Lancfan's Curtiss XP-55 Ascender ***FINISHED***

[lancfan]

This build will be the 1/72 scale Airmodel kit of the Curtiss XP-55 Ascender Canard fighter.


David.

[splash]

If my past experience building an Airmodel kit was anything to go by, you might find you will have a bit of scratch building to do. Which should be right up your street

Regards Splash

[lancfan]

Deffinately, Splash- cockpit, undercarriage, wheel bays, propeller all need to come from the spares box or be scratch built.

David.

[lancfan]

well it's start day, I will begin this one on Tuesday.

David.

[VickersVandal]

Look forward to seeing it built. That's one funky looking bus.

[lancfan]

Well, I'm starting late but here we go with the sheet of parts ready for the off-


The parts have been marked out with a Sharpie and separated from the sheet.


The edges of the fuselage have been sanded down to the correct lines, but there seems to be a problem with this kit- the cross sections and some details don't fully match the kit drawings or pictures of the restored full size Ascender, this kit was released decades before the full-size was restored and properly photographed and further work will be needed above that of simply making the CFS (cut from Sheet) vac form to make this right. The corrections start by separating the engine cowlings from the fuselage, the forward fuselage will be corrected and built up first.



A plastic card spine has been cut to widen the fuselage and provide a base for the interior details.


David.

[splash]

That's a cunning plan with the insert, I can see that working.

Regards Splash

[lancfan]

Cheers Splash.

David.

[lancfan]

The interior bulkheads have been fitted to the LH side.


This was closely followed by the other half, the cockpit is now ready to be detailed prior to closing up the forward fuselage. Looking at the pictures of the full size office it does bear some similarity to that of the P-40 by the same manufacturer so the cockpit of this model will be based on some parts copied from the NT Airfix P-40 kit.


David.

[fearless frankie]

Following with great interest as a few airmodel vacs in the stash, they seem very basic compared to a lot of others. Very interesting subject as well,keep up the fascinating work

[lancfan]

I have drawn up the specific decals for this.


The cockpit has been fitted out and the noseweight has been added.

The cockpit interior has been painted and the fuselage halves have been glued to the framework.



David.

[SJPONeill]

Great build, David..you're showing that there is not too much to fear even from rather basic vacforms like Airmodel and Execuform, certainly not with more modern designs like the XP-55 and -54 (I have this and the detail is very much the same)...my bottom lip gets a bit trembly at the thought of their biplanes and floatplanes (or worse, their, biplane, floatplanes!) where the builder is left to their own devices for the wing and float strut structures...

[gnomemeansgnome]

Nice work so far. And this one makes the MPM kit I gave up on look like a cake walk.

[splash]

I love the way you think out of the box and use anything from a chunk of wood to the kitchen sink to detail your builds.

Keep up the great work

[DavidWomby]

Good fix on the fuselage width and lovely little cockpit.

David