I built my first model when I was 3. It was the old Monogram P-40B Flying Tiger that came in the blue box with the great box art. Among many of my oldest memories is a birthday, I think my 5th, when I got a smorgasborg of Monogram kits. They were all in those blue boxes. So one could say I have some good memories of of the old Monogram kits.
A few years ago I set to acquiring as many of the old Monogram blue box kits that I could find via eBay. I managed to get most of them (there are maybe 1-2 that I never could find). When I did that, I ended up with a 4th P-39 kit in my stash, which seems to be par for the course when describing my stash, where you will find multiple P-40s, Corsairs, Hellcats, Wildcats, P-47s, P-51s ..... I could go on, but I think you get the idea.
I started this kit last July, along with the other 3 Airacobras in my stash. The decals were almost as old as I am, so I decided that I would not attempt using them given that the Eduard and Accurate Miniatures kits had a large decal sheet. I studied the various schemes that are represented in those decal sheets, ultimately deciding to build this Monogram kit as a British Airacobra Mk. I - AH601, No. 601 "County of London" squadron based in Duxford, England in 1941.
Paints included mostly Model Master acrylics, with a few colors provided by Tamiya, Aircraft Colors and PolyScale. This was build OOB with the exception of the decals and the antenna rigging. Weathering is Tamiya weathering compounds and Flory dark dirt wash.
This one was a notorious tail sitter. I didn't plan real well prior to starting the build, so by the time I determined I was going to have a problem with the tail sitting, I had already installed all the armament parts in the nose. There is very little room in the nose to add weight, so I elected to forgo all that. Monogram provides a clear peg-leg to keep it on its gear, but I loathe that kind of part as it's not representative of the actual aircraft. I am using it in the photographs but it is not attached to the model. This model will end up hanging on the wall in one of my bedrooms.
