HI-TECH 1:48 P-63C KINGCOBRA

Reviewer: Geoff Goldfen  (rec.models.scale)

The French bought around 100 P-63 Kingcobra's to operate in their Air Force in the closing stages of World War II, and these were still in service until 1950.  The P-63 was the successor to the P-39 Airacobra, and was originally designated the P-39E.  But it was in all respects a new and enhanced aircraft, hence the redesignation.  The USAAF and Russia also operated Kingcobras in their respective air arms.

This is a limited run kit with most parts injected mold but also incorporating a resin cockpit unit.  It carries all the traits of a limited run injection kit, a bit of flash and generally poor fits, with a fair bit of trimming and modifications required during the construction process.

The cockpit took a long time to detail, with the resin unit requiring a bit of extra work to get it to fit correctly within the fuselage shells.  The rest of the interior detail was scratchbuilt because there is little supplied in the kit, and I found the resin set a little hard to work with - although for those skilled at using resin the detail set is actually quite good.  The fuselage halves were not easy to fix together and the resulting effort required sanding and filling.

The wings are separated into upper and lower halves but are unrealistically thick - solid probably the operative word here.  The wings needed to be thinned otherwise they won't fit correctly onto the aircraft.  The underbelly section also needs to the thinned and sanded to get the proper look.  Once the work was completed and a number of dry fits finally showed that the parts can go together, I then went about filling in the gaps and sanding the exterior down. Plenty of putty is called upon during the construction process!

The tailplanes went on quite easily, compared to all the other work done thus far, but the vacuform canopy supplied was not the correct size - smaller than the area where it is supposed to be attached!  There is no way around this other than separating the glass panels and affixing them separately.  A bit of putty or plastic card will also be needed to make the rear section of the canopy.  If there is anyway you can get hold of another P-63 canopy then get it, as there is no real way to avoid the fact that this canopy is not right.  For another project, since the RP-63G aircraft were simply P-63C aircraft used by the USAAF as target drones, you could use this kit to make one of those, and therefore the rear section of the canopy is actually solid, so you can use putty to your heart's content!

The option of having the door open and displaying the interior of the aircraft is effective, enough so that you hope will distract onlookers from the number of flaws on the outside.  Don't forget a bit of noseweight, although the resin cockpit does help to not have a tailsitter in this kit.

Only one aircraft is produced by the kit, being a P-63C used in the Indochina War in 1949, of the French Air Force.  The decals are produced by aeromaster and the quality is very good.  Of course, as mentioned, you could use this kit to make an RP-63G but you will need to obtain the right decal sheet elsewhere.

To conclude this review I would say this kit was more effort than it was worth and is unfortunately not for anyone under the banner of 'experienced with limited run kits'.  My finished product is less than worthy of a spot in the cupboard but it does look like a P-63. The canopy and the need to thin out the wings etc were definitely the lowlights of this kit.  With a lot of effort and experience you should get a decent example from this kit, but for my mind I would be looking for another offering elsewhere.

Related reviews: Toko 1/72 P-63 Kingcobra kits

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