Barnett Out of the Box - Kit and Accessory Reviews

When Rodents and Pests and Pack Animals Ruled the Skies – the world-shaking Polikarpov I-16 by Eduard

2008-01-19T23:56:00.000-08:00

IPMS Life Member 5544

It’s hard to imagine that the “prehistoric” Soviet Union created – barely 15 years after its own birth – the world’s best fighter aircraft, and arguably the first “modern” fighter. It had double the armament of the typical biplane, it had retractable landing gear, a single cantilever wing and – in some versions, though this was disliked by pilots because of the low quality of the clear panels, a fully-enclosed cockpit. When you think of Russian winters, you have to realize how bad these canopies must have been in order for the pilots to ask to have them removed.

Soviet Russia wasted no time in mass-producing the I-16 in a bewildering variety of types and sub-types – 30 or more, though some were produced in small numbers – and it wasn’t long before they gained their baptism of fire in the skies over Spain. There, they were called the Mosca (Fly) or Rata (Rat) – while others referred to it as “the little donkey.” Hardly the kind of names to inspire respect among allies or fear among enemies, but when they debuted over Spain, they were quite literally the best operational fighter aircraft in the world. They held an ascendancy over all comers until Germany rushed prototype versions of the Messerschmitt Bf-109 into combat – prematurely, but they had to do something to replace their bullseye-sporting Heinkel 51 biplane “targets.” The I-16 out-gunned the earliest Messerschmitts, but because these new birds were a fully generation more modern, it wasn’t long before the I-16s had to look for easier targets than the Luftwaffe’s Messerschmitt-escorted bomber flights.

The I-16 had a new lease on its combat life in the skies over the Siberian-Chinese border, in a “skirmish” with the Japanese – a skirmish that was far larger in scope than the much more widely-known Spanish Civil War. Here again, the Polikarpovs “cleaned up,” proving more than a match for the Japanese Army’s biplane and fixed-gear monoplane fighters, even when flown by the best pilots in Japanese service. This war earned future Marshall Zukov his spurs, and proved the swan-song of the Polikarpov as a first-class front-line fighter. By the time of the Winter War with Finland in 1940, the I-16 was showing its age – and against the mature Messerschmitt Bf-109 E and F model fighters, it was painfully outclassed. Nonetheless, the rugged I-16 soldiered on in a bewildering variety of combat roles until 1943 – and in the hands of skilled combat pilots, it still proved an ace-maker, even against the vaunted Luftwaffe Experten. Check out Osprey’s “Aces” series to see just how effective this obsolete plane could be in the hands of skilled and motivated defenders of the Soviet Rodina – the sacred Motherland.

While it remained in combat three years longer than “reality” should have allowed, in its day the Polikarpov I-16 was the class of the world – and Eduard decided to honor this with their first “Royal Class” kit, a three-kits-in-one package that includes everything else you need to build great-looking Rats and Flies and little Donkeys. This includes colored PE, paint masks, decals for an even dozen different fighters (I prefer the black-and-green camouflaged fighters myself, but they’re all good looking). Bonuses include a replica of a Red Army medal, an original (and complete) CD-ROM game – IL-2 – and a 1/16^th Scale pilot figure, which is also sold separately as Lt. Colonel Boris F. Safonov, the Soviet Navy Northern Fleet fighter ace and one of the best-known Soviet fliers. This kit (which, as I said, is also sold separately) includes two sprues of exceptionally well-rendered plastic, plus a small PE set to better show belts and straps that seemed to cover the Soviet pilot’s flight kit.

This is one hell of a deal – collectors will love the fact that there were only 1,000 numbered kits made, and builders will want to add a flight of brightly-colored Polikarpovs to their collection of 1/48^th scale fighters. This plane made history 70 years ago – this kit is making history all over again. If you like the I-16 a lot, this is the kit for you.

Transition This – a Biplane Fighter Still Serving in 1944

2008-01-19T23:14:00.000-08:00

Those who’ve read my aircraft reviews (both of you) know that I like to focus on what I call “transition-era” aircraft – those that bridge the gap between an older and a newer generation (generally the first of its kind, or the last of its kind). The transition-era P-36/P-40 is a first-generation “modern” fighter, with an enclosed cockpit, a single cantilever wing and retractable landing gear. However, this review is about one at the other end of the scale – a fixed-gear biplane fighter that served operationally as late as 1944, long after far more powerful fighters had come on the scene. Despite its rampant obsolescence, in the right hands (and against the right enemy) this plane, the Avia B.534, could still function on the Eastern Front battlefield.

The Avia was a fixed-gear, single-bay biplane – but it had an enclosed cockpit and more armament than was common for biplane fighters – in this, it bridged the gap between eras as one of the last of the biplane fighters (and perhaps THE last one to see combat use, when it served on both sides during the Slovak uprising of August-November, 1944 – that bravely futile effort for the nationalistic Slovaks to throw off the Nazi shackles and join the fight on the Allied side. During that fight, one Avia scored the last combat air-to-air victory for a biplane, shooting down a Hungarian transport aircraft. Not bad for a plane that was designed in 1934 and in widespread squadron service in 1937 – a lifetime in terms of air combat capabilities.

