P-39 Airacobra and P-63 King Cobra

[SinUnNombre]

Hey all. I have a 1/72 P-39 laying around and nothing to do with it. I really kinda want to hack it up to make something spectacular, but I'm not sure what. Basically, I'd be interested in any sort of ideas you guys might have to improve it.


On a realted note, I have a silhouette pic of an early Airacomet prototype that seemed to use a P-39 fuse and Meteor wings and engines. Thoguht someone might be interested.

Thanks.

Jon

[Arc3371]

How about a South Vetnamese bomb and rocket armed P-39? Kind of Skyraider light

[SinUnNombre]

How about a South Vetnamese bomb and rocket armed P-39? Kind of Skyraider light

Yea, I was thinking of a Banana Republic ground pounder with SNEBs and Mk 82s under it, for anachronism's sake. Could be fun. What about a big turbine exhaust in place of the piston ones there now?

Jon

[GTX]

Turbo prop could be doable.

Alternately you could do it as a poor mans anti-tank/coin bird - say as a counterpart to the Piper PA-48 Enforcer.  Maybe replace the old 37mm cannon (and other nose guns) with a more modern powerful 30mm job?  Wingtip tanks, lots of underwing stores...

Regards,

Greg

[SinUnNombre]

I've been thinking about this again, and I have a battleplan. I want a turboprop mounted amidships and a 5-blade prop. Which turboprop should I say is in there? Also a more modern gun fit in the nose, maybe a couple 20mikes. Modern bombs and rocket pods underneath as well. I'm using the interior from a P-51D to add some detail, and I'm tossing around the idea of a bubbletop. One last thing, would there be any advantage to clipping the wingtips? What about a fin fillet like the P-40K(?) Any input is always welcome. Thanks

Jon

[dogsbody]

I had a thought along this line some time ago. Here 'tis:

A P-39 with a High altitude RR Merlin. The upper carb intake removed and a long central underbelly intake, starting just to the rear of the nose wheel doors and ending under the aft end of the engine. The mouth of the intake would be wide enough to house the intercooler radiator, too.

Instead of the 37mm in the nose, it would be a 20mm cannon. The two .50's above the cannon replaced with two more 20mm's. I think you would have to add a couple of blisters on each side, foward of the windscreen to fit the cannon breaches in.

Well, that's my 2 cents worth.

[Leigh]

Ex U.S. stuff is always easy to bung at some Banana republic, gawdy camo and tons of weathering, tacky but fun!

[upnorth]

I like the idea of a turboprop and bubbletop on it.

With the turboprop, I'd delete the nose guns and stick it up front rather than amidships and go for some kind of 20 or 25mm gunpod on the centreline or possibly a pair of 20mm pods under the wings. Keep the old engine location for an extra fuel cell or avionics.

As for the wings (and tails for that matter) an idea that just struck me might be a complete wing and tail replacement and modernization program. If you can find an Airfix Shorts Tucano (assuming your  thinking in 1/72) on the cheap, you might want to consider trying to graft its wings and tail surfaces onto a P-39.You could also get the clipped wing look that way.

Also if you can grab a Tucano kit, you could also give your P-39 fresh and modern landing gear, I think the Tucano's main landing gear legs are roughly the same length as the P-39's, and get a set of turboprop exhaust pipes in the deal. God knows the Airfix Tucano barely goes together as a Tucano, but is good for spares fodder.

As for user nations, you could pretty much hock it to any Central or South American country that eventually came to use the A-37.

[seavixenxj494]

Heres an  idea for you , how about fitting your p-39 with a shakelton's engine , and paint it as a fleet air arm aircraft ? that would look amazing !    

[B777LR]

A P-39 with a High altitude RR Merlin. The upper carb intake removed

My entry for the piston perfection build will look a bit like this, abeit with the merlin in the nose, and spitfire wings and V-tail...

[SinUnNombre]

Heres an  idea for you , how about fitting your p-39 with a shakelton's engine , and paint it as a fleet air arm aircraft ? that would look amazing !  

Hmmm.....ineresting. I might just have to do an MSPaint-chop and see how it looks.... More on this to come...

Jon :f16:  

[Andrew Gorman]

If you're going for a turboprop, why not sweep the wings back like this:
http://www.aerofiles.com/bell-l39.jpg
Add a quick and dirty fuselage extension and there you are!

[Weaver]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but this provokes ideas.....

Turboporops: since turboprops are smaller and lighter than the equivalent piston engines, why not have TWO: one in the nose bay driving one of the contraprops and the other in the engine bay driving the other contraprop via the original shaft....

How about an early jet testbed/improvised fighter? If you had P-39/63s around and you wanted to knock out a quick and dirty jet fighter, then you wouldn't have to painfully graft your jet under the nose in Yak-15/17 style: instead, you could "just" fit it in place of the Allison, with crude "half-cone" intakes and a jetpipe extended to the rear. Use a spinner as the nose cone........

Improved P-39: one of the problems with the Aircobra was that it was just about impossible to squeeze any more fuel into it. Now there was an improvised Russian trainer version with a second cockpit in the nose in place of the guns, so how about a single-seater with a forward cockpit, whacking great fuel tank amidships and wing guns?

[sotoolslinger]

OOOOHHHHH too many whiffs must build allll...... Brain explodes

[sequoiaranger]

Take a P-39....

add the pusher prop of a Swedish J-21 (hey, the engine's ALREADY in the rear) and....

add canard "tailplanes" forward and....

add Shinden vertical stabilizers to the wings and...

WTF!!!???

A fast-climbing point-defense interceptor for the Panama Canal, kinda like a piston-engined Bachem Natter or some such.