1:46 P-400 Airacobra - 67th Fighter Squadron - Guadalcanal (Aug 1942) [COMPLETED BUILD]

J

JohnR

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As I patiently wait for my care package from Model Expo to arrive (probably sometime after the turn of the year), I was wondering what to do to occupy my time. About a week ago I was wandering around in a local thrift shop and found a model by a US company called Atlantis. I'd never heard of the company but the model intrigued me - the P-39 Airacobra. What especially intrigued me was the artwork on the box which led me to do some internet research.

The plane (P-39 and P-400) was flown by the USAAF 67th Fighter Squadron from 1942 into late 1943/early 1944. The 67th operated in the South Pacific theater mostly in and around the Solomon Islands. The P-400 was the export variant of the P-39 and was intended for UK use. Unlike the P-39, which had a 37mm cannon firing through the nose, the P-400 had a 20mm cannon. I knew a little of the history of the type on Guadalcanal from my time in the US Marines and my interest in WWII in the Pacific, but what my research turned up was interesting. The 67th Fighter Squadron was the first US Army Air Forces (USAAF) squadron to arrive on Guadalcanal and 3 of the squadron's airplanes played a pivotal part in the Battle of Bloody Ridge in mid-September 1942. My research turned up a painting of that flight of 3 P-400s so I decided to build my kit as a P-400 on the ground just before takeoff.

The kit had a few issues with some of the pieces - casting holes in the 2 figures and a lot of excess flashing - and a couple of items (instrument panel and engine access panel behind the pilot) were not provided. The holes were solved with some modeling putty and the missing pieces simulated with pieces cut from some old ice cream bar sticks that I've been saving. Because the image of the painting I was following did not show the belly drop tank on the 3 aircraft I decided to leave it off - another hole to fill. I also filled the hole provided for the stand that came with the model; no need for it in a diarama.

The P-39/P-400 aircraft has its engine mounted behind the pilot with armament (rather large cannon and 2 machine guns) and ammo installed front of the pilot. In an actual aircraft, the forward weight would offset the engine weight and the aircraft would sit properly on its tricycle landing gear. Unfortunately the center of gravity of the model is all rearward so steps needed to be taken to counteract the rearward weight distribution. Not having any modeling clay I installed a suitable bolt with 3 nuts just behind the propeller. Unfortunately, once the fuselage, wings and empennage were all glued together that did not prove to be enough counterweight - the model was still tail heavy. Luckily with the landing gear down I was able to glue 4 more nuts into the forward part of the wing (2 on each side of the fuselage) allowing the model to sit properly on its landing gear. To make painting somewhat easier I primed everything (except the inside of the fuselage) with gray automotive primer

I still have painting to do (brown & green camouflage on the upper surface of the wings and empennage), decals to be added and the diorama of a part of Cactus One (Guadalcanal's airstrip) to create. Part of the work will involve creating my own decals (squadron insignia and 'US ARMY') since neither is in the supplied decal pack. I'll also rework the aircraft registration and tail number to reflect those from one of the aircraft in the painting. (Research showed that the P-400s at Guadalcanal, in addition to the shark mouth markings, had the squadron insignia [a fighting cock] painted on the doors of their P-400s.)

So more work still to do. Next time I post I'll have pics of the finished diorama.

Happy holidays to all!

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I was absent for the forum for some time
Renovation of the basement, here go my model work shop, operation on both eyes and strike of the day care so pappy on guard duty.
And well accumulation of over 40y of may be one days and will keep this just in case it happen that in my treasure stack (lady garbage of course) was of over 20y of Scale Modeller and Military modeller revue.

So before putting them to the recycling I look at them and it just append that 2 days ago I read that article in Scale Modeler October 1995 about a P39 1/32 flow by British ace Eddie J. Gracie in 1941

With the P38 the P39 are my favourites plane sad that we do not see the P39 more often
 
20211224

98% complete. The only thing still to do is the decals I made this morning (fighting cocks for the doors and ‘U.S. ARMY’ for the underside of the wings). I’ll finish the decals tomorrow.

The diorama base is intended to represent the Cactus airstrip at Guadalcanal. Along with a palm tree in the background, the diorama includes some coconut tree trunks and part of a sandbagged area with a couple of fuel drums. The base of the diorama is covered with some construction sand from a pile up the street. I found the sandpile after ordering some modeling sand on line (which I’ll keep around for a future projects). I baked the sand in the oven for about 30 minutes to drive off any excess water. The sandbags and grass tufts I picked up earlier this week at a local modeling shop. The fuel drums & palm trees were purchased on-line.