Eduard, the Czech-based model manufacturer, put its heart and soul into this kit – not surprising, as the Avia B-534 is to the Czechs what the Spitfire and Hurricane were to the British – the definitive home-grown fighter aircraft of the war. Eduard manufactures a superb kit – it’s no secret that I’m a big fan – but this one is better than most, and that’s saying a lot. Subtle details, such as pre-drilled holes for the rigging (a godsend to those of us who often shy away from biplanes because of the rigging hassles) abound. The kit has three plastic sprues in one bag, a clear sprue in another, colored PE, masks and the typically superb Eduard decals, offering three 1937-version fighters and one from the 1944 Slovak uprising. This is an attractive, sleek and colorful aircraft – it will dress up any 1/48^th scale collection of WW-II fighters – and the kit itself is a dream to build. If you’re the kind of modeler who couldn’t wait to build the 1/48^th Gladiator a few years ago, you’ll want to scarf this one up and build at least one. I’m planning on building two – the ragged, rugged Slovak one is a sentimental “must” but the colorful and pristine prewar fighters are show-stoppers for sure.

Do You Like Irony? … The Bird Nobody Wanted Became the Best Operational Piston-Engined Fighter the Luftwaffe Used in WW-II - Eduard Kits Great!

2008-01-19T22:43:00.000-08:00

By Ned Barnett

In the late 1930s – and on into the early 1940s – leaders of the Luftwaffe felt that their world-beating Messerschmitt Bf-109 was all the fighter they’d need to win World War II. A match for the vaunted Spitfire and markedly better than every other fighter then in operation, the Bf-109 had the speed, strength and hitting power to knock down anything it came up against. It’s only real drawback was range, but that only mattered during the six weeks of the Battle of Britain – once it was over, range again faded from view as a priority. Back-up fighter? Who needs it?

On this crucible of complacency, a number of promising designs were shelved. The Do-335, for instance, could have been operational before Normandy, and – as the best piston-engined fighter of the war – it would have put the 8^th Air Force in a world of hurt. This fate almost befell the Focke Wulf 190 – it wasn’t “needed” to win Hitler’s lightning war, and was very nearly shelved, especially during the early days when excessive cooling problems made the design seem of dubious value.

Fortunately for the Luftwaffe, and unfortunately for just about everybody else, the Focke Wulf was put into production, and saw squadron service beginning (very slowly beginning) in late 1941 on the Channel Front. Even while chewing over teething problems, this remarkable fighter “put the skeer” in the then-ascendant Supermarine Spitfires, prompting the rush production of the Spitfire V and IX in an attempt to catch up. It was a race the Spitfire would never quite win – every time a better Spitfire came along, a better Focke Wulf wasn’t far behind. If it wasn’t for even better American-built fighters, which started appearing in earnest two years after the Focke Wulf made its debut, the race for fighter excellence in the West would have gone neck-and-neck to the bitter end of the war.

The Focke Wulf was good, but it had its limitations. Its strengths were an ultimately reliable BMW radial engine (though it too had its teething problems), a remarkable ability to mount weapons and carry more of them underwing (something almost impossible for the Messerschmitt, and then only with serious performance penalties – and of course, dogfighting performance. Until the advent of the inline engine-powered Fw-190 D late in the war, the Focke Wulf was not at its best above 20,000 feet, a drawback that became apparent when high altitude American escort fighters began shepherding the 8^th Air Force’s heavy bomber fleets to Germany and back. However, it could hold its own for most of the war – in the right hands, the Fw-190 A-model fighters were always a threat – and in later A and F models, it was also a remarkably competent and rugged ground attack fighter, eventually replacing the Stuka, especially on the Eastern Front.

What’s not widely known is that the Focke Wulf had one other attribute – its “smallest aircraft that can be built around a powerful radio” design concept inspired the creation of the F8F Bearcat fleet defense fighter, which would have made short work of Kamikazes if the war had lasted into 1946. Some contend that it also inspired the Hawker Sea Fury, but that is one herkin’ big airplane, and I can’t see anything of the Focke Wulf in its sleek-but-oversized lines.

In short, it was a remarkable fighter; and because it was built in large numbers – 20,000, roughly the equivalent of USAAF P-47 Thunderbolt production – it was able to seriously augment the 33,000 Messerschmitts that remained the primary front-line fighter in the Luftwaffe arsenal right up to the end of the war. They were a good pair – two of the smallest fighters that could be built around powerful engines – but the Focke Wulf wasn’t so small that it couldn’t lift amazing ordnance loads when the mission called for iron rain.

There have been a lot of Focke Wulf kits built. One of my first modeling articles (for an IPMS chapter publication, in about 1975) involved a head-to-head review of 1/72^nd Fw-190 kits, and as I recall there were at least a half-dozen different kits involved in that review. Since then, the Focke Wulf has been well-represented in all popular scales, from 1/144^th to 1/32^nd – but there has always been a need for the “ultimate” Focke Wulf in my favorite scale, 1/48^th. Until now.

If someone can kit a better Fw-190 than Eduard, I’ll tip my hat to them – but I expect to keep it on my head for a long, long time. This is, for all its several minor faults (including a challenging build in some areas because of the extensive number of parts used to represent the engine and its plumbing, or the landing gear or cockpit), it is superb. Any Focke Wulf fanatic who doesn’t fall in love with Eduard’s kits has set his standards way too high. However, in case you want more, Eduard has also created a “Big Ed” after-market set for their Focke Wulfs – with more PE than used in your average battleship, plus superb masks and other assorted goodies. Superdetailers need look no further. These Big Ed sets are a guilty pleasure for detail junkies – I can’t recommend them strongly enough.

