1/48 Hobbycraft Bell YP-59 Airacomet

Gallery Article by Stephen A. Carr on June 30 2010

 

This model was originally bought by a friend as part of his reference material for a 1/6 scale radio controlled model. As it turned out, his business took up too much of his time, and the R/C model never happened. The kit sat on a shelf for a few years until I spotted it and got it out to have a look. The was a modelling competition at my local aircraft museum in April 2010, and with the low parts count, the YP-59 could possibly be built in a day. My friend let me have the kit for nothing.

Overall, the kit fit together pretty well, although an online review I found stated that almost every part needed trial fitting before gluing - this wasn't promising! It also mentioned the landing gear lengths were incorrect, the nose needing lengthening while the mains needed shortening. There weren't any strict rules for the competition, allowing partly built models to be finished, so some of the interior painting was done before the competition day.

Painting the interior was done using Warbirdcolors Paint, a water based paint used in the R/C model world. It can be force dried very quickly with a hair dryer, which was really useful on the build day, as I wasn't held up waiting for paint to dry. After the cockpit was assembled and fitted, plus the nose wheel bay, there wasn't much space left for lead nose weight. I wasn't sure how much lead would be needed in the nose, or how much I could fit, so crammed in as much as the space would allow. The model now has a wing loading approaching the fullsize! The fuselage halves joined fairly accurately, and only needed minor sanding of the seam.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

  

The rear fuselage had some extra styrene added in the fin strake and leading edge of the fin as the profile didn't quite match the three view drawing I had. This would allow reshaping without breaking through. The join with the front fuselage was pretty good, but did need some filling to hide the seam. I had cut the rudder off so it could be added at a slight angle. I read that later P-59's had spring loaded controls that would centre when parked up. I didn't know whether the YP-59 was the same, but wanted to glue the control surfaces on at a slight angle as it would make the model a little more interesting. The wings went together well, but the online review I read stated unless the roots were trimmed a little, it would affect the dihedral. The ailerons, flaps and elevators were also sanded to remove the fabric effect as the YP-59 had metal surfaces. 

At the end of the competition, the basic airframe build was complete but for landing gear and paint. I didn't know before hand whether I would get the model done in a day, and as it turned out, I couldn't. If I'd rushed it, skipped filling etc., perhaps I could, but I didn't want to spoil it just to get done. The aircraft I modelled is #777, the example surviving at the Planes of Fame team at Chino, but built as it was during wartime. I modified the wing tips from the dinner plate tips of the kit, to the cropped versions fitted to the YP-59. The fin was also cropped later in the airframes life, but the photos I worked from showed the rounded fin.

Once the canopy frames were attached, they were filled to blend in to the fuselage. Several holes in the nose glazing were filled, leaving just two as per the version I was modelling. The pitot was added under the port wing. In the kit it is meant to be on the top of the fin, but this early version had it under the wing. The canopy frame was sprayed in two goes to make masking easier. Firstly the vertical framework was masked and sprayed. Once this has hardened off, the horizontal frames were masked and painted.

After the base colour had dried a while, several different tints and tones of the base colour were sprayed randomly over the model along some panel lines and general splotches to simulate the general patchiness of the full size. The olive drab was given a rub down with a automotive paint flatting pad which served two purposes. Firstly it smoothed the finish, and secondly, by rubbing down through the different shades of olive drab, it created the uneven blotchy finish I was looking for.

Walkways were also masked and sprayed rather than using the decals supplied in the kit. After masking, the first colour I sprayed was the olive drab base colour. This is to seal the edges of the masking tape so that if the paint does creep under, it won't be seen as it will blend into the base colour. After that, black was sprayed, followed by a fine speckle of dark grey to break up the even finish on the black.

The underside grey was also sprayed a couple of different shades, and also rubbed with a flatting pad in the direction of the airflow. I was just about to start decalling, when I remembered the fin was a much darker shade than the rest of the aircraft, so the decals went on hold while the tail was masked and sprayed. The Star and Bar were the first decals to be applied. After the rounded wing tips were removed from the original, they lost part of the bar, so the decals were trimmed to match. The centre red dot from the RAF roundel supplied in the kit, was used for the fuel filler cap, as these show up red in a colour photo I have. The tail serial was cut in two, to bridge the fin/rudder hinge line. After the decals had dried for a while, the aircraft was dirtied again with further shades of olive drab. It shows up more in real life than in a photo.

The landing gear was assembled and fitted next. The main gear was reasonably ok, although the small doors that cover the legs were fiddly and needed the supports on the leg trimming down in length by about 60%. The nose gear fitted fine, but its gear doors seemed a bit too curved, preventing all three mounting lugs from touching the side of the wheel well. Two were glued with cyano, and once secure, the third was held in place and also cyanoed. Glued areas were then given a dust of matt coat to remove any shine from the cyano.

This 1/48 kit was only the second plastic model aircraft I'd built in years having spent almost 30 years building R/C aircraft. While I still build R/C for a living, most are 1/5 scale or larger. I wanted to get back into plastics to develop my spraying and fine detailing techniques for small items which is very different to the usual builds I do. I am pleased with the finished model, and like 1/48 as a size to work in, so have several other 1/48 kits lined up in the build queue.

Stephen A. Carr

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Photos and text © by Stephen A. Carr