SPA Modeler

Tx for the info but
Wouh, that looks really cool John !!

- Kari

Going to stop where I am, though I would have liked to have worked on the panel lines a bit more. The fragility of the landing gear made that too difficult for me and my shaky hands. Apparently the maker really wanted a scale size landing gear and that resulted in very weak struts, made worse by the flexibility of the limited run soft plastic. They will hold the finished model up but won't tolerate any kind of side loads. The design of the gear is very complex. Like the Grumman Bearcat there is a sort of trapese mechanism such that the top of the strut is moved outboard as it retracts.

It was interesting to install the antenna post on the vacuform canopy, it was a resin part and I used a drop of five minute epoxy. The antenna wire is Uschi Fine, with just enough tension to stay straight, also attached to the fin with a drop of 5 minute epoxy. I may continue the use of epoxy with antenna wires, it worked very well.

The last photos are with a Collect-Air Curtiss XP-55. So far as I know there is no Vultee XP-54 in 1/48, so this may be as far as I can go in 1/48 with this series of out there experimental WW II fighters.

The instructions have a few gotchas, they say to install the main gear struts with the axles outboard, but pictures and logic say otherwise. They also show you to put the lower wing insignia on the left wing, but we all know better than that (but I still checked photos!).

Nice pair of oddball USAAF prototypes John!

Agree -they look cool together. Your antenna looks great.

Cool pair of odd birds!

One of the knockoff” of the Shinden…sort off

I think if the Shinden had more development time it might have been the most successful of these types, especially if it had been adapted to turbine power.

jeaton01 wrote: ↑Thu May 30, 2024 1:14 pm I think if the Shinden had more development time it might have been the most successful of these types, especially if it had been adapted to turbine power.

Me too, John!