Најважније вести

Miguel Vaquero
Next proyect, this beautiful pre war plane. I've always liked this plane, so when I saw this kit fairly cheap I couldn't resist to buy it. I will make camouflage pattern, even though the book comes with two livery possibilities. This time around, the build Is going to be completely out of the box.

Ben M
The stripe livery on the box looks pretty sharp too

Doubtingmango
Watching!

Miguel Vaquero
I don know what I'm going to do Ben. I love the stripes too, but I don't like the plain green camouflage. Maybe I'll combine the stripes with something different to at least use them.

Ben M
It'll look great no matter what. The plane has very clean lines!

Miguel Vaquero
I'm loving this kit so far. The only downside is the amount of flash, and that the fit with some of the parts is a little bit bad. Nothing that some time and love can't fix. I think so far it's turning out pretty good

Robert Podkoński
Good job so far, Miguel. Keep it up! In fact, this type was used pre-war, during war and build in Poland (under license as CSS-13) post-war too. Here you can find some close-ups of the one kept in Herringsdorf collection:
Hangar 10 | Album by podkon

Miguel Vaquero
Thank you Robert. Those are some amazing photos. The striped engine is so cool, being able to see all the parts in its glory. I'm sure I'll use those pictures for the rigging later on. Here in Spain we also have one, and flying!! They are truly wonderful pieces of history.

Ben M
Wow, looking good!

Miguel Vaquero
Thanks Ben!

A lot of advances on the build now. I finally decided to make the box livery, and I'm not regretting It a bit, it just beautiful. All the main exterior paint is donde and decals in place. Although I'm a little bit bad with large decals, and I ended up painting the stripes with the airbrush. At the end I think its turning out lovely

Miguel Vaquero
3/4 of the model done. Only left is the upper wing and rigging. Then some minor weathering this time and I'll call it good. I'm enjoying a lot this build. The only thing Ive had problems is the flash on smaller parts, and how delicate they are when removing that flash. Also some pieces have problems with fittings but is not the norm. Overall it's a really well designed kit, with some flaws, but nothing that cant be worked around

Michael Kohl
Impressive progress so far.

Lochsa River
very cool and fun to watch the dirt and rust....

Dietmar Bogatzki
Fantastic build so far 👍

Qwertzel
Looks fantastic

Robert Podkoński
Awesome job so far! Keep it up!

David Taylor
Brill.

Meister
Very good!

Neuling
Top notch!

Michael Kohl
I can only repeat my comment from March: impressive.

Robert Podkoński
Great job indeed!

Nicolas
Following

Robert Podkoński
Me 2!

Marcin Dudek
👀 3rd

Dave Burgess
So now the FUN begins! Turning the P-39 wing into a (laminar flow) P-76 wing! I found a cheap P-51 kit ($13 CAD) to sacrifice. I'll need to cut out and fill in the P-51 landing gear wells, chop off the wingtips to reduce the wing span to ~36 scale feet (35'10"), cut out the P-39's gear wells, chop holes in the P-51's wings to mount the P-39 gear wells, and remove the leading and trailing edges of the P-39 wing root to mate up with the P-51 wing so it matched the P-39 fuselage. Also because the gear wells in the '39 are further back than the P-51, and the flaps on the P-51 are molded as one piece not two, the rear of the gear wells extends into the flap space, so I'll have to toss the flaps and fill that space with sheet styrene. Piece of cake! (Yeah, right!)

Guy Rump
Following as well! 👍

Dave Burgess
Step 1: Chop both the P-39 and P-51 lower wing into the component parts. I want to keep the P-39 wheel wells, and rear and forward centre so they will mate to the P-39 fuselage

Dave Burgess
Step 2: I re-sorted the wing components to prepare assembling the XP-39E/P-76 wing.

Dave Burgess
Step 3: glue all the bits together; re-invorced with styrene strip

Dave Burgess
Step 4: a WHOLE BUNCH of puttying! in retrospect I probably didn't need to do so much disassembling of the P-39 wing, but I wasn't sure where it was going at the time.

Dave Burgess
Step 5: Now I have to chop the tail off the P-39 and fit on the P-51 tail. I think this will probably be the easiest approach here. I also have to lengthen the fuselage by 24 inches or 24/72 - 1/3". Fortunately the rear and front of the wing bottom match up well to the fuselage wing fillets, suggesting to me that my wing mods were pretty accurate.

Robert Podkoński
Photos #4-6 terrified me... 😉 Great job, Dave!

Dave Burgess
Thanks, Robert. Y'know, the first time I decided to to a mod that required me to cut up a new kit, that was EXACTLY my reaction. I was terrified that I was going to destroy a perfectly good kit and have to throw it away. And that was only one kit - this one required me to cut up TWO!. Several decades of model building and multiple mods have given me the confidence to do these mods, knowing that while it may look a hot mess when it's in progress, with a little sheet styrene and some putty, I can pull it off, and most people wouldn't be the wiser.

Dave Burgess
Step 6: Wing and fuselage have now been modified for XP-39E / P-76; Still looking a bit rough; some sanding to do before I mate the wing & fuselage.

Dave Burgess
Step 7: Modified fuselage mated to modified wing. more putty applied. I have to sand down the wing fillets, a couple of low spots on the wing underside, and feather in the new (P-51) tail into the rest of the fuselage. Then, my favourite job: painting and decaling! I'm still trying to decide whether to just paint the XP-39E as it is in the photos, or dress it up as a P-76 in US or Soviet markings (which is probably where the P-76 would have ended up). I'm leaning towards the latter, because the only photo I could find of the XP-39E is this B&W one.

Dave Burgess
Three more rounds of putty & sanding to smooth out some rough patches; Canopy masked and attached; ready for airbrushing!

Robert Podkoński
Looks great already. Fantastic job, Dave!

Dave Burgess
So there it is folks! After a long chop, putty, much sanding, and just generally fiddling about, a P-39D converted to a XP-39E / P-76. Bell never actually got a contract for the Bell- P-76, which was what the XP-39E was to be designated when it entered production. However the production contract for 4000 aircraft was cancelled (to allow Bell Aircraft to concentrate on bomber production), but much of the development of the XP-39E ended up in the P-63, including the more powerful engine, lengthened fuselage and wings, and I believe the supercharger which was removed from the P-39's design, which was restored. The one adaptation in the XP-39E that DIDN'T get incorporated into the P-63 was the straight (clipped) wing tips and tail surfaces. All-in-all, it was a REALLY fun build, especially watching the ugly duck grow into a swan!

Guy Rump
Great job and very interesting, congrats! 👍

Robert Podkoński
That was quick! Fantastic job, Dave!