Eduard Bell P39N Airacobra

Started by John vd Biggelaar · 88 · 2 years ago
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    John vd Biggelaar said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    @fiveten, @j-healy, thanks a lot for the compliments.

    Painted black
    Isn't that a famous song 😉
    This evening I did paint the propellor blades and the wing walkways black.



    After removing the masks, it showed that the provided masks for the walkways did their job well, but that is because the surface is flat.
    For curved surfaces the masks are not usable.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    Black areas turned out really great, my friend @johnb!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    @fiveten, thanks a lot

    On her feet
    Landing gear is applied. It was expected but still I was pretty happy to see her standing on her nose wheel.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    Looks amazing standing on her feet, my friend @johnb!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    @fiveten, thanks a lot.

    Nearly all parts mounted

    This afternoon I started with mounting the propellor and the fuel tank.



    Next it was time to mount the exhausts, but before doing that I wanted them to look a bit more realistic and therefore drilled out the exhaust pipes.

    Exhaust pipes were painted with a mixture of rust and grey/black mixture.
    Before mounting them I painted exhaust stains, first a layer of black followed by a layer of white/black mixture and as last a thin amount of black/white/brown mixture.


    Last parts are the wing guns, pitot tube and antenna. These however will be mounted after the decals are applied.

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    Andrew H said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    Those exhaust stains look excellent, and your OD base looks great as well in that lighting.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    Excellent so far, my friend @johnb!
    Exhausts drilling and staining, all done superbly!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    @pb_legend, @fiveten, thanks for the compliments.

    Decalling
    Applying the stencils at first, I noticed that likely Eduard made a spelling error, at least I cannot imagine that these words was spelt differently in the past.


    Still some decals to go, but this is how she looks currently.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    Yep, looks like misspelling, my friend @johnb!
    The Airacobra looks fantastic!

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    Eric Berg said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    Your Aircobra - whoops - "Air-a-cobra" is looking just fine and you have the finish line in your sight, John @johnb. I wonder how many folks have misspelled Airacobra since day one?

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    John vd Biggelaar said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    @fiveten, @eb801, thanks. As a matter of fact Eric, after your remark of the "Air-a-cobra" I quickly checked if I didn't make a spelling misstake in the headlines. Luckily I didn't.

    Final bits
    Decals and stencils are all done. Biggest challenge were decals at the tail. After using some decal softener both sides came nicely together at the edges of the tail.


    Latest pieces are mounted, machine guns and antenna. Pitot tube still to go.
    Wingtip lights painted, machine guns and antenna still to do.

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    Tom Cleaver said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    This looks really nice, @johnb. One of the best buildups of the Eduard kit I have seen.

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    John Healy said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    Nice work, John. Great to see one in French colors. Everybody does P-39s in Soviet or US schemes.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    Amazing job, my friend @johnb!

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    Erik Gjørup said 2 years, 4 months ago:

    Fashionable late again, I shall join the others and say it is a very nice job. particularly I like the drill. The drilled exhausts that is, it just add a lot to a finished look. Looking great John.