Propeller Planes from
1920s to 2000s

USAAC Bell YFM-1 Airacuda (1930s)

The Bell XFM-1 Airacuda was a proposed heavy fighter/bomber destroyer. Development started in 1935, with first flights in 1937. Originally designed as a tail-dragger (XFM-1), the YFM-1 had tricycle landing gear. Main armament was to be two 37mm cannons housed one apiece in each engine nacelle, with four defensive machine guns mounted at the top, the underside, and on each side of the fuselage. 

As can happen with advanced prototypes incorporating new concepts and technologies, the Airacuda was plagued with problems and failed to achieve its design objectives of speed, climb, and maximum altitude. Although the 14 Airacudas that were built were assigned to Pursuit squadrons, changing USAAC tactics and strategies for bomber interception led to no further orders. Surviving Airacudas were used by USAAC technical training groups as late as 1942. (Ginter) 

This Valom kit of the Bell YFM-1 Airacuda was a very challenging build. In addition to the usual issues with limited run kits (poor fit, no locator tabs or slots, coarse surface details, overly thick control surfaces, primitive/under-detailed small parts), it had three main areas where the kit did not conform very well to the design of the actual aircraft: the relation of the horizontal stabilizer to the fuselage, the rendering of the exhaust pipes, and the distance between the fuselage and the engine nacelles. I made changes where I could, and lived with what I couldn't change. 

I added about 18 scale inches of Evergreen styrene strip on both sides of the fuselage, between the fuselage wing roots and the engine nacelles, ignoring the resulting additional wingspan. This allowed me to modify two appropriately larger, 3-bladed propellers from the spares bin to match the 1/72 scale drawings. (I ignored the undersized main wheel wells on the undersides of the wings.)

I removed the molded roots on the fuselage for the horizontal stabilizers/elevators, and relocated these control surfaces up to the top of the fuselage, per the photos in the Ginter book on the Airacuda. Lots of Tamiya putty and Mr. Color Dissolved Putty, there. 

I cut off the protruding exhaust pipes and carved out cavities for scratch-built recessed exhaust pipes. 

Click on the thumbnails below to see some of these modifications:  

Instead of the correct natural metal finish on the real Airacudas, I opted for a ficticious application of the typical, colorful 1930s blue and yellow USAAC paint scheme. All paint was Testors Model Master enamel. Decals were from various Superscale sets. Final overall finish was a mix of Testors Semi-Gloss and Clear Flat Lacquers. Regrettably, time and the weak, soft Valom plastic has allowed the main landing gear struts to bend, giving the aircraft a splayed-foot appearance.  

Click on the thumbnails below to see larger images:

de Havilland Twin Otter (1960s to present)

The de Havilland of Canada Twin Otter is an evolution of the highly successful de Havilland Otter single engine STOL utility aircraft of the 1950s. First flight was in 1965, and by 1975 de Havilland expected orders would eventually exceed 700 aircraft (Air International).

This Matchbox kit of the de Havilland Twin Otter is an old kit that I have had for a long time, maybe thirty years. I knew I would build it someday, but I wasn't inspired to start it until I spotted online the splendid Caracal decal set that included the markings for the British Antarctic Survey that you see here. This colorful scheme clinched the deal.

It was a pretty typical Matchbox kit for the time, a little more crisp in details and molding than usual. I searched online for other modeler's builds of the kit for suggestions and corrections, which is where I spotted one modeler's correction of the windscreen. Matchbox had simplified the windscreen for construction, and as a result the width of the glazing from side to side was too narrow and the corner pillars were too wide. I corrected this by combining two windscreens (I had three of these kits), using 60% of the left side of one windscreen and 60% of the right side of the other windscreen, concealing the joint between the two clear pieces behind the center pillar.

All paint was Testors Model Master enamels. Lots of very careful and precise masking was required, especially at the propeller blade tips. The Caracal decals went on well, after I added a single drop of Dawn dishwashing detergent to the water for the decals. Final clear finish was a mix of Testors Clear Semi-Gloss and Clear Flat Lacquer. 

Click on the thumbnails below to see larger images: 

Fokker F27MPA (1970s to present)

The Fokker F27MPA maritime patrol aircraft was a development of the F27 Friendship commuter airliner of the 1950s. First flight of the F27MPA was in 1976. The F27MPA has an air/sea seach radar in a radome on the underside of the forward fuselage, and two fixed pylons under the wings to carry 206 gallon long range fuel tanks.

 

I don't remember how or when I bought this kit. A little research on the scalemates.com plastic model kit database indicated the kit was originally manufactured by ERTL/ESCI in 1991, as the Fokker Friendship commuter airliner. Later it was issued with conversion parts for the F27MPA, and still later released as an Italeri kit, which is the one I built here.

This was a pretty crisp kit that went together very well. I added Evergreen styrene strips, and other random bits and pieces, to give some texture to the otherwise completely hollow landing gear wheel wells at the nose and engine nacelles. Lots of Liquid Gravity metal beads were required to avoid tail sitting.

The Italeri kit included painting instructions and complete decals for three different F27MPA aircraft, one Spanish and two Netherlands. I had my doubts about my ability to get the decals for the Spanish fuselage stripes and rudder and wingtip markings to go on satisfactorily, so I ended up masking and painting these decorations. Pretty much the only kit decals I used were the SAR letters and some data markings.

All paint was Testors Model Master enamel and the final finish was a mix of Testors Clear Semi-Gloss and Clear Flat Lacquer. Click on the thumbnails below for larger images: