1/33 P-39Q Airacobra - Makin, Gilbert Islands 1944

[Zenon1947]

Yesterday I started new aircraft. It's a P-39Q from Maly Modelarz(year 1985), repainted by my grandson, Kacper, into a plane from Makin, Gilbert Islands 1944.
Original MM kit doesn't have the cockpit but it has been added in this repaint.

First photos:

[Don Boose]

Great recolor. Of course, I am always glad to see a Pacific War airplane under construction.

The P-39 was widely used by USAAF units in the Pacific for the first two years of the war.

This is an excellent recolor by Kacper, and another skilled Zenon build.

Don

[Olo]

Great job Zenon and Kacper...good luck with your build

[Butelczynski]

I build this Airacobra twice from original kit.One when it came out and again sometime in early 1990s.Both times came out just fine considering card it was printed on.Mr Wasiak did some decent kits way back then.I still enjoy them every so often.

I was always wondering if that serial number on vertical stabiliser was correct for anything or just shot in the dark/random numbers.

Good idea with new recolor-I'll pay attention,maybe some inspiration comes to me.

[Don Boose]

I get three different identifications for P-39Q-1-BE 42-19474 ("Little Rebel").

According to Pacific Wrecks, it was assigned to the 110th Tactical Recon Squadron, 71st Tactical Recon Group, Fifth Air Force, based in New Guinea beginning in November 1943. The squadron re-equipped with P_40Ns in the fall of 1944, so the aircraft the model is based on would have been in theater for about a year. https://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircra.../42-19474.html

But the Wings Palette entry has it assigned to the 72nd Fighter Squadron, 318th Fighter Group, Seventh Fighter Command piloted by Major Charlie Taylor and flying from Makin Island from late 1943 to April 1944. http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/b/297/3/3

Wikipedia also has the aircraft at Makin Island, but assigned to the 46th Fighter Squadron, 15th Fighter Group, Seventh Fighter Command. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...Makin_1943.jpg

I always considered Pacific Wrecks to be a reliable site, but the Makin identification (whichever squadron it may have been) seems more likely, given the photographic evidence - the scenery in Central Pacific, not New Guinea. Zenon also posted the same photograph with a caption saying the aircraft was with the a 347th Fighter Group, which was part of the 13th Air Force in the Solomons and New Guinea (not Makin Island), so I guess we have four identifications.

Don

[Zenon1947]

Here are some more photos of my P-39Q.
I agree with Butelczynski that this Airacobra is a pretty good model considering its age. Parts fit really nice but this kit has also some small imperfections as well.

[Don Boose]

Nice work, as always!

Don

[wireandpaper]

Very nice, despite the bad rap it got, I think the Airacobra to be one of the most attractive airplanes from the USAAF.

[Don Boose]

Once the pilots realized that the P-39 couldn't outmaneuver Zeros at altitude, the P-39 was used quite effectively as a ground attack aircraft, against Japanese bombers, and even in air-to-air combat at medium to low altitudes in the South and Southwest Pacific, where it continued to serve into 1944.

Here is an interesting discussion of the P-39 in the hands of Soviet pilots: Soviet perception of German opinion of P-39

Don

[Zenon1947]

Yes, P-39 was a great fighter in Soviet Union. Here's also an interesting article: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/th...-russian-22152

In the attachments, continuation of my work on Airacobra.