Bell P-400 Airacobra
Eduard Kit # 8061 1/48 Scale
Appx. $25- $35 US depending on where you get it.
Review by Mike Gawell
The P-400/P-39 Airacobra is one of the most famous coulda been a contender stories in the United States Military aviation annals. In fact the "Iron Dog" as it was derisively known by many of the airmen that flew it in the USAAC, SHOULD have been a contender.
Unfortunately due to the shortsightedness of the Army Air corps just prior to the type going into main production, the main element that gave the prototype of 1939 it's outstanding performance, the supercharger was in fact deleted. The Allison V1710 engine, the same for the P-38 Lightning, just was not much of performer at altitude without the supercharger unit.
The P-39's maiden flight took place on April 6th of 1939, and reached a top speed of 400 mph, and climbed to 20,000 in 5 minutes. As a way of comparison, the Mustang A took 7 minutes to reach 15,000 feet, and the P-40B took 5.1 minutes to reach 15 angels with the Allison V1710-33 (all without turbo supercharging)
By the time the P-39 reached production, it had gained weight and lost the power of the super charger. The Army in its infinite idiocy pre-WWII decided not only to reduce its power, but also required then for racks for external stores to be equipped upon the production models.? Besides the groundbreaking performance of the prototype, the P-39 boasted a few other novelties that were ahead of its time. Mid engine design, a 37mm cannon of deadly proportions running through the nose, and tricycle landing gear giving the pilot unobstructed views while on the ground maneuvering.
Against this background we come to the P-400, essentially the export version of the P-39D with a Hispano 20 mm cannon providing a higher rate of fire in the nose. In addition to the cannon, the P-400 featured 2 .50 cal mgs in the nose, and 4 .30 cal mgs in the wings
The British intended to order 475, and to take over the French order of 200 P-39s after France fell, but early 1941 combat missions over the continent combined with the short range of the Airacobra caused the British to reject the aircraft outright claiming it was useless against the Luftwaffe. The Russians, who did most of their fighting at low level, would prove every one wrong about the P-39, but that is another story.
In combat against the Japanese Zero, the P-39 was considered by allies to be a death trap, and "meat on the table" for the Japanese. Post war research suggests that perhaps this may be more legend than fact, and that the Aircobra's loss rate to the Japanese was not much different, and may have been less than the P-40. There is even some research as presented in the Osprey P-39 aces book to suggest that the kill to loss ratio was in fact 1:1! If all the armaments on the P-400 were correctly working, it could deliver a fatal blow indeed to the lightly constructed Japanese fighters. After the war, you could have picked up a P-39 for $750!!! Now THERE would have been a bargain!!
The Kit:? When it was announced that Eduard was going to do the P-400/P-39 series of models there was a general praise for a definitive version in modern construction of this beautiful looking fighter. The Monogram kit while good, and though released in various itinerations through out the years including a Promodeler version that features some photo etch, and a good detail of the engine and cannon bays. The accuracy issues were fairly minor, but Eduard is never one to be outdone. In the initial release you receive a kit with enough parts to build any version of the P-39 except the P-39Q. Options include 6 and 12 stack exhausts, bomb, or drop tank, 3 or 4 prop windmills, and 20 or 30mm cannon. In addition to the parts variety, you also receive Eduard quick masks, and a nose weight to have the model sit properly upon its tricycle landing gear. I however would be closing the gear bays and showing mine in flight, and the P-400 at it's most graceful. The worst part of this would be to hide the beautiful detail of the interior.
The build begins with the cockpit, and the front nose gear/cannon bay. The molding provides enough gear knobs, wheels, and detail to make it look believably busy without aftermarket detailing. The seat is even well done to reflect a seat needing only straps. With a pilot figure that is included, this would be hidden in any case. You may have the option of modeling the doors open or closed. I painted the interior a shade of green that comes close to match color photos in Burt Kinzey's Detail and Scale book. In this case I used French Khaki. It looked right to me. If it is not call the color police, and catch me if you can YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE COPPERS!!!!
