Build Review – Academy P-39N/Q Airacobra (2177) – Part 3

So the clamps came off (see part 2) and as expected some filling was needed along the join between the two halves. So after filling, respraying I was ready to add decals.

As mentioned before I was going to use the decals from the Airfix P-39Q Airacobra (A01039).

Comparing the two they looked similar. A nice touch on the Airfix decals is the green backgrounds, a slightly different shade to the green of the actual aircraft. This reflects how the US insignia was often painted over with whatever green paint the VVS had to hand at the time.

However here I learnt an important lesson. Just because the scale is the same don't assume the decals are the same size... The Airfix ones seem slightly too big for this scale, or at least the Academy P-39. But as I'd started with this scheme it was too late to go back.

Despite the size issue they went on well, a bit of decal softener helped them settle into place and ensured the panel lines showed through where they should.

Next up was more construction, time to add the tricycle landing gear.

The instructions tell you to add the nose wheel when joining the two halves of fuselage. This to me seems impractical and far too early in the construction process. So I'd cut a small hole in the side where the gear attached to allow me to add it at this later stage. Using a slower setting glue I attached the nose wheel, positioned it and let it set in place

So with the rear wheels added it was time for the moment of truth, was this one going to be a tail sitter?

 Looks good to me and I still have some backup weight to attach (in the drop tank)!

Build Review – Academy P-39N/Q Airacobra (2177) – Part 2

It's been a while since I last posted about Academy's P-39N/Q. I have to confess this is partly due to dry fitting indicating that there was likely to be trouble ahead.

As seen in the previous post the cockpit went together nicely and I continued adding photo etch to the the exhaust vents, I'm not sure how visible little details will be on the fished model but it's all good practice at working with photo etch.

I'd decided to paint the larger parts before assembly and so was hoping for a good fit. As much extra weight as I could manage was pushed into the nose as anyone who's built a P-39 knows, they're notorious tail-sitters.

However after this I began to see that the two halves of the fuselage weren't going to go together easily, especially around the cockpit. This would mean lots of filling and repainting. I'm not sure if the fit issues are due to the kit, my assembly of the cockpit, or the weight. Whatever it is, no amount of filling and trimming seemed to make it fit.

However I'm not prepared to write this project off just yet so out came a large set of clamps and the hope that a bit brute force would persuade it all to got together.

So until part 3, lets hope that it does go together!

Dornier Do 17 Raised From the English Channel

Over the last few days I've been following this story in the news. The Royal Airforce Museum have been trying to raise from the English Channel what is believed too be the only surviving Dornier Do 17.

Despite being delayed by the weather over the past few days, today they finally managed to raise the aircraft. The BBC has an interesting article here and you can find photos at the Royal Airforce Museum's facebook page.

It's had me thinking about models. A Dornier "flying pencil" is something I've always wanted to build however good kits are hard to find. I had looked at the Revell kit but it's nearly as old as the one raised today and ICM's range of kits are almost as difficult to put together as the real thing. Apart from that I can only think of Classic Airframes kit but they're increasingly rare these days.

As a modeller I can only hope a manufacturer releases a new one sooner rather than later. For now I'll be following the restoration of the one found today, a 1:1 scale kit for those restoring it!

A Desert Diversion in 1:48 Scale

Occasionally I like to try my hand at figure painting, usually while waiting for another project to set or dry. Recently I was given an almost complete Tamiya 1:48 Africa Corps set, for free, by a generous eBay seller. I've been thinking that Tamiya's figures at this scale fill a gap in the market and have wanted to try painting them for a while.

So now I had the chance, my first thought, they're a bit smaller than the figures I'm used to. (I always forget to put something in the picture for scale when photographing models, head to foot this figure is about 30mm / 1.2")

My background is that of a figure painter in heroic 28mm and 54mm scales, which I've been painting the best part of 20 years. In this time I've developed a preference for paints from Games Workshop's Citadel range while finding Tamiya paints rather frustrating to use for brush work. So with an infantryman picked out it was time to overcome my Tamiya nemesis.

