Here's a look at Special Hobby's latest 1/32 scale Airacobra.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Hi Rowan

well, you know it is not my scale .. still I read the article and it is good as always.

One remark about the sprues: they look pretty much like Eduard!

I know the MPM group as such is already a biiiig conglomerate but there have also been connections to Eduard (Avia B.534 and Fulmar come to mind) so maybe it is just a case of lessons learned but maybe Eduard is trying 1/32 scale tooling for their forthcomming Bf 109 E ... from the photos the sprues look better than standard SH (just had another look at the Fokker D.21)

all the best

Steffen

Hi Steffen

I know what you mean about the Eduard "feel" and I wouldn't be surprised if the kit has benefited from the collaboration between the companies. In my opinion, Special Hobby's wings are an improvement, with thinner trailing edges and a less blunt profile.

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan ..

To be clearer I did not wrote of the P-39 kit but just of the style how the sprues are done. Rounded at the corners, nice panel lines ... and yes now you are pointing that out. Eduard already have P-39 data so it would be logical to do the tool when MPM is paying it. .... Hope Eduard will stick (mostly) to 1/48 .. there are enough kits that could be (re)done the Eduard style ... e.g. their own Tempest

best regards

Steffen

Hi Modeller's:
I am in the later stages ( painting) of the MPM Special Hobby P-39D which I have converted to a P-39K. The P-39F reviewed seems to have the same sprues as the P-39D the only difference that I noted was the 12 exhaust stubs rather than 6. But that is resin part anyway.

I was expecting lots of fit problems after reading about a builder on the web who had 3mm gaps in the wing root and lots of flashing. I had just the opposite problem the wing root was a little too tight. But it was a minor and welcome problem which took 10 minutes to fix. I also had no flash, there were a few seams on the landing gear but noting unusual.

The fuselage was an exceptional fit but I did remove the locator pins in a couple of places were they didn't seem to line up. I used no filler at all. There isn't enough detail in the cockpit for 1/32nd scale but we are modelers, aren't we? I added cables to the cockpit and 1/32nd instruments to the instrument panel and glazed them with future. I also added gun charging handles, door handles, emergency release handles , a trim wheel and a document case for the right hand door. The wing tops and bottoms didn't quite line up and I had to trim 1mm of over hang from the wing tip a 5 minute job.

The two gun ports where only half circles but 10 seconds with a round file and that was done. What I really liked about the models was that it is the first 1/32nd P-39 injection modeled kit and it was half the price of a Trumpeter kit.

The canopy is very thin and delicate. It fits perfectly, but mine had a huge crack. I e-mailed MPM yesterday and today they said they are sending me a new canopy free of charge. That's what I call service. I am very satisfied with MPM and their Special Hobby line. This is my second model, I also built the F2a Buffalo enjoyed building that too.
Keith Anderson
Twain Harte, California
[email protected]

I've already built this model, and the only problem that I found with it was getting the wingroot intakes mounted properly. It took a lot of work to get the wing upper and lower halves to fit propwerly over them. Other than that it's a beauty!