Eduard has issued three different Focke Wulfs. Pride of place goes to the Fw-190 A-8/R2 Royal Class kit, which includes two full 1/48^th scale kits, along with two sets of PE, two sets of masks, decals for nine different aircraft … plus a replica Knight’s Cross and a piece (small, but really there) of an actual Fw-190. This is the ultimate radial-engined Fw-190 kit – a collectors item in a box for those who collect, and the damnedest set of put-together parts for the serious builder. Highly recommended!

Eduard has also released two stand-alone Focke Wulf kits: the Fw-190 A-5 and the Fw-190 A-8. These are all in 1/48^th scale, and all absolutely fabulous, especially if you love lots of tiny, intricate and exquisitely-molded parts.

These three kits are all basically the same – Eduard has captured the nuanced differences between the A-5, the A-8 and the A-8/R2 – but those merely differentiate a great core model. If you are a Focke Wulf fanatic, and you haven’t yet checked one of these kits out, shame on you. Get your (ahem) in gear down to your local hobby shop or your local Internet Squadron Shop and get one, or several (easy to do with the Royal kit) and start building. You won’t be disappointed.

Revised and Updated: The "Right" Cyclone - The R-1820 - Now in 1/48th by Tecnics

2007-02-04T22:06:00.000-08:00

Revised and Updated: Wright Cyclone R-1820 Engine – Resin & Brass – 1/48th Scale
Tecnics
Review by Ned Barnett
Review Copy by Meteor Productions (www.meteorprod.com)

The Wright Cyclone – the R-1820 – was one of America’s most widely-used aero engines. Cyclones served on every B-17 except the first prototype (which had a Hornet aero engine), as well as every SBD Dauntless/A-24 Banshee and at least some versions of the C-47, the Grumman Wildcat (the Cyclone powered both earliest G-36 for France and Martlet I for the RAF/FAA, as well as the last production FM-2 “Wilder” Wildcat), and the Curtiss Hawk 75/P-36. Finland in particular flew Cyclone and Wasp-powered Hawk 75s in the same units – no doubt a nightmare for the mechanics, but it made sense from an operational standpoint, since that country was cut off from the source. After the war, late-model versions of the R-1820 powered the T-28 trainer and other notable aircraft – a list of all the aircraft that flew with the R-1820 Cyclone would be extensive (and the list of British aircraft that were underpowered because they didn’t use the R-1820 – such as the Blenheim – is very nearly as extensive).

In addition to the many uses of the R-1820 Cyclone, there were licensed versions of this engine produced in the Soviet Union which powered many of their radial-engined fighters, bombers and transports – and there may have been unlicensed versions available as well (I’m still checking this out – the Cyclone seems so ubiquitous that it’s appearance as the powerplant of choice among countries having no commercial ties with the US is hardly surprising). From a modelers’ point of view, knowing that other countries used knock-offs of the Cyclone make a great after-market kit of this formidable powerplant even more useful.

Early versions of this remarkable engine – such as those which powered the earliest B-17s and commercial DC-3s – produced about 750 horsepower at best altitude; late-war and post-war versions, such as those in the “Wilder Wildcat” (the General Motors-built FM-2), produced nearly twice that horsepower – 1450-plus horsepower on the same 1,820 cubic inch displacement. The name says it all: “R” for Radial and “1820” for its displacement (internal volume of all the pistons, together) in cubic inches. The R-1820 was a nine-cylinder single-row air-cooled radial, with a greater frontal area than the similarly-powered 14-cylinder twin-row R-1830 Twin Wasp (which was used to power the B-24, many DC-3s and some of the Wildcats, among many other famous aircraft).

There are many excellent websites that feature photos of the R-1820 – but one of the best recent print-publication sources is the Squadron-Signal “Walk Around” of the SBD Dauntless. There are many superbly-restored (museum-quality) SBDs currently available, and both the color and the B&W photography of the Dauntless’s uncowled R-1820 Cyclone engine will give you both a taste for the potential of a super-detailed engine and the color/painting references you need to make this engine authentic-looking.

In-line water-cooled engines were usually hidden behind streamlined skin panels – they can’t be seen in models unless you open the panels for a maintenance diorama. However, radial engines are open to the front for cooling – unless the propeller has a streamlining spinner (such as is found on the Brewster Buffalo or Hawker’s post-war Sea Fury), the engine details are “out there” for all to see. In 1/48th scale, this can be quite noticeable, which is why so many modelers go to so much trouble to super-detail kit-supplied engines, or to go searching for quality after-market items.

If you need a Cyclone engine and don’t want to add the ignition harness and other details, Tecnics offers an exceptional alternative. Their 1/48th scale resin-and-etched-brass engine is little short of superb. Try as I might, I can’t find any resin pinholes or blemishes in my sample – and the etched brass is finely detailed and delicately to scale, which is a good trick for an ignition harness. As with all resin items, the molding block is a relatively massive affair – you’ll need a skilled hand with a razor saw to separate the engine’s components from their mold-pour blocks.

