I finished the 1/48 MPM P-63 Kingcobra today. This is a typical limited run kit, with lots of flash, thick parts, and no alignment pins. The cockpit is resin, and I added a pair of belts from an Eduard USAAF belts set. I also added a couple instrument panel lights to the cockpit.

I used the kit decals, which went on well. They're thin, and can flod over on themselves easily. The whites are opaque, but the yellows are translucent.

Trimming, fitting, and filling the vac canopy was the most difficult part of the build for me. The landing gear is also tricky. There are only tiny pins that fit into tiny holes in the wheel wells. Getting them aligned tried my patience, but I won in the long run.

This was just a relaxing build between my more ambitious Fw 190 and nightfighter builds. I felt the need to clean flash, trim parts, and fill seams. This kit fit the bill perfectly.



The wheel wells and gear covers are not very accurate, and the underside is pretty bland.


I kept the left door closed, as pilots entered this aircraft from the right.


Although there's a strong resemblance to Bell's earlier P-39 Airacobra, there are more differances than just the tail and prop. The P-63 is a larger aircraft.


Thanks for letting me share this build with you !

Hi Bill

What a beauty! MPM's Kingcobra has quite a reputation for being tough to build!

I've had one sat on the shelf for quite a while, but somehow I've never got 'round to starting it... I wonder why...

Do you have any in-construction shots? We should put a Feature together...

Thanks for sharing!

Rowan

Very nice, Bill you've made a good job of it
Is the P-39 the Eduard kit? Also very nice.
Mal
EDIT. What colour have you used on the undercarriage?

Thank you Rowan and Mal !

Mal - the P-39 is Eduard's ProfiPack version of the 39Q. I built it as a P-39N-5, with markings from Aeromaster. For the cockpit and gear legs on the P-63, I used Model Master Euro I Dark Green, which is a close match for Dark Dull Green. The P-39's cockpit and gear were painted with Humbrol Bronze Green, which is close to Bell's Bronze Green.

Rowan - here are some in=progress pics.
This is the sprue with the alleged "detail" parts.


These are the main gear legs, before & after cleaning the flash.


Here are two views of the cockpit. THe resin instrument panel has blank discs for dials, so I had to carefully paint the needles. They also received drops of Future for the "glass." The photoetched belts are from Eduard.



These are the fuselage sides, after painting, washing, and drybrushing.


These shots show the fuselage, assembled with Tenax 7R. The only area needing attention was around the scoop.



I had to remove about 1/8" from the fuselage portion of the lower wing to get everything to align. I then added small wedges of sheet styrene to the leading edge of the wing at the inboard wing scoops.


The trailing edges of the wings had gaps at the fillet. These were filled with Zap-A-Gap CA.


The kit is not that difficult to build, as long as you dryfit everything a few times before committing it to glue. There is lots of trimming and sanding to do. The trailing edges of the wings need to be thinned for a better appearance.

It may have been a little easier for me since this was my second one. I built MPM's P-63C a few years ago.

Thanks again !

Well now I can see how you managed to make such a good job of it. You should write an article, I was discusing this kit with Rowan, he tells me it's a real pig. I bet punters and MPM would be interested in how you did it.
Mal

LOL! Yep! This one has quite a reputation!

Seriously Bill - if you could write a short article to go with those new pics, it would make a superb Feature!

All the best

Rowan

Amazing work buddy!

Now I need one too!

Well done once again Bill-
Thanks for sharing and I hope you take Rowan and Mal up on their request for a feature article.

P.S. - how's the 262 build going? Looking forward for an update on that front as well.

-Scott

Thanks Mal, Rowan, Olivier, and Big Ton !

Mal and Rowan - how do I go about doing an article? I confess that I haven't been through this site in it's entirety, so there may be submission pages that I've missed. I never heard any words said about this kit. If I want to build something, I will usually find a way. I enjoy builds where I have to dryfit, trim, fill, and sand. That's the part of building that I find fun. I don't buy or build Tamiya kits anymore. They have engineered this work (and my fun) out of their kits. I'll take the challenge over the sure thing any day.

Olivier - if you like the challenge, it's a fun kit. Nothing about it is "shake-the-box."

Big Ton - I painted all the RLM 02 areas of the Me 262s and the Ta 154 yesterday. Wiring and plumbing the 262's wheel bays are next. That will probably be a couple day's work to do both. Once that's done, I can install the wheel bays and cockpits in the 262s. Then it's time to paint all three airframes (in the same sitting).

Thanks again !

Hi again Bill

There are plenty of people ready to tear this kit to pieces - so you've done a fine job building it!

How to write a Feature?... now there's a question! Help!

It can take any form you like but, in this case, it might be good if you focussed particularly on tackling the resin parts and fit problems. Just try to think what will help anyone coming to this kit in future.

You can either send it straight to me or use the Support Centre - either's fine. I can take the pics from this post - but if you've got more...

All the best

Rowan