1:48 Bell P-39Q Airacobra

The real subject

The Bell P-39 Airacobra was an odd sight among the fighters of its day. It carried its engine in the middle of the fuselage behind the pilot's cockpit and drove the propeller through a long shaft run under the cockpit floor. The nose thus freed received nosewheel landing gear, still unusual at the time, and a cannon firing through the hollow propeller shaft. You got into the cockpit through side doors as into a car, because the canopy did not slide back. The Q version belongs to the late production series of this type.

What the set offers

This is a photo-etched set of metal parts in 1:48 scale. The parts are made by etching thin sheet away, so they have a thickness injection-molded plastic cannot match. They suit everywhere the material on the model should look thin and the edges crisp. The individual parts are held on thin tabs in a fret and are cut out of it before use.

Building and painting tips

Use a sharp blade and a hard surface, because nippers will bend thin sheet. Level the remains of a tab with fine sandpaper. Make the bends along the scored lines, best in a bender or between two blades, and make them in one movement. Join metal with cyanoacrylate glue; cement for plastic has no effect on it. Degrease the surface before painting and apply a primer.

Who it is for

The set will be valued by modelers who find the box contents lacking in fineness in the cockpit and on small equipment. The work is small but in 1:48 scale well within reach even for someone starting out with photo-etch. The kit, paints and glue are not part of the delivery, unless stated otherwise.