Sunday, February 5, 2023

Bell P-39N Airacobra 1/33-scale paper model from Halinski

 I built this a few years ago, per instructions, with no modifications. The canopy is an aftermarket vacuform part from GPM (Poland). Everything else is paper. Wingspan is just over 12 inches. This model depicts an aircraft flown by the Russians under the WWII Lend-Lease program.

The American-built P-39 was rejected by the British in the early days of WWII Lend-Lease program. Its performance was pretty lackluster, especially at high altitude. It served American forces in the Pacific in limited numbers until it could be replaced by more capable aircraft. Given to the Russians through Lend-Lease, it proved to be very successful at low-level combat air support on the Eastern Front.

 




Halinski's models are not the easiest to assemble, due to their many small parts. But their artwork, detail, and printing tend to be excellent, especially in kits published after the mid 1990s.




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