1/72 Matchbox P-12E another U.S.A.A.C. fighter from the "Yellow Wings" era

 

 

 

       Having built a Boeing F4B-4 and still not having found my painting muse (or perhaps deliberately ignoring her voice) I decided to rummage around in the Heap of Embarrassment and find the "Brother from another Mother" to the F4B-4, the P-12E. Almost identical to the F4B-4 there were minor differences in the landing gear and of course no arrestor gear or life-raft. Three hundred and sixty-six  copies in several different versions served in the USAAC and it was the main strength in the mid 1930s. Of course there is a Wikipedia page that covers this pretty well. 

        The Matchbox kit is cast in two colors; and for once the colors of the plastic and the colors of the originals match well-enough that you could almost just build it and slap the decals on and be quite happy with the result. Of course, I'm not smart enough to leave well-enough alone and decided that I needed to paint the model before assembling it.

 

the colors were so very close, but not exactly right

besides I had bought a can of Vallejo Insignia Yellow a while ago and was itching to try it out

 

happily Matchbox kits come with crew figures

 

he even gets a seat (unlike the Monogram pilot who only gets a peg in his left calf)

 

as is usual with Matchbox kits the fit is excellent 

 

Matchbox's answer to cabane struts is this arrangement

 

the struts glue into each other

 

then the assembled struts are glued under the front cowling

 

 

then the whole thing goes onto the fuselage 

 

while that was drying I painted the pilot 

(is it just me, or does he look grumpy?)

 

after the cabane struts had dried I attached the upper wing, then the lower wing,

after that had been given plenty of time to set I installed the interplane struts

our pilot stills looks to be in a sour mood

 

this may explain his unhappiness; no wheels!

 

the Army paint job seems rather dour compared to the Navy colors

 

 

but the decals help the look

 

there was no decal for the fuselage stripe so I had to hand-paint it

 

looking at it now I may need to touch-up that stripe 

 

they certainly wanted the folks beneath them to know who this aircraft belonged to

 

regrettably there are no spats

 

but it's a good-looking little plane

 

 

 

       This is an excellent kit, the parts-fit is very good, detail is good aside from the lack of cockpit detail. The decals are good but lack the fuselage stripe which is a pain to paint (it still would have been trouble if I had the sense to paint it before I fully assembled the kit). I'm really beginning to like the garish yellow wings, I might just go on a binge and build a bunch all at once......