MPM P-63 Kingcobra

[Second Air Force]

Here's an old kit I've had in storage for years:

MPM P-63 Kingcobra

This MPM offering is not for the faint-of-heart, but still it is buildable. It's a typical limited-run kit and requires a good bit of work. Also I'll be using other kits and SAC landing gear to enhance the build. I started working on this so many years ago.......

MPM P-63 Kingcobra

[draken35]

Looks good anyway...

[Second Air Force]

This has nice surface detail, very lightly scribed. It should look alright in natural metal. The only issue is that there will be quite a lot of filler to use, especially around the nose. The profile there seems too narrow and spinner diameter is too small. My fix will be to use a different spinner (I'm looking for an Eduard P-39 right now for the four-blade prop) and build up the nose to properly join the new spinner. The profile of the nose is really why I have not dedicated a lot of time on this before.

[No.1]

I will see if I have four blade prop in my pile of parts

[Second Air Force]

Alright, that would be excellent! I'm looking for the Eduard kit since it has the extra parts.

[Second Air Force]

The wing is now assembled and test-fitting with the fuselage has commenced. I reckon I'll have to get the cockpit assembled and add that to the trial-fit process:

MPM P-63 Kingcobra

Whilst I'm working on Bell products, I've also drawn out the C.A. Atkins vacuform Kingcobra to begin construction. This isn't a bad kit in its own right, with decent surface detail. It is, however, still a vacuform and will require quite a lot of labor. This one will end up in the orange/red color of an RP-63 Pinball trainer.

MPM P-63 Kingcobra

[Jicehem]

Hi,

Very interesting model. It's a pity there is only the P-63A version, since the French air force used several P-63C...
Your work begins very nicely.

Jicehem

[modellius]

very promissing

[Second Air Force]

Jicehem, it seems to me (just by memory) that someone did do the C model. It may have been Hi-Tech possibly......but I do remember seeing a built-up 1/48 model with the ventral fin in French markings somewhere in the far past.

The old Atkins kit was started by another person many years ago and I purchased it "as is". It'll be a fun vacuform, I think!

[Second Air Force]

My Eduard P-39 "donor" kit just arrived. More later......

[Second Air Force]

Here is the new Eduard propeller spinner sitting on the P-63 fuselage. You can see here that MPM made the very front of the cowling a bit too small in diameter. This will be fixed with shimming and some filler to fit the airplane to the spinner. When I first bought the P-63 kit I knew the front of the fuselage was too small and I didn't proceed with the project then. Now there isn't any excuse to proceed!

MPM P-63 Kingcobra

[draken35]

Looks promising...

[Second Air Force]

In the last installment it was shown that the nose of the MPM kit is too small in diameter. An easy fix for this exists, by simply building tapered shims to widen the very front of the fuselage. These will go into the split between halves and the top-to-bottom adjustment will come from the nose gear door opening forward:

MPM P-63 Kingcobra

After rectifying the nose issue it was time to fit the cockpit/nose well and aft turtledeck panel. Also, because it has been laying out for reference, the old Monogram P-39 is being worked on at the same time:

MPM P-63 Kingcobra

Next it was time to finally spray some paint on these. Hopefully the cockpits can be finished and fuselage halves assembled this week:

MPM P-63 Kingcobra

[No.1]

Like your dual builds

[Second Air Force]

I originally wished to build the two P-63s at the same time. It then seemed smart to work on the P-39 so as to help with some of the tricky parts of the MPM kit. The Monogram Airacobra goes together quite easily and it is giving me some hints on areas that don't fit so well on the P-63. Next big step is going to be getting the vacuform canopy parts prepared for the P-63 and fitting these to the fuselage halves.