Eduard

1/48 P-39Q "Weekend Edition"

Kit Number: 8473

Reviewed by  Chip Jean, IPMS# 13823

MSRP: $19.95 Website: www.eduard.cz Kit Link: 1/48th - P-39Q "Weekend Edition" What’s in the Box Such a deal…..Eduard’s "Weekend Edition" kits! All the plastic thrills of an Eduard kit with none of the PE, masking, and decal choice frills. This particular boxing is Eduard’s excellent P-39 Airacobra with a decal sheet for the P-39Q "Snooks 2nd" of the 71st TRS, 82nd TRG. While the box says this is a P-39Q, and the decal sheet is for only one aircraft, you still get all the plastic parts included in Eduard’s other P-39 boxings which will allow you to do most, if not all, other versions of the P-39. You get 3 different nose gun covers, 3 different flavors of exhaust tubes, 2 styles of 3 bladed props and a set of 4-blade props, multiple cannon muzzles, and wing guns. What you don’t get in the "Weekend Edition" is the nose weight and canopy masks included in the standard issue P-39, the photo-etch fret included in the Profi-Pack edition, and you don’t get a multi-choice decal sheet that you get in the other releases. If you can live without those extras and without the subtle differences in the instrument panel from version to version that the PE fret in the Profi-Pack offers, then this kit is a bargain. Construction Construction is conventional with only one fit issue that can easily be avoided and one "gotcha" if you don’t think ahead. We start off with the cockpit and nose gear well which both build up nicely right out of the box. The instrument panel has raised dials and switches but no instrument face detail. You can use some dial decals from your spares box, or if you’re lazy like me, you can still get a good result with some careful painting. The only thing the cockpit really needs is a seat harness since there isn’t one provided. I built the Profi-Pack version several years ago so I used the extra set of harnesses from that PE fret. Yes, I know it’s a British Sutton harness and wrong for this version. If you’re a purist or a registered member of the Accuracy Police, please, take a deep breath, stay calm, breathe into a paper bag if you’re hyperventilating, let your heart rate return to normal. It’s really not that bad, is it? Still looks better than no harness at all, doesn’t it? Now here’s where you have to think ahead or be a victim of "gotcha" later on. In the regular and Profi-Pack releases, the provided nose weight also comprises the upper nose gear well. No such luxury here so use some sheet plastic or you’ll be able to see right up through the gear well to the inside of the fuselage seam (see the cockpit photos). Don’t forget to cut a notch in the sheet plastic for the drive shaft. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to add nose weight on top of the sheet plastic. The fuselage halves trap the cockpit/nose gear well and then add the horizontals to the assembled fuselage. If you’re smart, you’ll leave off the nose gun cover until you’re sure you have enough weight in the nose. Fit is good; no putty necessary, just some CA here, some Mr. Surfacer there and some sanding to smooth things out. Wings next. You get upper halves and a single bottom. My usual practice for this type of layout is to glue the uppers to the fuselage first. This way, I get a very clean and even wing-to-fuselage joint on top. Before you glue the bottom wing, there are some things you don’t want to forget. Install the radiators, the tops of the main gear wells, and the landing light. If you’re going to use the provided centerline fuel tank or bomb, open the holes for pylon. WARNING: the instructions don’t tell you but if you’re going to use the underwing gun gondolas, you need to open up the four holes in the lower wing. After those preliminaries are done, the lower wing goes onto the fuselage and the upper wings followed by seam clean up. Just like the fuselage, no putty necessary, just a little CA, Mr. Surfacer and sanding. Next is the canopy/windscreen and the doors. Canopy/windscreen fit is good. With the doors, you have the option of closed or open. According to my research, entry was through the starboard side and the port door was rarely opened, so when I built the Profi-Pack version, I took that information to heart and left the starboard door open and closed the port door. Be warned, if you decide to close either of the doors, they’re too big for the opening. I trimmed and trimmed, and then trimmed some more until it fit…..tight….very tight….too tight. So tight that in time, stress cracks developed in my canopy, windscreen and port side door ruining an otherwise beautiful model (you have to take my word on the "otherwise beautiful" part). Having learned a lesson, I decided to pose both doors open on this one. No sense challenging the stress-crack demon again. And what the heck, the research didn’t say the port door was NEVER opened. Painting Painting is next and it’s fairly simple; OD over neutral gray with white wing leading edges and tail. I couldn’t find any pictures of this particular aircraft, but being based in the Pacific, I would imagine it showed a fair amount of wear and fading, so that was the route I took. I preshaded with black, sprayed the white and masked it off. Then sprayed several different shades of the base colors for a weathered look. Several coats of Glosscote and it’s ready for decals. Decals Here is where the kit suffers. On the positive side, the sheet offers an abundance of stencils, the decals are thin, easy to work with, and react well to Micro Set and Micro Sol. However, the negatives outweigh the positives and they start before you even begin to use them. The decal sheet comes out of the box with a pinkish piece of rough tissue paper stuck to it. Peeling the paper off leaves a lot of paper residue stuck the decals. My hope was that when wet, all that residue would come off but it wasn’t to be. Much of it came off, but there was also a fair amount of residue that was actually embedded in the decals. Careful scraping with a #11 blade wouldn’t even get out the rest of the debris. Next problem is the stars-and-bars are out of register, with a bit of white peeking from under the blue circle. Unfortunately, you can’t see it until the decal is on the model. Careful trimming with a new #11 took care of the problem, but after both wing insignia being out of register, I decided to switch to my AeroMaster P-39 sheet for the fuselage insignia. The final problem is that the white on the stars and bars and the yellow decals are translucent. It’s not a problem with the insignia since I wanted them to look a bit faded, but it was a real problem with the yellow decals, which are prominent on this model. When placed over the OD, the yellow decals take on an orange or ochre color and nearly disappear under normal light. I decided to turn to my AeroMaster sheet again, this time for the yellow decals. For a comparison, left picture is the starboard door with the kit "995" decal and to the right is the same door with the AeroMaster "995" decal. Finishing Decals done, I glossed over the model, applied an oil wash of burnt umber and black, then sprayed on Testors Dullcote. When that was dry, I used several Tamiya weathering sets to apply dirt and oil streaks and then misted streaks of a very thinned sand color over portions of the model. I then spent the next 2 evenings gluing on the final little bits (gear doors, wheels, fuel tank, yadayada) and it’s done. The remaining pictures are of the completed kit. Conclusion It’s several years old, but still a very nice kit. If you plan on using the kit decals, you might feel let down but I bet most of you have P-39 decals somewhere in your stash, right? This kit sells for $19.95 at my local hobby shop, $16.99 at Sprue Brothers and $16.10 at Great Models (if you have a local hobby shop, please support it). With Hasegawa’s P-39 going for over $35.00, this is an excellent value and I highly recommend it. My thanks to Eduard for providing this review sample.