AM,1/48,P-400 Airacobra,Howard,Zephyrhills,Fla,USA

[daddy1]

Dedicating this build to the brave men of the Cactus Air Force , Guadalcanal 1942.
Plan on a pretty much OOB build with possibly some aftermarket decals or may print up my own.
Count on a well weathered Airacobra. The conditions in the South Pacific were very harsh and the birds showed it.

[daddy1]

Here are some current WIP pics.

When painting the assorted details, I'll often custom mix colors to create various shades/ tones . The 'fabric' boot for the control stick is a mix of faded olive and dark tan.

Another custom mix is adding drops of gloss black to the flat ,again creating different tones of the same color.

The seat was lacking the down tubes , so I made these from stretched sprue. When the seat is installed, they will be quite convincing.

All the different colors and shades of color will be brought together with washes and drybrushing.


I'm sticking with the original OOB guidlines as I feel it's not restrictive but skill building. I love the detailed aftermarket stuff that's out there , but I think it's created alot of scale assemblers.
Coming up with simple enhancements , using whats in the parts box or around the house, imagination ,"figureing out how to do it",plus sound basic skills will produce models of an outstanding level. Without spending the national debt. Just my two cents worth.
Howard

[daddy1]

Completed thingypit.
I often will use my kids water color paints in black and brown for washes as they are easy to use and very forgiving.
Also, since I'm building an aircraft operated in often muddy conditions, I stippled dark tan and light sand on the floor of the thingypit to simulate muddy foot traffic.
The seat belts are made from paper strips and bits of stretched sprue. Not rivet counter accurate , but a good representaion. Which is what I'm after with this build.
Here are the pics.







Started on wing assembly , will post more pics soon.
Howard

[daddy1]

Current pics of the build.
First some preliminary detail paintng and washes on the wings.





Almost forgot to add weight to the nose. I use scraps from the lead boots roofers put over vent pipes where they come through the roof. They are also inexpencive to purchase at the local home builders store and one would last almost forever.
I like the material because of it's soft flat shape . Can be cut,rolled, formed and shaped to fit about anywhere you need to put some lead weight.

Wings attached. Had a small gap At the roots which I shimmed with strips of sheet plastic. will trim off excess and sand smooth.











More to come,
Howard

[daddy1]

Update pics of build.
I've sanded seams, applied putty where needed. The usual spots on most kits. Although this Accurate Minatures/Eduard kit ,the fit is pretty good.
The first couple pics show a second 'skim' coat of spot filler before sanding. In background is canopy waiting for a dip in Future to dry.



Seams sanded, just need to rescribe and clean out some of the panel lines/detail.

Canopy and doors after coat of Future floor polish.

Should have this buttoned up and start painting in a couple days. I'm going to have fun weathering this one to Guadalcanal conditions. One reason WWII warbirds are my favorites. You can usually dirty them up pretty well, and they look the part.
Howard

[daddy1]

Update pics .
Decided to install prop hub before paint. Why? Because it was there I guess.
Noticed this kit didn't provide any sort of retainer for the spinner base. Made one from plastic sheet using my Micro-mark punch set. works quite well.
While on the subject of sheet plastic, I use car dealer tags made of styrene sheet. Another inexpensive source are the "For Sale", "No Smoking", etc. signs available at the local home improvement store. I've noticed the various signs come in different thickness and one sign gives you alot of sheet stock for very little cost.



Punch set from Micro-mark tools. A very handy item.

Panel lines rescribed, cleaned up and masked, ready for paint.



I often will mask canopys with 50/50 mix Elmers white glue and Liquimask. Using a 0 brush and 0000 brush for the really tight spots and corners. Notice how the Elmers drys to a dull finish. Any missed spots in the mask show right up, allowing for easy touch-up to the mask.

Instead of preshading, I'm exprementing with a prewash of Model Master flat black.



Underside painted and masked , ready to start painting camo topside.
Since the P-400s were basically re acquired lend-lease from the British, it makes sense to me the underside should be RAF sky type s , with RAF dark green and dark earth topside.

Dark earth being masked in prep for the dark green.
A referenc pic I found of Fancy Nancy at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, clearly shows a defined color line on one side of the aircraft. The reason I'm masking for a hard camo pattern.

Build progressing along nicely . Once I get past the paint and weathering , it shouldn't take too long to finish this one up.
Howard

[daddy1]

Have "Fancy Nancy" painted awaiting a coat of Future , then the decals. Here's the pics.

Front quarter view. I ended up masking off the dark earth with my half/half mix of Elmers and Micro Mask hand brushed. The red masking tape on the nose is to keep a clean mating surface for the prop blades and spinner.

Rear quarter view. Since the P-400s were recalled British Airacobras and also based on a photo of the actual aircraft at Henderson field, I decided to represent where the fin flash would have been painted over with U.S.Army green drab.
I masked off the area on the tail fin and hand brushed with a #1 brush dampened in thinner to achieve a texture of hand painting since the flashes on the actual aircraft were probably hand brushed.
I will also hand brush over the the center of the national insignia with white to simulate the phased out red center being painted over under Henderson Fields bare bones conditions in 1942.

