1:72 Bell P-400

The Bell P-400 photo-etched set in 1:72 scale

This item is not a kit but a photo-etched accessory to a model of the Bell P-400 fighter in 1:72 scale. It is made by Eduard, a Czech maker from Obrnice near Most. According to the maker's line it is a full photo-etched set, that is the more extensive of the pair of sets that Eduard usually keeps for one type; the smaller variant carries the marking Zoom and covers only a part of the same extent. The difference between the two sets matters more in choosing than the name itself.

The real subject

The designation P-400 was carried by Bell Airacobra machines originally ordered for the Royal Air Force, which the US Army Air Forces took over in the end. The design was unusual for its time: the engine lay behind the pilot in the middle of the fuselage and turned the propeller through a long shaft run under the floor of the cockpit. The aircraft had nose gear, the cockpit was entered through doors as in a car, and a cannon fired through the propeller hub. Without a turbocharger the performance at high altitude fell away quickly, but at low altitude it was a sturdy and well armed machine. That is precisely why the P-400s came into their own mainly in the southwest Pacific, over Guadalcanal and New Guinea, where they often worked against ground targets.

What to watch out for

• Separate the parts with a sharp knife on a hard surface, not by twisting.
• It is good to level the base under larger photo-etched areas beforehand, so that the part seats.
• In 1:72 scale it pays off to have lighting and pointed tweezers ready.

Who the set is for

• Modelers who want to raise the detail of the cockpit and the surface in a small scale.
• Builders with experience of photo-etched parts.
• Anyone interested in American fighters of the first years of the war in the Pacific.