The paints I used for the plane and the diorama are all just ones I had laying around from earlier airplane projects.

Once I get the decals applied and the fuel drums added (just arrived today; being assembled), I’ll add a last set of photos to this log.

(My care package from Model Expo arrived 2 days ago – 2 engines, another small boat and the Wright Flyer. Will get started on the Flyer next.)


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JohnR said:
20211224

Model & diorama complete. Squadron insignia decal not perfect (door background too dark) but all-in-all it looks OK. Had fun with the project.

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Outstanding ship and presentation. Takes me back to thinking about my father who had been embedded in the interior of China to train Chinese troops repelling the westward invasion by the Japanese 1942 - 44. He vary rarely spoke of it but I recall his mentioning of Chennalt and the P-40s. Well done! Rich (PT-2)
 
PT-2 said:
Outstanding ship and presentation. Takes me back to thinking about my father who had been embedded in the interior of China to train Chinese troops repelling the westward invasion by the Japanese 1942 - 44. He vary rarely spoke of it but I recall his mentioning of Chennalt and the P-40s. Well done! Rich (PT-2)
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Pay tribute to your father as a Chinese
 
This is a beautiful airplane. The model is very well made. It has an unforgettable large-caliber cannon. I remember that these types of airplanes have also assisted the Soviet Air Force a lot and produced a few ace pilots.
 
JohnR,
Can I ask you a question? Why did you paint the half-fuselages before gluing them together? I have a long experience in building airplane models (almost similar to that for wooden ship models), and have never painted before gluing the whole model. The problem could arise after gluing with joints that do not perfectly match each other, so it is necessary to putty and then re-paint again ... This is the first time that I have seen the semi-fuselages detached but painted. Could you explain to me why?

Anyway, great job!


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fj3131030 said:
It may be a translation software problem. My original intention was that as a Chinese, I would like to express my gratitude and respect to your father for helping China during World War II.
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Thank you very much for your recognition of his service. Rich (PT-2)
 
Rich (PT-2) - I had a 2nd cousin who flew p-40s and P-51s with the 14th AF in China (1943-45). I never met him but listened to my Dad tell me stories he'd been told. I have a letter he sent my Dad that is signed both with his name and his chop.

The Sailor - Not sure exactly why I did all the fuselage painting before assembly. I know it's not the normal way of doing things; just seemed that it would work. I dry fit the model numerous times before (& after) painting to make sure the fit was good. When doing the priming (spray can) I made sure both halves were flat against the bottom of the box I used to contain the spray (I could have taped off the joining surfaces but didn't think about that at the time).
 
I understood that it wasn't without reason the P39/P49 wasn't seen either in Western Europe airwar theater or (in a lesser extent) the Pacific theater; it lacked altitude performance. For escorting bombers to Germany and Japan this was a big issue, the P51, the P47 and the P38 were easily outperforming the Airacobra and, what's worse, so did their counterparts of the Luftwaffe and the Japanese Imperial Airforce.
The Russians were not too worried with its altitude limitations and used the P39/P40 extensively on the eastern front.
A unique design, that's certain, but beautiful, that's a matter of personal taste, I'm afraid.
 
RDN1954 said:
I understood that it wasn't without reason the P39/P49 wasn't seen either in Western Europe airwar theater or (in a lesser extent) the Pacific theater; it lacked altitude performance. For escorting bombers to Germany and Japan this was a big issue, the P51, the P47 and the P38 were easily outperforming the Airacobra and, what's worse, so did their counterparts of the Luftwaffe and the Japanese Imperial Airforce.
The Russians were not too worried with its altitude limitations and used the P39/P40 extensively on the eastern front.
A unique design, that's certain, but beautiful, that's a matter of personal taste, I'm afraid.
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I believe the P-39 was initially designed as a ground-attack aircraft and that's the reason for the big cannon. At the start of WWII, though, there was a real shortage of available aircraft, so things were thrown into roles they weren't designed for. That's one of the things I think is cool about the story of the Cactus Airforce. The Russians liked it because they used ground attack aircraft extensively on the Eastern Front. An interesting thing about the P-39 in the Pacific is that PT boat crews, looking to up gun their boats to fight the Japanese supply barges, initially started using the cannon pulled from wrecked aircraft on their boats. It worked out so well that the cannon soon became standard issue for PTs.
 
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