Forget everything else I said I wanted to build as I have now decided to build a P-39 Airacobra, my decision was helped in a small way by falling in love with the Eduard profi-pack version that I picked up at Medway model show for the enormous sum of £8 .
The boxart caught my eye and I had to have it.
Andy

P.S No, I won't be building it in 12 hours .

He he, I was just about to ask

I can understand you want to enter that one. It looks stunning and with some nice colourful artwork markings.

Looking forward to see more

@David: very nice jug. You did a really good job on that metal finish. Not too shiny, not too dull. Very nice.

Looking forward to see it finished.

Its Humbrol Metal Cote 27002. It goes on very nicely!

Wow,,this campaign really is producing some stunning builds!
P-47's looking really good David, I love the yellow on NMF finish of these birds.
Hows the P-39 going Andy?,,,big smile on your face when you picked that one up,,a bargain!.
Those 1:144 fighters are tiny!,,I thought I was a bit mad sticking to 1:72
,,looking very good Bjorn and glad to see you building.
Im making steady progress on my Thunderbolt entry and Im hoping it'll be finished before I have to go on tour again in a couple of weeks.
Nige

Andy,

The P 400 kit from Eduard is an excellent kit for the subject, their are lots of little decals for the cockpit floor assembly.
The pic attached is the old '63 vintage Monogram kit using the Eagle Strike decals of the P 400 on Guadal Canal [and is not part of this campaign build]..

Hi Rob,
Great looking P-400.
Now just a little query, on the Eduard box art work the underside colour is clearly seen to go over the top of the wings leading edge. On the painting guide however it doesn't. Do you know which one is correct, my hunch is the painting guide is right. I am modelling the P-400 41st FS, 35th GF, 5th AF, Milne Bay, Nova Guinea, Autumn 1942.
Andy

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the kind words on the model subject.

In answer to your query:-

The boxart of the Eduard P 400 shows a white wrap around band of both the top and bottom of the main wing leading edge.
I assume you refer to the northern hemisphere Autumn period, September - November ?.

All Allied [single engine] fighter aircraft in and around the New Guinea zone had a white ID band applied to the leading edge of the main wing and later included a white tail plane area. Which was issued as a standing order in 1942.
I'll go through one of my RAAF Camauflage and Markings books for when this ID band order was issued.

Another thing to remember with US maufactured aircraft {in RAF cammo schemes}, the paint was manufactured by Dupont and applied as per the RAF temperate land scheme of the time.
These would be Sky Blue over US Green 42 and Earth. [my subject was painted in the Humbrol colours of #65 for the Sky Blue #117 Green and #119 Earth.

The aircraft subject on the boxart at some stage [later], would have had a finished mouth mothif, similar to the nose artwork on my model subject.



Hope this helps.

Thanks Rob.
I thought it was the other way round, that the sharkmouth had been overpainted Black by the U.S . Unusual to see it not finished.
Andy

My 1/144 "Rumble in the East Asian Sky" project continues. I've started on my second entry... An FM-2 Wildcat from Sweet. These models are great, but they are not intended to have their landing gear retracted (something that I need for my project).



Unfortunately my airbrush broke down before I could seal the decals on "Mah Baby". The spare parts will not arrive in a couple of days, but this will give me time to brushpaint some details such as navigation lights etc. Now where did I put my thick glasses...



Ps. I love the BIG work that you other guys are doing!

Cheers!

@Rob: Nice P-400. Thanks for helping sorting out the more expert questions on camouflage.

@Bjoern: I am impressed by your small beauties. I can understand that you would need powerful glasses.
What will your project be? Some kind of "in the air" dogfight diorama?

Jesper wrote:

Both yes and no... all I know is that there might be quite a few entries in this campaign from my part.

While the airbrush is down I've been busy making canopy frames. As with the Zero, I'm using thin decal strips (this time I painted them myself) with very nice results. Remember, these canopy frames are tiny!!!



The canopy (only dry-fitted) is crystal clear, so I will have to find a pilot in 1/144. If anyone knows where I might find seated WWII pilots in that scale, please inform!

BTW - Which aircraft did the Soviets use on their East Asian front. I know that they used I-15, I-152, I-153 and I-16 in the 1939 campaign against the Japan (all those are hard to find in 1/144 though). What about later in the war?

Cheers!

Hi Bjorn.
These little birds are looking stunning.I saw some up close at a show last weekend and was amazed how TINY they are!
The guy who builds them had a couple of metal pilot figures, so he may be able to point you in the direction of a supplier.
LITTORIO
You'll certainly get value for money from the Alclad building in 1:144!
Nige

Andy,

I checked my refs in regard to the white ID in the New Guinea region.

Her is a transcript from the refs:-

A recognition feature few could mistake !
A White wing leading edge marking some 9 inches wide at the root and tapering to approximately 4 inches wide at the tip.
It served the purpose of providing ready recognitition when the aircraft was approaching from the head-on position, this marking applies to, Wirraways, Boomerangs, Vengeance, Kittyhawks, Spitfires, as well as US Airacobras, Kittyhawks and Thunderbolts.

September 1942.

Hope this helps.

A little update on my Kittyhawk II. Construction is almost complete with only one major problem. When the wing was joined with the fuselage it created gaps almost big enough to swallow up the leg of the pilor

More to follow when painting continues

Hi!

Here´s my Eduard P-39 Airacobra with those white markings!







Honestly, did you look ONLY at the recognition features?

Old build, therefore out of this campaign!

Cheers!

Stefan E

Some great looking entries guys.
Stefan, I didn't notice the naked lady once .
Björn, along with Nige I got to see the 1/144 aircraft kits at the show, and I still can't believe how small they are.
Here is an update on my P-39 Airacobra.
The cockpit is done and the fuselage is together. Hopefully I will be able to spray the camo on it today at some point.




Thanks Rob.
So the leading edges should look like Jasper's Kittyhawk II and Stefan's Airacobra.
Wonder why Eduard failed to include that in the paint scheme when its clearly shown on the box artwork .
Andy

Hi there, after having some fun in my first try at a campaign (VVS), i've decided to join in on this one too. Hopefully better late than never?

Hoping my chosen build will be a relatively quick and trouble free one. Well, it's Tamiya anyway. Just recently watched that Clint Eastwood directed movie "Flags of Our Fathers" and loved the few action scenes with the Corsairs...which got me to thinking, I should maybe build a "Bent Wing B*****d".

I'm off to make a start

Andrew

Andy,

Yes the leading edge of the wings on your P 39 should be similar to those on the P 40 that Jesper is doing and I don't know why Eduard would show this on the boxart and leave them off the painting instructions.
Nice progress on your bird so far.

Jesper,

Is your P 40 the old AMT tooled Italeri boxed kit with the RAAF decal option and if so which option are you doing ?
Geoff Atherton's P40N "Cleopatra III' has a red/white spinner and the standard USAAC specifications of the time of the Medium Green splotching on the horizontal surfaces, was discontinued by the time aircraft in the RAAF's middle 600 series entered service.
This aircraft shows signs of having the American national markings overpainted before the Australian markings were applied, however their is no evidence as to which colour was actually used to over paint the markings. Either Foliage Green, Medium Green 42, Dark Green or even Light Olive Drab could have been used.
In the instance of the wing leading edges did not progress inboard of the undercarriage fairing, from the photograph it is not apparent if the serial is applied in black or very Dark Grey, the wing roundals are set far forward and although they appear to be far outboard on the wings, they are in fact fairly well in from the wing tips.
As this is the CO's aircraft and had the extra care lavished upon it, the red / white spinner and white wing leading edges was a means for other pilots to identify their CO.


I also have a plan view of this particular bird and when I scan it I'll post it here.

Hope this helps.

Hi Fellows:

Some progress was made. Painting finished (except the proprller´s tips and machine guns) with canopie included and overall Future coat applied. Next decaling.
Here some pics:

Update
Thanks Rob.
Well it is slowly coming along (well slow by my standards ).
Next up is a coat of Future and the decals. I still need to play about with the wheel wells and build and add the undercarriage yet.
A rather enjoyable build so far with no major problems.
As always comments welcome.
Andy

Hi all.
Another clean build Carlos!,should be a great addition to your Mossie collection.
P-39's looking good Andy,,nice fading:)
Im still masking and spraying Alclad panels on my P-47,but its getting there slowly
Nige

Hi Nigel:

Thanks for your kind words. Your right, this one will be a good contribution to my Moosie collection, specially for its camo of dark earth / dark green / medium sea grey. Right now I´m also working in a B Mk IV in 1/72, it´ll be an aircraft of 109 Sqn (Oboe Pathfinder). Waiting its turn, next is a Mossie NF XXX (Airfix 1/48)

Hi guys

Sorry I have been away from the campaign a couple of days. Just got promoted to head of marketing, so had to get some things sorted out at work.

Carlos, great looking Mossie. It will look great with the markings in place. I really like this version of the Mossie as it looks very aggressive with the guns sticking out the nose.

Andy, very nice build. The cockpit looks great. The fading of the paint work looks excellent. Looking forward to see more.

Stefan, thanks for sharing your previous build of the Aircobra. I studied the recognition features very closely and in detail