P-39Q Airacobra 'Snooks 2nd' - HobbyBoss 80240 - 1/72
I tried another HobbyBoss 'Easy Assembly' kit and it was pretty easy and pretty quick, but has a few detail errors and/or missing items. It does provide me with an adequate Airacorbra for my case. This was good practice for the Academy kit, also a 'Snooks 2nd' plane. I now know how to tackle that nice white leading edge and tail section now. Instructions show to keep wing guns and add additional gun pod - but - a Wiki search indicates that starting with the P-39Q-1 variant, the wing-mounted .30 caliber machine guns were replaced with a .50 caliber in a pod under each wing. So I guess I should have done more research and cut off the wing guns. DANG!
I guess I can just designate this as a D/Q variant and nick name it the 'DQ -Diary Queen' model.
This poor little guy was doomed to be a tail sitter as the fuselage is a solid piece of plastic and there was no way to add enough nose weight, so a rear clear post was added to make her sit proper - camera angles hide the post.
Turns out the actual P-39Q-6-BE "Snooks 2nd / Betty Lou 3rd" Serial Number 42-19995 was built just south of the border by Bell in Buffalo, NY and is now hanging from the ceiling at the at Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Serviceman's Park Museum.
I don't know how many times I checked out the Buffalo museum photos and I did not even notice once that the kit had too many guns.
Gottta pop over the border and have a look, hopefully sooner than later.
https://buffalonavalpark.org/
Full story of 'Snooks 2nd' can be found on the 'Pacific Wrecks' website.
https://pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/p-39/42-19995.html
Primed with Flat White Enamel, then masked and sprayed with Tamiya XF-49 Khaki and XF-66 Light Grey.
Kit Decals were pretty stiff but they worked fine and grabbed the Pledge coat well enough; although, the yellow script is more translucent than opaque.
All finished with Micro Satin.
Thanks for looking.
Added 09/2024 Confirmed - last photos- just the underwing cannons!
This looks really nice @georgeswork !
Thanks Jay (@ssgt), this was a good paint practice kit.
Nice job on your P-39.
Thanks Bob (@v1pro)
Clip the gun barrels, George. Easy peasy. There's more than that looking "strange" here, all of it HB's fault and none of it yours, since you made it better than it could aspire to be.
Thanks Tom (@tcinla), I give myself about weeks before it bugs me enough to clip the wing guns. There's no evidence of the top nose guns, just minor divots that would look better drilled out and a couple of barrels added. I might add some decals to simulate the missing front wing intake vents.
Great looking Airacobra, George @georgeswork
Absolutely great work on this one, love the white accents.
Thanks John (@johnb), white always makes me nervous for some reason.
I'm impressed how nice model you build from so common kit!
Thanks Lis (@lis), gotta love those Tamiya paints. They spray nice when thinned out a bit.
Great job on this easy/simplified kit, George!
Thanks Spiros (@fiveten), fuselage was one piece, wings assembly was one piece but still needed a bit of putty.
Nice Build George.
Discovering changes as we go along is part of this craft.
Otherwise we would endlessly revamp kits. Not always a good solution as it can ruin the kit.
It’s an Airacobra after all Is done
Thanks Bernard (@bernardbedeur),
it does sit nice in my cabinet, especially with that bright yellow nose.
Nice - I like the white accents on those Pacific birds. I made a similar model out of an old MPC Aircobra.
Thank you Greg, (@gkittinger)
Yeah, the white really sticks out AND I was able to keep them free of fingerprints.
Good lookin' "Snooks" @georgeswork. Always wondered about the HB "Easy Assembly" kits if they were worth looking into. Too bad HB misses the boat most of the time when it comes to accuracy.
Thanks Eric (@eb801),
The biggie item was no sign on machine guns in the nose.
I am doing a P-47D now - even quicker but nicer detail. Not much to actual 'building' but a great subject to practice airbrushing.
A real beauty!
Thanks Robert (@roofrat), she does sit pretty.
Good looking, good looking model.