Scale aviation modeller international

WHAT’S IN THE BOX?

In the kit box, there are 92 parts

in total, including two sprues of

grey styrene, one clear sprue, and

a small resin block. The plastic

is rather soft, and the moulding

is typically short-run, showing

some imperfections; for example,

one half of the air intake scoop

is moulded integrally with each

fuselage half, and on my example,

one of the scoops was blocked

with a lump of plastic. There was

also some flash growing over

the front contours of the cockpit

opening. I would recommend

giving all mating surfaces a wipe

with a sanding stick, to make

sure they get positive contact.

The sprues also contain various

parts not used in this version, which

should leave you with some food

for the spares box. The position

of the wing gun and pitot tube are

represented as soft depressions on

the leading edge faces of the wing.

Only one machine gun slot per side

is provided in the mouldings, so, as

the P-400 carried two wing guns

on each side, you’ll have to make

another hole to accommodate the

second gun. But note, do not follow

the guiding depression, as it sits

in the middle of the gun panel,

while the double-gun variant

should have the barrels on the

inner and outer edge of the panel.

Although the plastic parts from

RS Models are rather chunky, the

trailing edges of the wings are

reasonably thin. A colourful decal

sheet caters for five aircraft: two

RAF and one Australian in grey/

green camouflage, one Portuguese

in early fighter colours of brown

and green over sky, and finally a

Russian example painted silver.

Paint instructions are generic

without quoting any manufacturers

system, but the correct colours

should be fairly easy to reference.

CONSTRUCTION STARTS

The cockpit consists of 12 parts

that make up a pretty busy office

for this scale, with the control

stick, rudder pedals, instrument

panel (but no decals), gun sight,

and nose gun breeches. Seatbelts

were cut from thin strips of Tamiya

masking tape and hand-painted

with Vallejo acrylics. You get

separate doors (as clear parts) if

you wish to pose them in the open

position to show off the cockpit.

The rear bulkhead with its

clear window is included, as is the

shelf aft of the cockpit. The latter

usually has radios on it, but not in

this case. The fuselage halves do

have alignment lines, which are

helpful in positioning the cockpit

assembly, but it’s still a loose

fit. Mine is not lined up exactly

straight, so use some care here!

There is plenty of room in the

nose for weight and I added 6.5 g

of lead shot just above the front

wheel bay. The kit parts give you

two exhaust variations: a six-stack

exhaust for the RAF machines, and

a 12-stack exhaust for all other

decal versions. The first option

comes as nicely cast resin parts,

and there’s a resin tail hook too,

should you fancy building the

Navy carrier test bed example.

If you are modelling the

Australian, Russian, or Portuguese

decal variant, you’ll have to open

the slots that accommodate the

exhaust plates on each fuselage

side. I did this by extending the

ends of the existing slots and

widening them with a jeweller’s

file. On the instructions, the

exhausts are shown to be fitted

from the inside, but I found it

easier to push them in from the

outside before mating the fuselage

halves. All inside surfaces were

painted Gunze H58 Interior Green.

THE COBRA BITES

Mating the fuselage halves required

some force, so I used clamps to

hold everything together until the

Moulding defect on the fuselage spine

Cockpit interior with seatbelts

added, made from tape

Clamps were needed to hold everything together

Moulding defects on the fuselage and canopy

“RS MODELS PROVIDE US WITH

INTERESTING AND UNUSUAL

VARIANTS OF AIRCRAFT TYPES”

WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • JULY 2018 • 29

1/72

028-33-QB-Cobra-0718.indd 29 11/06/2018 13:54