I started with an undercoat of Tamiya fine grey primer (which is fantastic stuff) and then airbrushed a light coat of Tamiya XF-60 (Dark Yellow) as I wanted a clean base colour to start with as shown above. This was a mistake, I'd picked up the wrong desert colour... So I brushed XF-49 (Khaki) which was meant to be my original base colour before highlighting with XF-59 (Desert Yellow), XF-60 (Dark Yellow) and XF-57 (Buff). Citadel paints were then used for the skin and some of the finer details.

I did wonder if painting the face and eyes at this scale was possible. Originally I decided not to but it was just getting to me, I couldn't leave him with no eyes! My experience at figure painting has taught me the face makes or breaks a model and so eventually I had give him some eyes (and some soul, I guess). I will probably dust him up a bit with some weathering powder later but for now I'm really pleased I managed to paint a figure at this scale. For a first attempt, I think it turned out reasonably well.

Overall a fun diversion, I'm sure this Infantryman will have others joining him in the future.

Completed Review - Revell Easy Kit Concorde (06642)

Scale: 1/200, RRP - £12.99

Recently my wife became very interested in Concorde, for her it is perfection in aircraft form. For her interest is primarily civil aircraft where as mine is military.

Over the past few days she's been asking me if I could get her "a Concorde." I had offered to get a model kit and build one but apparently I spend far too long building and painting a model. I decided to look a die-cast models however for me as a modeller I felt they just lacked the detail that I'm used to. It was then that I encountered this Easy Kit from Revell and thought I'd give it a try.

First of all before I begin this review I'm going to say that it's not something I'd normally consider for myself. I understand it's a kit aimed at younger and novice modellers and so my review will reflect that. I've seen an increase in such kits (especially from Hobbyboss and Zvezda) and I certainly think they offer a good way into the hobby for beginners who'd be put off by the more complex kits as a starting point.

The kit comes in a nice box with the pre-painted tail section on display. Upon opening the box you get two pre-painted sprues, a single clear piece and an instruction sheet. The instruction are typical Revell black and white drawn instruction, in this case with a total of 7 steps.

I have to say I was quite impressed with the detail of the parts upon first seeing them, however I thought it would be difficult to remove some of the parts without damaging the paint, mostly where black painted parts were attached to a sprue. Also there was a slight error in the instructions, they seemed to suggest 3 parts were needed to build the cockpit windows when in the actual kit there was just one single part.

Construction began by fitting the windows and cockpit into one of the halves of the aircraft before snapping the other half together. Overall it was straight forward however there was a slight gap between the two. I see no reason why you couldn't glue the parts together but for the purpose of this review I decided not to use any glue.

Next up were the wings, the top and bottom halves clip together and then the body clips onto the wings, couldn't be easier and already I had a model looking like Concorde, all be it with a flat nose.

I added the nose and I have to say this was the only part I felt that was not detailed well in the instructions, it was very easy to put it on the wrong way round. And then I encountered exactly the issue I feared would happen. Removing the wheels from the sprues I found I was left with some very ugly white spots on the tyres.

 
I was left with no choice but to deviate from the "easy kit" and get a pot of black paint out to correct this. There is of course an option to build the kit with the landing gear up and given the weak nature of the landing gear I'd suggest you hold on to the parts in case the landing gear ever gets broken.

After that it was on to the final stage, adding the engines. Again the black painted parts need a slight bit of touching up but apart that it was a straight forward finish to this kit. Total build time, (including taking photographs and painting) had been 45 minutes.

So what did I think of this kit overall? It was a surprisingly fun build although I felt it needed a bit of painting to finish off neatly. The end result certainly looks like Concorde and I think it's nicer than the die-cast models I'd seen. For a simple model kit I did think it was a bit expensive but then again you don't have the cost of glues and paints, something I tend to forget as I've accumulated lots of them over many years of painting and building models.

Compared to die-cast models you do get your money's worth and you get the chance to actually build something which I think would be a good thing for younger modellers and those who are new to the hobby. The finished model looks good and my wife has put it on display, she finally has her Concorde. As for me, I'm thinking of that Easy Kit Lufthansa 747 that I saw on the shelf next to this one...

Overall score: 2.5 out of 5, a fun build which is exactly what the hobby should be about. Slightly let down by the need to get out the paint.