1/48 P-43A Lancer.
This is the new Dora Wings kit. I was happy to see this one released and really enjoyed building it. The model is a high end limited run kit that would be a good choice for someone’s first limited run experience. I built it pretty much out of the box, only adding Eduard seatbelts and brass tubing for the wing mounted .50 cal gun blast tubes. The firewall in my example was too wide and needed to be sanded down to fit. The cowling is built up from 8 parts, including PE cowl flaps and vent screens. It seems fiddly, but if you assemble it in stages over a couple days, it all fits. The engine fits into grooves in the cowl ring which means you don’t need to use the spindly engine mounts provided. I finished it with my usual Xtracolor and Humbrol enamels. I gave it minimal weathering as it was based in Portland, Oregon early in the war in the air defense role. FYI, the kit’s painting guide for this plane is wrong. They would have you paint 1/3 of the cowl ring white. It should be solid yellow. The decals want to grab immediately to the first thing they touch. I destroyed one of the star insignias and decided to replace all of them with Yellow Wings items. EZ line for the antennas and a blast of Testors dull coat wrapped it up. This was a fun kit, recommended. Finally, I added a couple family photos featuring the P-35 and P-47 for comparison purposes.
That looks great! Can't wait to snag one. Beautiful job John and Dora.
That airplane has a great profile. The family crossbreeding is apparent.
Amazing how fast the fighter-plane art advanced.
Thanks, Bill! I always liked this one.
Very nice work on this John. I've got one coming in the mail soon.
Thanks, Travis! Looking forward to seeing yours.
Very nice work as usual John. It is indeed a really super kit.
BTW - Dora Wings is doing a P-35 in early 2021.
Thanks, Tom! I want to do a P-35 in one of the temporary camouflage war games schemes.
Very nice work John, I love the family portrait shots. Underside looks great btw, thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Andrew! I almost filled the line at the flaps trailing edge but then realized how they were built.
Looks terrific! Glad you included some build tips and the heads up about the decals, John. I keep ogling the contents of my just arrived kit over and over and will pull the trigger any day now.
Thanks, Eric! Build away!
Really nice work john, BTW how do you cut the brass tubing neatly ?
Thanks, Neil. One was from a fresh end of tube. The other was cut by carefully rolling the tube on a piece of tile while applying pressure with a fresh #11 blade. Once the cut line was pretty visible, it snapped off cleanly. Tedious, but worked on the first try.
Very nice build, John.
Your paint job is fantastic.
The comparison photo is a nice addition.
Thanks, John! I get always nice smooth results from Xtracolor .
Very nice build, John. Thanks for the kit comments and tips, and also for the great family portrait. Excellent cockpit detailing.
Thanks, Christopher!
Nice looking Lancer, John (@j-healy). The cockpit looks really nice. I got this kit, but it hasn't made it into the build line yet. After seeing yours, I may need to find a slot for it. The temp war games camouflage would be daunting, but very cool.
Thanks, George! It’s a nicely appointed cockpit and assembled well.
Great build John. I have one in transit and am looking forward to doing an RAAF PR version.
Thanks, Haslam! The Australian version will be interesting to see.
Nicely done John, I'm hopping they do a 1/72 kit, for an Aussie version !
Thanks, Allan! I think they are doing a 1/72 kit in US, Aussie, and Chinese versions.
Good news, thanks John.
Great work once again John! I like very much your informative and thorough description of the build along with what modifications, if any, you made and what to watch out for. Nice touch with the "family photo" of P-35, P-43 & P-47! I look forward to seeing the Blenheim on here soon
Thanks, Jim!
Great looking early "Thud" history.
Thanks, Robert!
🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
Nice clean work John.
Very crisp looking paint job and very good cockpit detailing.
Thank you, Sir!
Your usual excellent job, John @j-healy.
I love the looks of the Lancer and you brought them on perfectly!
Nice painting and realistic weathering!
Thanks, Spiros!
Great job! Really liked the "family portrait" shots and the nose to nose shots of the P-43 & P-35. It really shows the similarities and differences inbetween the Seversky/Republic birds. Liked.
Thanks, Doug. It definitely was an evolutionary line.
Lots of comments, but I have to add mine..."It look's like you cut around each letter on the decal "U.S. ARMY," as I did on one of my Army models...great job!
thanks for posting a very nice model.
Thanks, Rodney. Didn’t trim the decals at all. Just set them with Future.
A very nice build, and a lovely subject! I've been trying to snag a Pavla kit of this in 1/72, but I must have missed my chance a few years ago as I haven't seen any available lately.
Thanks, Greg! Dora Wings is going to do it in 1/72 too. You’re in luck!
Nicely done John, excellent job as usual. Really enjoyed looking at the photo comparisons, The Jug looks like a P-35 on steroids, but with some refinements.