This one had stalled since July 2012 due to…decals. I had them, had started putting them on, but it is usually during the decal stage that a great model start to turn into an average model (for me anyway). Something always goes wrong. So before this one went South I stopped, and didn’t restart until I realized I had a theme that needed a kit of its age. So I gritted my teeth and dove in.

The Subject

The Golden Age of aviation, when aircraft design was more aesthetic than functional. If looked good, it flew beautifully!

The Boeing P-26A entered operations with the US Army Air Corps in 1933. The “A” differed from the original prototype P-26 in having a higher and stronger headrest. Most Peashooters were of the A model, with a few C produced using a slightly different engine, externally looking the same. 

Peashooters wore colorful schemes during one of the more glamorous ages of aviation. This P-26A represents the Group Commander’s aircraft of the 18th Pursuit Group at Wheeler Field, Hawaii Territory, 1939. Within a year all remaining Peashooters would lose most of its paint and be traded in for the P-35 or P-36. 

The Model

This the venerable Revell kit, from 1967. Lots of rivet detail and not much detail in that open, albeit small, cockpit. So I opted to add the Starfighter Decals resin cockpit set (7206) as well as their engine upgrade set (7207).

The cockpit set is well worth it, providing some great detail that is certainly visible. The engine however is not much better than the kit offering, however that may not be true for recent repops.

Construction was straightforward, and proceeded quickly. The difficulties were with painting and decaling. First was getting the right blue for the fuselage, and the right yellow. Easy enough to buy the paint, but touch ups don’t lend themselves to using a hairy stick, my usual method. After a coat of white primer to create a good base for the yellow i put on the yellow, then let it cure for a few weeks. Just to be sure.

I then masked and painted the blue. I also masked off the black trim on the tail as my decals were not quite the right shape.

Decals…I used the Model Alliance sheet, 72190, Wings of Stars. Great decals but I think they may have been for the Pavla kit as it suggests that one first, then the Revell…they were not quite the right shapes.

Summary

I like this kit, combined with the Starfighter Decals cockpit. We could certainly use a modern injection kit, but until then I’ll continue to build this combination. I’ve got lots more decals for the P-26 family and I want to do at least 1 Philippine Army Air Corps subject from December 1941 and another USAAC machine in Olive Drab before the True Blue was introduced. Also have decals for a natural metal finish. Never enough time!

Thanks for looking…