A word of caution – when you buy this set, be sure to count the number of engine cylinder blocks you get – there should be 10 (giving you 20 cylinders). This extra count is because of the way the cylinders are molded in pairs on a single pour-block – there is one exhaust pipe between each pair of cylinders (but each cylinder needs its own exhaust pipe – which is why Tecnics doubled up on the cylinder pairs). Mine came with just five pairs – enough cylinders for the engine, but only half enough exhaust pipes. However, Meteor Productions is very responsive: if you come up short, drop them a line from their website (www.meteorprod.com) and they’ll rush you the replacement set.

In all likelihood (though I’m tempted to use it in one of my soon-to-be-built 1/48th scale SBD Dauntlesses), this particular after-market engine kit is going into my conversion of the old Monogram F4F to an FM2. I have an ancient resin conversion set (its origins long shrouded in memory’s mist) that I begin building in 1987 on the kitchen table in our house in Tampa (and continued on another kitchen table in Atlanta later that same year – I moved a lot in 1987 – don’t ask). I put aside that conversion before I finished it, waiting an engine worthy of the rest of the kit – and now, just 20 years later, I can move ahead and finish this antediluvian conversion. Or, I could forget the whole thing and put this engine into a new, state-of-the-art FM-2 kit (there’s one on the market I’ve been eyeballing for some time, and I don’t doubt it looks better than even a superb conversion of the old Monogram kit).

Of course, I’ll probably finish the conversion instead (I can build the better kit later – waste not, want not, eh?). To do that right, however, I’ll also have to completely junk the cockpit and landing gear and replace them with after-market items (it’s amazing how far our hobby has come in 20 years!), but I’ve always been a Wildcat fanatic, so updating this as-yet unfinished conversion is no burden – and this Tecnics resin/etched brass set is perfect for it’s intended use. Since the rear facing of the Wildcat’s engine is visible through the landing gear opening, I’ll need those extra cylinder pairs (and exhaust ports) – for most cowled radial engines, they’d have be invisible, but of course, I chose the kit that demands the most detail, front-and-back.

My bottom line is this: I have at least a dozen 1/48th scale kits of planes that use the Wright R-1820 Cyclone – including the B-17 (four engines – and it’s high on my list since I got Eduard’s remarkable “Big Ed” after-market set for the Monogram/Revell B-17G), as well as the C-47 (two engines) and a host of single-engined Cyclone-powered birds (the T-28 leaps to mind, but there are many, many more). At this rate, I may wind up keeping Tecnics in business all by myself, just from purchasing enough of these after-market gems to dress up all those kits.

Revised and Updated: How Did They Do That? Seamless Intakes for Modern Jets

2007-02-04T22:03:00.000-08:00

Revised and Updated:
How Did They Do That?
Seamless Intakes for Modern Jets –
Including the Newest One for the Tamiya 1/32nd Scale Phantom F-4B/C/D/E/F/G/J/N
Cutting Edge Modelworks
Review by Ned Barnett
Review Copy by Meteor Productions

Cutting Edge Modelworks has come up with the most fantastic, completely hollow and totally seamless intakes for modern jet aircraft kits – I’ve never seen anything like this, and I’m frankly blown away by the technology (and its result). I’m not an expert in modern injection-molding technology – if I was, I could tell you how Cutting Edge Modelworks produces seamless one-piece jet engine intakes. They do not appear to be resin – there are no flow-gates our pour-blocks to be removed – yet they’re not on sprues or anything else to suggest a normal polystyrene injection-molding process. They really look like the material found in PVC valves and other plumbing items – a sturdy white plastic material that doesn’t feel brittle – or too soft.

Thirty years ago I worked in industrial development, writing up innovations (and trying to recruit new industries to South Carolina – our motto: “Thank God for Mississippi!”) for the PR arm of the office of the Governor. As editor of the state’s magazine on industrial and economic development, I toured factories around the state that produced injection-molded parts for toys, games and other uses, and know how they produced complex shapes (but not seamless hollow “donuts”). But that was 30 years ago, and I’m totally at a loss to figure out the technology behind how this new seamless-intake series of after-market add-ons was done. Perhaps it’s a kind of magic – if it’s not, it should be, because the results are little short of magical.

Cutting Edge Modelworks – a Meteor Productions brand – has a rapidly-growing list of one-piece jet intakes on the market. They sent me six different ones to review – including the brand-new (and mind-blowingly-large) moldings for the intakes for the Tamiya 1/32nd scale F-4 Phantom (these intakes work for almost every version of the Phantom put into production, a fact that should please conversion fanatics). These after-market seamless intakes are – each one of them – superb examples of the mold-makers’ art. Based on the samples provided to me by Meteor Productions, this product line of after-market seamless intakes seems to be focused on Vietnam-era and more modern aircraft – earlier first-generation or Korean/Cold War-era aircraft are not included (at least not in the samples I received). As a rule, I tend to build “transitional-era” military aircraft – when it comes to combat jets, that pretty much covers those designed from 1943 to 1950. I’ve been known to build the Luftwaffe’s Me 262, Ar 234 and Heinkel He 163 Volksjaeger; the US Army Air Force/USAF’s P-59, P/F-80/T-33/F-94, P/F-84 and P/F-86 (and, of course, Chuck Yeager’s Bell X-1, that sleek and colorful man-carrying .50-caliber machine-gun bullet). Representing the RAF, I tend to build the Gloster Pioneer and Meteor, and the de Havilland Vampire (originally, if you can believe it, known as the “Spider-Crab”); for the US Navy, it’s the Phantom, Banshee, Pirate and Fury; and for the Soviet Union, the MiG 9 and Yak 15.

