P-39Q Airacobra – Gallery – Darek Bondyra

The only Polish flying Airacobra during its service as a personal aeroplane of the post-WWII Polish “people’s” aviation’s commander apparently had at least two marking schemes. One of them, less colourful, was used on Wojtek Bułhak’s model shown here few weeks ago. This time we present you the other one, with a more extravagant livery – built by Darek Bondyra.

About his project Darek wrote:

Recently, a new model kit from the Arma Hobby stable had its premiere. This time it is a 1/72 scale P-39Q Airacobra (70055). The design of this aeroplane itself is extremely interesting, and an additional advantage, in my case, is that it is possible to build a model in Polish colours, so it fits perfectly into my collection. It is true that Soviet Russian general Fyodor Polynin can hardly be called a Pole, but at least he was the commander of the “people’s” Polish Air Force for two years, and the aeroplane was marked with the Polish checkerboards, so the choice of the version of the camouflage and marking was simple.

I buit the model without any aftermarket additions, “straight out of the box”. The construction itself went very smoothly and did not cause any problems. The fit of the parts is very good, and I used the putty only in a few places and in symbolic amounts. I modified the rudder and elevator surfaces a bit by sanding the “ribs”, they seemed too large to me and I had the impression that they did not look natural, especially at this scale.

As I mentioned before, the model is supposed to represent the personal aeroplane of the 1945 Polish “people’s” aviation commander, general Fyodor Polynin. It is true that there is a photographic documentation of this specimen, but as it often happens, there are some discrepancies in the literature as to the details of the painting scheme. I decided to choose the more colourful version of the camouflage, it seems more interesting to me, and I will not arbitrate whether it is correct.