Underside view.

Didn't realize I'd run out of flat insignia white for the wing tips and prop spinner. Had to use gloss, but that will even out with the clear coats and final clear dull coats.
Looking forward to getting the decals on this bird and start weathering. It's going to dirty up nicely.
Howard

[daddy1]

Fresh WIP pics
Decal central

When applying many small decals such as these stencils, I keep track crossing off the instruction sheet applied decals.

Decaled up, with a coat of Future, waiting washes, filters and other weathering.

First, a wash with a mix of ModelMaster flat black/Testors rubber.





After wiping off excess wash with thinner dampened rag.



Next I'll apply some dot filters with light colors on top surfaces, darker grays and browns on bottem. Then blend colors with a thinner dampened brush . This technique should give this warbird a nice faded, splotcy, weathered apperance.
Then I'll give it a good coat of clear flat, and another layer of weathering.
Howard

[daddy1]

Fresh WIP pics.
Looks pretty scary , but there is a method here.
First, I apply random splotches of paint over the entire model. Lighter colors( white, yellow, tan, gray) on the upper portions working to darker colors ( dk.gray, dk brown, black) on the lower.



After a little dry time, I dampen a broad soft brush with thinner and remove the splotches of paint, working from top to bottem, front to back . Basically following the direction of gravity and airflow.



The goal is not to tint the finish, but to give it a dirtier/ aged look as seen in the next two pics.



I also like to add some paint chips and wear in stages.
Here I've stippled some aluminum on the leading edges of the wings and a few other areas. A coat of clear flat will dull these "chips" giving them an aged look as well.
After the flat clear , I'll add some fresh "paint chips" during final weathering. The effect should be of wear over time.

Removing masks after a couple coats of flat. Gently lift a corner and peel away. A toothpick works great to clean up any edges.



Removing all the masks is one of my favorite moments in a build. Finally seeing the effect of the paint scheme in contrast with interior views starts the model to looking complete.
I inadvertantly overapplied the flat clear a little in a couple spots. Although ,I think it works for me by giving the finish a more faded/worn apperance.





Next to build up the undercarriage , exhaust , and other fiddly bits.
Howard

[daddy1]

More WIP pics. Getting close to complete.
I like to vary the color of different parts a little.
Here, I started with MM interior green, then altered the base color by adding a little chromate green , olive green , and even chromate yellow to the various pieces. The effect is subtle and brought together with of black/brown and maybe a light drybrush of aluminum.

I use Testors rubber mixed with flat black for tires. I vary the mix depending on how "new/used" I want the tires to look.

In this case ,I overcoated the tires with Krylon matte clear . By going a little heavy , I was able to get the greyish look of aged tires.



This side of the hubs recieved a coat of MM steel , a light dry brush of aluminum and a wash of black,and rust.

I base coated the marker lights and exhaust with MM chrome silver in prep of thier final painting.







For the marker lights , I mixed a few drops of water based acrylics with Future for a semi-transparent paint of the appropriate colors.







For the exhaust , I created a wash with thinned Future and some air brush acryl.s I have on hand.

Starting with blue. build up color to desired level.

Add red to create the purple tones of heated metal.

Then add yellow to get the straw and brown tones.



Then a light dry brush with Tetors rust and a very light drybrush with MM jet exhaust. This technique can be varyied to represent different degrees of weathered exhaust stacks and manifolds. Great for car exhaust too.



The prop blades and bomb have had the Krylon overcoat treatment for a faded look.
The prop blades have also gotten a rubbing of graphite from a #2 pencil.



The completed wheels with dry brushed "mud" of various tans and sand colors.





Not too much farther . Mostly down to adding all the fiddly bits and finishing up the weathering.
Howard

[daddy1]

((COMPLETE)) Final pics!
Fun build. Went together nicely. Kit had a few quirks that were easily handled. After spending the past couple years pretty much scratchbuilding the interior of a 1/48 scale B-24 and a "what if?" 1/48 unlimited F-82 air racer , it's a nice change to build OOB.
I really enjoyed dirtying this one up to represent the harsh operational conditions at Henderson Field in 1942/43.
While the Airacobra didn't share the fame and glory of many other warbirds of the era. It did help carry the load till more advanced designs came along.
Enough rambling , enjoy the pics.
Howard

[Herb Gara]

Fantastic build Howard!

[daddy1]

Thanks Herb.
I recently purchased Academy's P-38F Glacier Girl kit. But, instead of building the Girl, this Airacobra build has me inspired to build a Lightning flying from Henderson or one of the other airfields in the south Pacific. Another one to dirty up.LOL
I like weathered warbirds. I think it adds character and sort of tells a story.
Howard

[Herb Gara]

Congratulations! You have won second place. Please contact ModelMakerZ at:
[e-mail]
to claim your prize.

Herb

[daddy1]

Apologies for not replying sooner. Had some computer glitches here that took a few days to resolve.
I'm very honored to be chosen as second in what must have been a difficult to judge contest. They're all great looking models.
I will be looking forward to future contests either as a participant or an observer. Always enjoy seeing how different modelers approach various challenges. A wonderful , skill building learning tool.
Howard