Yet in spite of the fact that I don’t generally build more modern jets, these Cutting Edge seamless intakes could persuade me to give state-of-the-art jets a try – they are just that good. While I haven’t built a modern jet since Monogram came out with their prototype of the F-16 (well, I did build a 1/200th scale diorama including an F-117 bombing an Iraqi airfield in ’91, but that really counts as a diorama, not a stand-alone model), I’m now tempted to reconsider.

Here’s what Cutting Edge has produced (and sent me for review).

F-4 Phantom – the Tamiya kit in 1/32nd scale: This, they say, is the definitive intake for literally every US version of the Phantom (I think the RAF/FAA Phantom had a different intake for it’s Rolls-Royce-built Spey engine, and it’s not listed in the packaging). These include the F-4B, F4-C, F4-D, F4-E, F4-F, F4-G, F4-J and F4-N versions of the USN and USAF Phantoms. Unlike the other Cutting Edge Modelworks seamless intake products (see below) that have additional parts, such as engine turbine face plates, this set has just the very l-o-n-g intakes (so long and so compound-curved that, presumably, no engine facing could be seen – unless, of course, the Tamiya kit already includes a serviceable turbine face plate).

I make no pretense of knowing that Tamiya kit (except what I’ve read in the hobby trades), but the idea of Tamiya providing extra parts that others would overlook doesn’t surprise me at all. This set is priced at $23 retail – that’s about what all the sets go for (the prices vary, but not much – check the Cutting Edge Modelworks website (www.meteorprod.com) for current pricing). Considering the price tag on the Tamiya kit – and considering how fantastic these intakes look (and they really do NOT have any seams – period), this is a small price to pay for an added measure of perfection.

F-8 Crusader – Hasegawa Kit – 1/48 (not for the Monogram kit): This includes a long and seam-free intake – detailed top and bottom because parts of it are visible from the cockpit and the nose gear openings – a “standard-issue” engine faceplate with rotating compressor blades, and a nose-gear bay that is designed to snug-up against the long intake. The instructions detail what has to be cut away to make room for the intake (this is very clear – not at all confusing); they also include four photos that clearly illustrate the five steps needed in installing the intake and nose gear bay.

A-6/EA-6A/EA-6B (Monogram/Revell) – 1/48: First, the instructions make it clear that these parts are not for the old Airfix kit – and, to quote from the instructions, “… and cannot in any case recommend the Airfix kit.” Refreshing honesty – it could cost them sales, but clearly, they know their models. The instructions include six photos – a fair amount of detailed plastic surgery is needed on the Monogram kit before it’s accurate enough to take these intakes (which are superb in the bag and look even better on the model). The engine facings are very clearly visible down the intake trunks – and the “standard issue” engine face used in all these after-market kits looks effective and authentic. This is enough to make me revisit Vietnam – at least the Intruder – it’s clear that these new parts will really dress up the already-decent kit.

F-15E Strike Eagle (Revell) 1/48: The instructions make it clear that Cutting Edge does not believe that these parts will work EXCEPT with the Revell kit – try any other kit and you’re on your own. The instruction sheet is just large enough to show the minimal plastic surgery needed to fit the new parts into the kit. The detail on these parts is impressive. It felt to me that the instructions could be clearer, but when it comes to chopping up expensive kits, I want to be sure I know what I’m doing before I put saw to plastic. Most modelers won’t have any problem figuring out the way these work. At six parts, this set is the most extensive of the Cutting Edge intake products I’ve seen and reviewed. It is fully up to the standards of the others.

F/A-18E Super Hornet (Revell) 1/48 – This comes with the standard-issue engine face plates and two intakes – and, at least in my version, no instructions. I’m going to take a wild guess here and assume that there’s a one-to-one replacement of parts.

F/A-18 C-D Hornet (Academy) 1/32 – In a larger scale, this set includes the standard-issue engine face plate (with compressor blades), but because of the differing structural geometry of the earlier Hornet, the intake trunks come in two pieces each – a seamless intake lip and a seamless intake pipe. They fit together snuggly and clean up with a minimum of putty and sanding (if you’re careful, “minimum” means none at all). Again, no instructions, leading me to conclude that these are a one-to-one replacement with kit parts.

Bottom line: these are an engineering and production marvel that left me wondering “How did they do that?” They are spectacular enough to lure me back into more modern jet aircraft. If you build jets, check out the online catalog at www.meteorprod.com – if Cutting Edge has a set for your next jet-build, you’d be a damned fool not to invest in this plastic perfection.

P-39: Transitional-Era Fighters Go Head-to-Head in 1/48th Scale

2007-01-31T01:45:00.000-08:00

The Accurate Miniatures P-39 vs. the Hasegawa P-400 Airacobra
Ned Barnett (Review copies provided by author)

The Aircraft

Transitional Era: The P-39 is an ideal example of what I like to call a “transitional-era” fighter. The Airacobra is from the late-1930s-generation of early all-metal, enclosed-cockpit, retractable-gear fighters with a militarily-significant armament (rather than the legacy WW-I-era armament of two rifle-caliber machine guns). This was a generation of fighters that included the American Air Corps P-35, the P-36 Hawk and early P-40 Tomahawks, as well as the Soviet I-16, the Fleet Air Arm’s Fairey Fulmar, the Japanese A5M “Claude” and the US Navy’s F2A Buffalo and F4F Wildcat.

