Here is a recently completed build of mine. This is one of the birds out of my Eduard "Dual Combo." For anyone who hasn't built one of these, all I have to say is DO IT. This is my new favorite kit. It's by no means a walk in the park, but the detail is great and (especially with all the "goodies") is just a fun build.

The whole thing is OOB except for the decals. I had to source them from different places to get everything that I needed. In the end I still had to mask and spray the yellow "K."

This is Lt. George Walsh's mount in Feb '43 in New Guinea. The national insignea were originally the old style with the red center. The stars were painted over white, but the red leeched through to a faint pink dot in the center. I used old SBD-2 insignea and masked the stars for a dusting of white. Of course, the camera didn't pick the "pink" up at all. Any suggestions from the photo guru's?

The only real disappointment that I have is that the upper insignea silvered in the end. I just could not get it to go away but I was able to tone it down.

Comments and critiques appreciated.

Justen,

I think it looks great. It's a little shiny, but that's probably the camera. Well done!

Fantastic!
One day I'll have to do one of these myself

Good job on your Airacobra! Really like it. Did you say what scale it was? I have the Academy kit in 1/72 scale and can't keep the nose on the ground even though I filled it with model clay. How did you find getting it to sit on it's gear, did it do it easily? Again great job. Russell

Thanks for the comments guys!

Thomas, I think you're right about it being a bit too glossy. Normally I do a flat-as-flat-can-be finish, but I thought I'd change it up a bit with a kind of irregular flat to simulate uneven fading. It didn't work out too well. I think I'm gonna blast it with a full coat of clear flat in the near future. ALso, for some reason the glass looks "dusty" in the picture, but are actually very clear on the real deal.

Goran, if you can get your hands on one of these, by all means, do so. This was a very enjoyable build.

Russell it's 1/48. This kit actually comes with a fitted weight that is made specifically to fit in the nose of this kit. Kudos to Eduard for that one! What I use for weight in other birds that are going to otherwise be tail-sitters is #8 bird-shot if you can get it. If your fuselage is all closed up and you don't feel like ripping it apart, you can alway fix your -39 to a display base and glue all three wheels down. I had to do this once with a 1/48 p-38 that I thought I had enough weight in but didn't. It worked ok until a moving-day sent her to the Great Hangar in the Sky.

Ahh the Airacobra. Impressive work you got there!