After a lot of time making sure I had each and every knob correctly colored, and took the additional time to ensure the instrument panel had received the mandatory black, I dry brushed the instruments with white, and the switches with the last of my Polly Scale Bright Silver. (WHY oh WHY won't they put it back out!!) I then dropped a dab of clear gloss on each dial to make it a little more realistic. Great look!!! The only deviations I made from the directions was to wait until almost last before I closed the canopy up to add the gun site, and radio. The fit of the fuselage was a bit suspect at first, but that was my fault, not the kit. A bit of playing with it brought everything into proper alignment, and no gaps. At this point I deviated majorly to ensure a good fit in the wheels up position. I spent more than a little time getting the nose gear doors to close correctly in fit, and actually had to break into my P-39F version of the kit to redo one door that I sanded a bit too much. Tape on the inside of the gear doors, much like a piece of leather assisting 2 steel plates was used to make sure as I laid the pieces in the bay opening, that they would align correctly.
I then did the same from the inside of the wing to the main gear doors, and I have to say, they fit incredibly well. Very little sanding needed to be done. The wing is in 3 pieces, so I actually glued the tops to the body, and aligned the bottom so if any sanding needed to be accomplished, it would be at the wing tips instead of the wing joint. The wing join went well, but the area where the nose gear doors abut the wing, there was a noticeable gap that I needed to fill and rescribe. A little too much tweaking on my part made it a job of more sanding, and a rescribing of the gear door join point, but nothing major. I painted the intake meshes a oxidized aluminum (from the Polly Scale collection, and things were going well until I realized I had left out the landing light clear piece. Again panic at the time, but it was fixable with clear glue, and a few layers carefully added at the end of the project to make a light. The rest of the kit went together fairly easily, and after prepping and sanding, I chose a scheme from the Eagle Strike Venomous Cobras of the world. (IP4801)? Hells Bells from the 347th FG, 67th FS 13th AF on Guadalcanal in 1942. (I liked the tiger shark mouth better than the Wahl Eye version provided by the kit.) The pattern is still the Standard Dark Earth and Dark Green over Sky blue that the P-400s were distributed in. There is still some question whether it is a Sky Blue or a Sky Gray underside, but I chose to do mine in Sky Blue. For Paints, I used Aeromaster Dark Earth, Dark Green, and Model Master Duck Egg Blue (FS35622).
They sprayed on well, and after they were on, I hit the entire kit with a Polly Scale Clear Gloss. This is where things got interesting. I had read somewhere that you could lightly sand the clear gloss to get a smoother surface. I started with 2000 grit paper from an automotive store, and then buffed it again with the backside of the paper. This created a mirror gloss surface that really made the paint look like it was part of the model. I almost hated to touch it further. The decals went on flawlessly, and I have since tried this again with superior results. The extra hour of buffing is quite worth the effort. I do it very lightly after shooting a last coat of gloss before I "dirty up" the subject kit.
I weathered the model with a mixture of artist oils, and Turpenoid (NOT turpentine, but the synthetic stuff), and finished putting on the final parts. After all the parts were on including the doors, I did a final weathering with a mixture of browns I keep on hand that imitate exhaust, but to get the whitish burning of the paint due to the heat of the exhaust, I used Polly Scale Dust in a heavier coat. Then I used a base brown and a darker black brown to complete the look. I would have preferred the white and the paints to be a bit less heavy, but from the pictures I have seen, these birds were very dirty birds indeed, and for whatever reason that night, I was not able to control my paint as well as usual.? In the final look, it came out OK though I thought.
A bit about the doors. The doors are obviously intended to be modeled open, as they do not quite match the molding of the fuselage, and the canopy. I had to carefully sand and fit and test fit and test fit again to ensure the best possible look, and even then if you check closely there is a bit of a gap on one door. Maybe it was my less than perfect modeling skills, but I would have thought they would have had this down a bit better for an Eduard quality kit. Not a huge deal, just be aware of it if you intend to model the kit or any of the kits with the doors closed. Also to get a consistent look, paint your doors at the same time you paint the rest of the kit. Otherwise it might be noticeable in paint color differences.
The antenna wire is clear thread attached with superglue, and painted black with the white to simulate the attachment ceramic points.
All in all this was a good kit, and I will for sure be building the P-39Q version. The underwing twin nifties (er I mean fifties) are a neat addition to a pretty sexy looking aircraft.
Highly recommended.
P-400 Kit purchased with the power of good old fashioned American Credit from the Greatmodels.com webstore.