These transitional-era planes were all forced into combat in World War II, fighting against later generation fighters – and though some were clearly outclassed, some (and this includes the P-39, the P-40 and the Wildcat) soldiered on right to the end of the war. What is even more remarkable, many of these transitional-era aircraft actually proved quite effective, though generally in very limited combat situations. Though it accomplished little for the U.S. Army Air Corps, the P-36 Hawk and the F2A Buffalo – a total failure for the Marines at Midway – achieved remarkable success in the hands of the Finnish Air Force. In the skies over Midway – and later over Guadalcanal – the seemingly-inferior F4F Wildcat scored a 7-to-1 kill ratio over the arguably superior A6M Zero Fighter. The same thing happened with the P-39 Airacobra – in the hands of Soviet fighter pilots, including some of their highest-scoring aces – was wildly successful against even late-model Luftwaffe fighters and skilled “experten.”

As an aside – for a more detailed review, go to http://barnettonaviation.blogspot.com/2007/01/hey-little-kobra-dont-ya-know-youre.html – the remarkable book “Attack of the Airacobras: Soviet Aces, American P-39s and the Air War Against Germany,” which was written by a Russian author (and WW-II Soviet tank commander who commanded a Lend-Lease Sherman) – details the Soviet view that below 17,000 feet, the Airacobra was faster, more maneuverable and superior in the vertical plane than the Bf-109 F and G, and A-model Fw-190s. While this seems a remarkable assertion to westerners who tend to think of the Airacobra as a second-line “dog,” and who believed the oft-told tale that the Soviets liked the P-39 for its tank-killing 37mm Oldsmobile auto-cannon, this book contends that in Soviet hands the P-39 was used primarily in air-to-air combat during the last two years of the war – from March, 1943 to May, 1945. Further, it was the mount of some of the Soviet Union’s top-scoring aces, including one remarkable pilot who shot down 50 confirmed Luftwaffe aircraft while flying P-39s … and lived to tell the tale.

This remarkable series of exploits is further recounted in Osprey’s new Soviet Lend-Lease Fighter Aces of World War II (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces Vol. 74) (link). The latter book emphasized that these P-39s were used for air-to-air combat – they had no armor-piercing ammunition for their 37mm cannon and were not assigned to ground assault missions – though they frequently flew escort for ground-attack IL-2 Sturmoviks, which did have AP ammo for their wing-mounted anti-tank cannons.

Just as some Finns turned the Buffalo and the Fokker D.XXI into decisively-effective combat aircraft, and just as seemingly grass-green USMC fighter pilots in F4F Wildcats defeated some of the best-trained Zero pilots in the Imperial Japanese Navy, these Soviet pilots developed tactics that were ideally-suited to giving the P-39 the upper hand in air-to-air combat. In doing so, they quickly learned how to turn their Airacobras into deadly “exterminators.”

Adapting the American technology to their own use, they wired the separate triggers for the machine guns and the cannon together, making it easier to fire concentrated plane-killing bursts of bullets and cannon shells. They spent endless hours perfecting combat radio discipline, enabling them to coordinate the attacks to bring superior numbers of Airacobras to bear on a single aerial target, even when outnumbered two or three to one. They learned how to use the Airacobra’s often-criticized weight to good effect in diving attacks. They learned how to close to point-blank range where they could use the concentrated firepower of two nose-mounted .50 caliber machine guns and the hard-hitting 37mm auto-cannon to literally rip sturdy, well-built and well-armored Luftwaffe fighters and bombers into shreds.

In short, these Soviet fighter pilots – who, after two years of getting their heads handed to them on a silver platter by more experienced and better-equipped German “experten,” ultimately led the VVS to victory – found a way of making the Airacobra live up to it’s potential. They were the survivors of an incredible and brutally Darwinian process of survival of the fittest; and these pilots used everything they’d learned to turn that “dog” – the unloved and unwanted P-39 Airacobra – into a war-winning weapon. They did this at a time – 1943 to 1945 – when the other Allies were retiring these aircraft as quickly as they could be replaced by “better” combat aircraft. I’ve presented more information on this aspect of the P-39 in my review (link) of “Attack of the Airacobras: Soviet Aces, American P-39s and the Air War Against Germany.”

At a time when the US Army Air Corps saw its mission as coastal defense, the P-39 was initially designed as a turbo-supercharged high-altitude, high-performance interceptor. The original XP-39 became the first US fighter – perhaps the world’s first fighter aircraft – to be able to fly faster than 400 mph. However, inexplicably, the Air Corps mandated that the P-39 be stripped of it’s turbo-supercharger and loaded with a ton or so of armor, self-sealing fuel tanks, added armament – and turned a sleek, high-altitude greyhound into low-altitude beast-of-burden. What they Army couldn’t take away was the aircraft’s low-altitude maneuverability and exceptionally heavy cannon and machine-gun armament, and these two attributes proved the plane’s worth in the skies over Russia and New Guinea. In his autobiography, an ace of no less ability than Japan’s Saburo Sakai commented favorably on the low-level speed and maneuverability of the P-39s he encountered over New Guinea. In the skies over the southern Soviet Union, some of Russia’s highest-scoring aces in the Air Force’s most elite Guards fighter regiments ran up their scores flying P-39s – and a few came as close to open revolt and mutiny as was tolerated in the strict Soviet system when they were ordered to change from their agile, hard-hitting P-39s to more politically-acceptable Soviet-build fighters.

