Our Filipino friend Enzo Acorda built a P-39Q Airacobra model in Soviet livery with a beautiful nose-art depicting an eagle over the sea against the setting sun.
We invite to the Gallery!
Enzo Acorda wrote:
First build of the year! This is Arma Hobby’s P-39Q done as a Soviet Airacobra flown by Vyacheslav Sirotin. Decals are by Foxbot Decals and they were excellent!
The kit was not as easy as the Ki-84 I built before the Airacobra. Lots of careful dry-fitting, drilling and paying close attention to the manual had to be done. Some assemblies look intimidating but the kit was so cleverly designed and it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be.
Paints are the usual Mr. Color Olive Drab and Neutral Grey. I did use Gunze 304 mixed with khaki in some areas to lighten the panels or give them a faded look.
Weathering was done with oils and Tamiya Enamels. I used buff, tan and a lot of browns along the wing roots and other parts that would’ve had dirt and dust thrown around them. The exhaust stains were airbrushed with Tamiya enamel (XF-1 and XF-57). I would start by airbrushing flat black thinly, following the direction of the exhaust stains shown in my references. Once it had dried, I would spray a tiny amount of buff down the centre.
Overall, this kit was a fun build. Not the easiest to work on but it was a lot of fun to work with. I’ve got another Arma’s P-39Q and their P-400 on the shelf. Looking to work on them again at some point.
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Enzo – excellent work! I thought it was blue circle, but orange sunset looks much better and reasonable. Thank you for sharing!
Excellent demonstration of quality of Arma Hobby kit. Great looking P-39 Airacobra!
But for modellers with future projects i want to pay attention that correct plane modification and differences between should be taken in to consideration. I absolutely agree that V.F. Sirotin Airacobra was “Q” modification, so the both wings shouldn’t have sleeve spillways inherent to “N” modification. Most, if not all, the Q modifications had reinforcement plates on the tail and rear part of fuselage (could be done on US factory or modified while in service, here can be difference in painting). If you make Q-25 modification, as Sirotin, you need to know that it had three-code light on lower tip of right wing which the Q-15 had not, and the propeller was changed from 3-blade to 4-blade Aeroproducts propeller(don’t be confused with p-63 kingcobra, checking pictures of Sirotin, you can find the construction difference in gun outlet and gun cooling vents at nose section which were presented on P-39).
The author did a great job by demonstrating us the beauty of this plane and make it feel like real one!