1/48 Hobbycraft Bell YP-59A

by Greg Wise on July 4 2003

  US Independence Day  

 

INTRODUCTION; 

    ENTER THE JET AGE.

In the USA the General Electric Company, which had wide experience of the design, development and construction of industrial turbines, dating back to before the start of the 20th century, was chosen initially to proceed with the development of national aircraft gas turbines based on the British Whittle engine (Sir Frank Whittle). Because of the Bell Aircraft Corporation's geographical location, in relation to the GE plant, this company was chosen to design and build a fighter aircraft to be powered by the first American-built gas turbine.

   Realising that early engines would develop only limited thrust, Bell elected for a twin engine arrangement the rest of the aircraft was a conventional midwing monoplane, and wide track main landing gear outboard of the engines, the nose wheel unit retracting aft into the nose, with attention given to a high tailplane as to clear the efflux from the turbojets.

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HISTORY; 

    The first XP-59A was flown on October 1st 1942 from Murdoc Dry Lake in California, only 15 flight hours were logged in the first five months, two more XP-59A's were built, followed by 13 more for testing and evaluation. the majority of these latter aircraft, delivered during 1944, a couple were evaluated in mock combat against a P-47 and a P-38J. The new jet was, disappointingly outclassed by the planes it was supposed to replaced.

DATA

  • max speed...409mph / 658kmh

  • cruise ..........375mph / 604kmh

  • ceiling..........46,200 ft / 14080m

  • range............400 miles / 644km

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CONSTRUCTION; 

    The Hobbycraft kit comes in a very sturdy cardboard box that opens from the ends with three painting options on the back side, the contents are crisp clean flash free styrene, typical sparse information on the instruction sheet ( just a note that some information concerning the gear doors are backward so double check these parts) the parts fit pretty well and need only minor attention with sanding and putty, I used some aftermarket items to enhance the Airacomets weak points.

  First Item needed was a nose weight so my kit made a detour to Mr Terry Dean of TD Castings who made a plug to cast weights for the kit (Thanx Terry), The wheels were then replaced by True Details set, the kit supplies rubber tires and I'm just not a fan of that media. Finally the cockpit was replaced by the Cutting Edge Modelworks CEC48438, Super Detailed Cockpit, that really set the kit off. The great feature about this kit is that the flight control are position able except for the rudder.

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PAINTING; 

      Aircraft Depicted was the eighth Bell YP-59A Airacomet as painted for evaluation by the US Navy in late 1943 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. (notice no tail hook, don't ask me why) Standard 3-tone scheme, I used Testors Model Masters Enamels, First the panel lines were preshaded but don't come across well in the photos, some panels were shot lighter/darker shades, the cockpit was finished out in bell green the canopy after masked was sprayed green then black followed by the exterior blue the decals went down nicely and needed only a little micro sol to help them along. The over all finish was sprayed with a mix of Testor Dullcoat 70% and Glosscoat 30% thinned with a little lacquer thinner.

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CONCLUSION; 

    This is a nice kit!!! I got mine from  Steve at North American Hobbies plus the cockpit set at a very good price.  Hobbycraft has come along way from the first kit I bought from them, they have some pretty decent offerings out on the market these days.

 References from ,

  • American Fighters of WW2. by David A. Anderton.  Hamlyn/Aerospace.

  • American Aircraft of WW2. by David Mondey. Chancellor Press.

P.S.

This bird sits nice next to my Meteor and Me262. 

Greg

Photos and text © by Greg Wise