Those transitional-era fighters which “survived” to serve more than briefly in World War II all morphed into more advanced machines: the F4F became the FM-2 “Wilder Wildcat,” the P-36 Hawk became the P-40 Tomahawk – which in turn evolved into a more advanced and harder-hitting (though perhaps aesthetically less-pleasing) Kittyhawk and Warhawk. Likewise, the P-39 evolved – through the XP-39F – into the superior P-63 Kingcobra, a far better aircraft based around the same 37mm cannon and center-mounted engine. Like the P-39, the Kingcobra was build in large numbers for the Soviets, but unlike the P-39, the Kingcobra was not used in combat by the U.S. Army Air Forces. With it’s many refinements, the Kingcobra – like the Seversky P-35, which evolved into the Republic P-43 Lancer and ultimately into the war-winning P-47 Thunderbolt – had evolved away from the “transitional era.”

However, the P-39 served in almost all combat theaters – the Southwest Pacific, Guadalcanal, the Aleutians, across the vast Soviet “Eastern Front,” and in North Africa, and fought in the hands of the Americans, the Soviets, the Free French and the allied Italians after the fall of Fascist Italy. In every theater, the P-39 performed more effectively than its post-war reputation would suggest – and although it was virtually out of US service by the time the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs ended the war – the Soviets, the French and the Italians all used the aircraft well into the late 1940s. And when stripped of combat gear, the P-39 proved to be an exceptional low-level pylon racer – which is why the kitting of the Cobra I and Cobra II is a welcome edition to the collection of P-39 kits.

The Kits

Sometime in the dim, dark past of modeling – about 1965 if memory serves – Revell had a roughly 1/4th-scale kit of the Tex Hill Thompson Trophy racer, the “Cobra II.” At a time when most decent kits were built in either odd scales or the emerging British 1/72nd scale, this was a remarkable kit. I haven’t seen one in decades, but – like a few other kits I built in the ‘60s (I remember a large-scale Grumman amphibian flying boat that I’ve never seen again, but would love to build) – but I’ve never stopped looking. No doubt it is crude by today’s standards, but that didn’t change the memories – but now I can stop looking. Accurate Miniatures has issued a truly superior “one-size-fits-all” P-39 kit that includes optional parts (primarily a belly cooling scoop to support the souped-up engine) for the Cobra I and Cobra II Thompson Trophy racers.

“When it rains, it pours.” Accurate produced this kit at roughly the same time that Hasegawa issued the first of what is no doubt going to be a series of P-39 kits, beginning with the P-400. Until recently, in 1/48th scale, we had only the Monogram P-39 kit – a remarkably decent kit considering its age (and one that, with the addition of some after-market enhancements) still makes up into a remarkably accurate-looking P-39. But that kit can now go to the collectors’ auctions, because two fully-modern state-of-the-art kits are available.

The Accurate Miniatures Kit

The Accurate Miniatures kit is packaged as a P-39Q, but a quick look at the parts break-down and the incredibly-detailed instructions make it clear that Accurate intends this kit to be a one-size-fits-all model kit, one that can be made up into any of the production versions of the P-39 series. This is actually less difficult than it might seem – the visible external differences in the operational P-39s were largely confined to the wing guns, the cannon and to the exhaust stacks. A detailed parts review of the Accurate kit suggests that it has all the parts for all the versions – there are a number of clearly-unused parts not needed for the P-39Q or the Thompson Trophy racers – all except perhaps for the 20mm cannon found in the P-400. There is one un-named part which “may” be intended as the 20mm cannon barrel, but it doesn’t have the bands I’ve seen in some photos of the Hispano cannon mounted in the built-for-the-British P-400. Other photos of P-400s in US service indicate a smooth barrel – my suggestion: check clear photos of the specific aircraft you’re looking to model and either use the unmarked-barrel from the kit or modify it (bands of Tamiya tape ought to work just fine).

There is one other part that seems to be missing – and this one’s a real frustrating problem (though not insoluble, and certainly not a “deal-breaker”). The Cobra II Thompson Trophy racer had a very distinctive arrowhead pitot tube – nose-mounted in place of the central cannon – and while this is shown clearly in the box art, it is nowhere to be found on the parts-sprue. Oddly, what looks to be an apparently shorter version of this distinctive arrowhead pitot tube is found on the Hasegawa P-400 kit, made to be mounted on the port wing outboard of the wing guns. I say “apparently shorter” – it may, in fact, be the ideal length, but I’ll need to mic it out from photos of the P-400 and the Cobra II before I can be sure. However, it’s clear that the Accurate Miniatures kit has two problems in building into the P-400 version – the cannon (which may be easily worked around) and the distinctive arrowhead pitot tube. This may be a bigger problem – I’ve found at least one photo of a late-model P-39Q that also has the arrowhead pitot tube. However, since the excellent Hasegawa P-400 is now available and has the correct pitot tube, this is hardly a liability – if you’re ready to scrap the Hasegawa kit for the single part. An easier solution would be to create the arrowhead wedge and glue it to the straight-shaft Accurate Miniatures pitot tube – something that our British cousins would call “fiddly.” Fiddly indeed!

