Normandie Niemen P-39 (Airfix)

[McGreig]

This is the Airfix P-39. I had fond memories of the original bagged kit and this reissue was originally bought to be built as a real world machine using the Soviet decals included in the most recent boxing.



But, oh dear - what a disappointment on opening the box. The fin and rudder are too small and entirely the wrong shape and the mould has obviously suffered over the years - the dorsal air intake was short moulded and misshapen and there was a significant gap between the fuselage halves along the nose due to ageing moulds.

My initial reaction was to keep the decals and throw the rest away but then I began to wonder if the kit could be improved.



I began by adding some basic cockpit detail and boxing in the wheel wells. I then copied the outline of the fin and rudder from the Academy kit on to a thin piece of plastic card which was then sandwiched between the Airfix fuselage halves and faired in using Squadron White Putty. The dorsal air intake was replaced by a section of plastic tube and faired in with putty.  and small pieces of card were added to the nose to represent vents.



While I was building the P-39 I was also working on a Hasegawa Yak-3 and that made me think of a possible alternative colour scheme. The Normandie Niemen Regiment was said to have chosen the Yak-3 after being offered the choice of any Soviet or Lend lease fighter. As they had previously been equipped with the Yak-1 and Yak-9, I'm slightly sceptical that the Yak-3 was any more than the next logical re-equipment. However, the Soviets found the P-39 particularly effective in the air-to-air fighter role and it occurred to me that it wasn't too much of a leap to a P-39 equipped Normandie Niemen regiment.



The decals came from the recent "Twin combo" packaging of the Hasegawa Yak-3.

It's not perfect, but I think that it's a vast improvement over the kit out of the box. You'll see that I've left the underwing gun pods in place. The Russians normally removed these but, as this is a whiff anyway, i decided to have my Normandie Niemen aircraft retain the pods.



And finally, here's an Academy-based Twin Kobra for comparison of the outline shape. I think that, if I was doing this again, I might insert a strip of plastic card to widen the Airfix fuselage slightly:

[Dizzyfugu]

Very nice work - saving the best from the kit. Well done!

[NARSES2]

For some reason I well remember buying the Airfix kit when it first came out. Still got fond memories of it as I've always had a soft spot for the P.39 (built 6 Academy ones). Do like what you've done with it.

[Kerrillc]

I built the old plastic bag P39 with the wheels up and I was not overly concerned about the accuracy of the kit. In fact I have two books concerning the P-39. The Osprey "P-39 Airacobra Aces of World War 2" and "Red Star Airacobra: the memoirs of a Soviet fighter ace 1941-45, Evgeniy Mariinsky". Both fascinating in their own viewpoint.

[Army of One]

Some nice work there.....

[Jay-Jay]

Idée Géniale et Excellent Travail ! 
(Brilliant and very good job !)

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Great save and excellent work. Well done, sir !!

Ian

[dumaniac]

the dark purple looks tops - what manufacturer and colour please

[McGreig]

Thanks for the positive feedback. I have another one of these which I may make in a real world scheme (although it would be easier just to build the Academy kit or its Heller ancestor).

the dark purple looks tops - what manufacturer and colour please

Hmm - - - - it's supposed to be grey and it looks grey on my screen although I can see that it does have a slight cast to it. For what it's worth both models are air brushed with Humbrol enamels (106 Dark Grey, 127 Light Grey and 65 Light Blue) and varnished with Klear which has been matted with Tamiya Flatbase.

[sequoiaranger]

Nicely done!

[Tophe]

Congratulations for your Twin Kobra , and thanks from France for your NN Cobra...

[Geoff]

Really beautiful, both concepts and kits!

[kitbasher]

Love the Normandie-Niemen P-39!

[McGreig]

Congratulations for your Twin Kobra , and thanks from France for your NN Cobra...

Thanks Tophe. The Twin Kobra was built during a holiday in Brittany in 2006 and was inspired directly by the material in your "End of Forked Ghosts".  The back story was posted on this forum in early 2007 but that's a long time ago so, in case anyone's interested, here's a summary:

Viktor Belyaev, specialised in designs using twin fuselages and swept forward wings and designed the single seat, twin fuselage OI-2 fighter in 1941.

Occasionally referred to as the "Twin Kobra" because of its strong resemblance to a twinned Bell P-39, it seems to have been an entirely original design (the Soviet Union didn't get its first P-39s until December 1941)  although it used the P-39 concept of mid-fuselage engine location and car door type cockpit entry.

Unfortunately, although the OI-2 received the go-ahead in April 1941, the project was abandoned two months later when war broke out. Belyaev's OKB was disbanded and Belyaev spent the War at Factories 166 and 288 as head of the strength calculations bureau of Myasischev's OKB.

He took the loss of his OKB and the destruction of his unusual designs very hard and it isn't a big What If to suppose that he persisted with the concepts while working for Myasischev or that, given the vast quantities of P-39s and P-63s available in the USSR at the time, he could have begged, borrowed or stolen two war-weary Airacobras to convert into a proof-of-concept aircraft.

Unfortunately, by the time he got a prototype in the air the concept was thought to be obsolete and the sole example of this interesting aircraft eventually rotted away in a corner of Factory 288 as all energies were focussed on the development of jet aircraft - - - -

[Tophe]

Great story for a great model, thanks!