry overnight. There is officially two planes![:D] Everything has gone together pretty well. There will be some sanding in spots, and maybe even some putty. We’ll see when I get farther along. Tomorrow will be adding some more PE to the undersides, and then landing gear.
Nice work. I have the Guadalcanal Cobras dual combo boxing, and I put mine on the shelf of doom because I am facing a massive wing root gap. It looks like you’ve done a better job building and haven’t encountered that. I can’t wait to see paint on them.
I’ve been lucky and haven’t run into any major snags. There is some small gaps in places, but nothing a little putty and sanding won’t take care of. I’ve got the wing landing gear done on one plane so far today. I’ll get back to the other one after dinner.
So I managed to get the wing landing gear on both planes today. It seemed to take forever, and use up all my paitence for the day. It’s the tiny PE parts that are getting on my nerves, lol. So I decided to call it an early night and give up for today.
Still have quite the ways to go, but they are going together quite well. I’m going to be very nervous when it comes to masking stuff off and painting them, there is so many little parts that I could knock off and lose. I serioulsy may brush paint them.
Note: IIRC the clear plastic behind the headrest represents bullit proof glass protecting the pilots head, but allowing rear view vision. Anyone know different? As stated this is from an old memory. Nice work. Keep it up. I’m doing one of the air race planes using this same kit.
I enjoy watching your projects and do hope you keep this WIP going.
Odd about finding the museum in your own backyard. I had a similar experience a month or so back. Visited our Studebaker museum which I’d assumed would be “meh”. It’s awesome, actually. Been back twice already.
I’ve been lucky and haven’t run into any major snags. There is some small gaps in places, but nothing a little putty and sanding won’t take care of. I’ve got the wing landing gear done on one plane so far today. I’ll get back to the other one after dinner.
What was for dinner in your parts of upper state New York. You did say you’re from Buffullo, New York? We had five hour roast pork that gets shredded and pan fried with rendered fat and cabbage. And some California hand rolls. Dessert was my world famous Chef Toshi’s cheesecake.
Don’t worry too much about the PE as oppose to things like sanding the seam down and aligning the wings and tail. Those are much more visible than PE. PE is to car wax as to building the engine block properly is to assembling the model without any seams. You know what I mean! LOL! Everything is looking fantastic!
Toshi
P.S. I wish my stuff looks as good as yours, you make me want to quit!