A further benefit of having dueling kits on the market – while the Accurate Miniatures kit doesn’t mention nose-weights – an odd oversight – the Hasegawa kit indicates that 15 grams will be needed to ensure that it stays on its nose wheel. The kits are so close in dimension that it’s a reasonable assumption that the Accurate Miniatures kit will require the same weight. Just to be safe, I plan to use about 20 grams on each model – I like my trikes to be firmly-planted on terra firma.

I was pleased to note that the cockpit doors are molded in clear plastic – this makes far more sense than Monogram’s choice of putting a clear window into a colored-plastic door; considering the challenges of gluing clear parts without messing with their clarity, this works very well indeed. Hasegawa also chose to make their doors clear. Kudos to both manufacturers for this choice.

While no kit is perfect, the Accurate Miniatures P-39Q comes damned close. The detail is subtle and effective – recessed, subdued and base don all the sources I’ve checked, right on target. The instructions are superb, and they give information on the paint colors needed from half-a-dozen lines of paint: Federal Standards (a guideline, not a brand) as well as Tamiya, Humbrol, Revell, Testor’s and Gunze. By comparison, the Hasegawa instructions highlight the needed colors from only two paint lines: Creos and Mr. Color.

The items that aren’t “here” that I’ve noted aren’t inaccurate items, but rather apparently missing items – the distinctive arrowhead pitot tube, the 20mm cannon barrel – and those are easy to replace from the ever-popular spare parts bin that every serious modeler seems to maintain. There is one other item that seems to be lacking – not even “missing” but just damned difficult to do without – the distinctive nose markings found on the Cobra I and Cobra II. These are not unlike the “tulip” markings found on some late-war Bf 109 fighters – Erich Hartmann often flew tulip-marked fighters – and because of their sharp angles, they’ll be damned hard to mask off and paint. However, an after-market set of Luftwaffe tulip markings might be adapted far more easily – I plan to try this and will revise this review when the attempt has been completed, successful or not. While there are many attractive Airacobra markings available, this kit will be built as Tex Johnson’s Cobra II Thompson Trophy racer.

The Hasegawa Kit

I’ve read a few reviews of the Hasegawa kit that suggest it’s the best kit on the market. That’s a bold claim, but understandable. Head-to-head with the Accurate Miniatures kit, there’s not a lot to choose between the two. Both are exceptionally well-molded, virtually flash-free and both share a variety of features – minor items in the cockpit, for instance, parallel one another to a remarkable degree.

The Hasegawa kit has a few features that are superior to the Accurate Miniatures kit – I found this especially in the armament area. For instance, the Hasegawa kit’s gun barrels all appear hollowed-out, where the Accurate Miniatures are solid. Sure, they can be drilled out, but especially with the .30 caliber wing guns, the Accurate Miniatures parts are remarkably delicate – drilling will be a problem. Hasegawa has a few extra parts related to the wing guns – parts that seem unnecessary to me (they add complexity without adding to the appearance of the finished features. However, since so many modelers like added details, this isn’t much of a problem. I prefer features that benefit from being molded separately, but my standards are far from universal.

The Hasegawa kit is – as is the Accurate Miniatures kit – dimensionally on-target; even more important to those of us who aren’t “rivet-counters,” the kit looks like an Airacobra. Markings for the P-400 are for two aircraft – one serving in New Guinea and one in Guadalcanal. Both are excellent combat machines, famous and well-known (with many available references); would I be kvetching too much to bemoan the lack of RAF or Soviet markings? Both countries also used the P-400.

However, while the RAF chose not to put their Airacobras into combat, those are nonetheless attractive looking aircraft – and the Soviets did use their hand-me-down RAF P-400 in combat. Unlike the RAF, the Soviet army Air Force – the VVS – flew every combat plane they had available – and in 1941, even the P-400 was vastly superior to the surviving I-15s and I-16s, obsolescent aircraft that nonetheless carried so much of the brunt of combat in 1941 and 1942. Soviet markings would be welcome indeed – I’ll be looking for them among after-market decal developers, and will report on them if found.

Because of my long-term passion for the Guadalcanal campaign (I’ve published articles on it in several historical journals, and I’m currently writing an analysis of the aerial combat between Wildcats and Zeroes over Guadalcanal), I expect I’ll build the Hasegawa kit as one of the Guadalcanal ragged, rugged warriors. Though if this kit is even half as good as it looks in the box, I may be building several of them – and the New Guinea markings will be my second choice, unless, of course, I can find some Soviet markings for the P-400 version of the Airacobra.

Check my review of the Warbird Tech P-39/P-63 Airacobra & Kingcobra – it’s a good introductory source of information on the P-39, and invaluable to anybody building either of these kits. Also check out my review of Attack of the Airacobras - a book that proves this plane is far more than the Army Air Force and the RAF thought it was ... (both reviews can be found at my blog, Barnett on Aviation)