This all started when a bunch of guys demanded to see my Messercane idea built. Since I didn't have another Hurricane in the stash, I had to go shopping...again. Well, I decided to finally bite the bullet and get that 1/72 scale Special Hobby P-35A Philippine Defender I was lusting after. I just love U.S. inter-war stuff, and I was glad to see someone finally kitted the Seversky fighter in 1/72 scale. Isn't the box art stunning? Makes you feel like you're in the thick of the action!
Just a moment. I think I got grazed by a Japanese bullet. Yikes!
This is a very nice kit, if a little pricey for my budget. The parts are well-molded and some resin bits and a fret of photo-wretch are included.
I imagine if you build it like you're supposed to, it will go together a treat. Of course, right away, I noticed this would be a good opportunity to use up one of those left-over Airfix P-40 Allison engines.
Kit designers must have nightmares about guys like me. Luckily, I mostly ignore the instructions. Look at all the masochism one needs to engage in to build the cockpit:
Some of these parts are the size of a grain of sand!
Thank goodness I'm old enough to know which pitfalls to avoid and go with tinted canopies now.
The less said about the landing gear, the better. Oh, and this kit isn't designed to be finished "gear up". A little fudging is required here.
Since I'm low on spats, I replaced the kit's gun pods with radar blisters from a 1/144 scale B-36. I hope it's not too noticeable.
This is one time I actually went with the kit decals which are impressive. The rudder stripes went on great and look like the real thing.
One miss is the 17th Pursuit Squadron insignia which looks more like a pigeon pecking around in the dirt than the eagle descending upon its prey that it's supposed to be. I decided to swap that out for a nice 34th Squadron logo from a P-26. Otherwise, everything else was pretty straight-forward. The entire model, wing-walks included, was brush-painted by hand in acrylics.
I had a lot of fun building this model which took me about a week from start to finish.
I hope you enjoyed it and the long-forgotten story of the Battle of San Francisco.
Brian da Basher