Product Review: Forces of Valor P-39Q

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Product Review: Forces of Valor P-39Q

Post by tmanthegreat » Sat Feb 02, 2008 2:30 am

It seemed to be a good idea to make a seperate thread for a review of the FOV P-39 so that it would not get lost in the other one. So here goes :wink:

I got the P-39 today, and let me say that I am quite impressed! This is certainly Unimax's best 1:32nd scale aircraft to date. If you have the FOV Spitfire, P-51D or Bf-109G, there really is little in the way of comparison. This plane rivals the latest 21c offerings, as well as the more expensive Corgi and GMP planes.

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The panel lines are smooth and there is no excessive riveting. The paint applications on my plane are pretty much perfect. There is very subtle weathering, but flat colors were used to give the plane a worn look without being in any way too excessive with the weathering. As you can see in the pictures below, there is a lot of small stenciling on the model as well.

The white prop blades are odd in my opinion. They are not accurate to the actual plane replicated by Unimax as seen in this photo:

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However, I also uncovered this photo, showing an American P-39 with light-colored blades. Either way, they do not really bother me and are easy enough to fix.

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Many of the parts are finely detailed, but the overall construction is quite solid. The fuselage is diecast, as are the wings. The horizontal stabilizers, engine covers cockpit canopy and propeller are plastic. The droptank is removable. The rudder, elevators, and alerions all move. On my plane the control surfaces are a tad bit loose, but do hold their position.

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The cockpit doors open to reveal a somewhat detailed cockpit. The level of detail is not on par with that of the 21c FW-190F or even the P-51s, but its still not bad. The pilot figure seems to be fixed in the cockpit. This differs from the other FOV 1:32 aircraft where the pilots are removable. I haven't tried to actually remove the pilot and will not for fear of breaking something. No biggie in my opinion, however, as the plane also comes with a nicely detailed standing figure.

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The undercarriage is the interesting part of the P-39. The landing gear ARE NOT retractable. They are set up very much like the BBI F-4 Phantom with seperate pieces. The nose gear completely detaches and the doors close. The main wheel struts are removed and then placed in the retracted position in their respecitve bays. Again, it is an interesting feature that I guess makes the gear stronger and less likely to break. You also have to position the gear just right so that the plane will sit correctly and not fall back on the tail.

Landing Gear placed in the down position:
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Landing gear placed in the up position:
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The engine panels are also removable and expose a highly detailed engine. The side panels are difficult to get into place, however, and are not a part that I will remove often. As can be seen in the other photos, the engine covers close up flush with the sides of the fuselage, maintaining the overall smooth look of the airplane.

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So, there you have it: the FOV P-39Q! I am pleased with the plane and find it such an interesting choice for Unimax to pursue. As noted in my review, there are a few drawbacks, but overall these are small and it looks as though Unimax has made a winner. Those of you that get one, may very well be impressed 8)
Last edited by tmanthegreat on Sat Feb 02, 2008 2:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by olifant » Sat Feb 02, 2008 2:36 am

Tman, thank you again for taking the time to post these photos and review your newest piece. Much appreciated! :D
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Post by Teamski » Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:34 am

Thanks for the review! I'd love to see one in 1:18. The P-39 is such a unique plane....

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Post by riflegreen297 » Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:49 am

Thanks for the review, great plane. I love the early American aircraft.
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Post by Jagdpanther » Sat Feb 02, 2008 7:50 am

Great review T Man! :D Im glad I picked mine up awhile back.
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Post by Sabrefan » Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:09 am

Looks great, I love the lines of the P-39. The white prop blades are kind of strange, but I guess they were going for a silver color of unpainted prop blades.
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Post by P39time » Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:11 am

Great review, thanks so much. Does it look like it would be hard to take the prop/spinner off? I would like to take the prop off and airbrush the blades silver.
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Post by ChairmanMilo » Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:30 am

Great review! I hope this means that we won't see gigantic rivets and black panel lines on new releases from now on :)

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Post by vmf214 » Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:00 pm

That standing pilot resembles a young Lee Marvin...
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Post by Rowsdower » Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:05 pm

I like the gear! I wish all 1:32 planes did this! They must have really revamped the model because the few that my local hobby shop had last fall were craptastic. Kudos to FOV, I may pick one up next month since I already bought an FOV Panther and T-34 this month. 8)
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Post by Sabrefan » Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:09 pm

Tman, did you ever see if the pilot figure can be removed from the P-39?
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Post by VMF115 » Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:09 pm

I also love the gear on this one, one question does the gun bays in the nose open?
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Post by tmanthegreat » Sat Feb 02, 2008 11:06 pm

To answer Saberfan and VMF115:

The pilot figure does not seem to come out of the cockpit. I did try pushing it, but the figure did not seem to budge. This would not surprise me, as the figures on the FOV 1:48 helicopters and the 1:72 planes are not removable. It would seem to be difficult to get the figure in and out without removing the top part of the canopy.

Also, the gun bays do not open, but the engine panels do. Those are hard to get on and off.

Hope this helps :)
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Post by Rowsdower » Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:04 am

Huh, weird that the gun bays don't open. Still, a very nice model. It does seem they made many improvements between their small release last fall and the "official" release recently.
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Post by Quixote511 » Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:08 pm

I picked mine up today from MTS and I really am liking it. My only real gripe is the engine panels. I think they are too much of a hassel for a detail I won't show off. Otherwise, super model and I can not wait to see one in XD size.
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Post by Sabrefan » Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:11 pm

On the Military Toy Shop website they are showing the next paint scheme for the FOV P-39. The plane is called " Devastating Devil". It looks like a nice paint scheme.
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Total POS!

Post by vmf214 » Thu Feb 14, 2008 6:36 pm

Bought one off ebay and got it today, man goes to show there are lemons with every line. Broken canopy, pitot tube curled around, a wing gun that could shoot around corners and LOUSY LOUSY LOUSY freakin' paint!!! Scratches, touchups with a different shade of od, geez absolutely disgusting! As the shipping box was undamaged the seller basically just pawned off a turd and it's goin' right back! Guess will wait till the local hobby shop gets some & hand pick one... :wink:

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Re: Total POS!

Post by olifant » Thu Feb 14, 2008 6:42 pm

vmf214 wrote:Bought one off ebay and got it today, man goes to show there are lemons with every line. Broken canopy, pitot tube curled around, a wing gun that could shoot around corners and LOUSY LOUSY LOUSY freakin' paint!!! Scratches, touchups with a different shade of od, geez absolutely disgusting! As the shipping box was undamaged the seller basically just pawned off a turd and it's goin' right back! Guess will wait till the local hobby shop gets some & hand pick one... :wink:
That's too bad VMF. I thought the rumor was FOV was having QC issues and stopped the release to get them squared up. Is it possible that you got one of the crappy first releases?
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Post by vmf214 » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:32 pm

Man it'd have to be, an absolute POS! Hopefully the "certified FOV dealer" will stand up and take it back... :roll: He should've never shipped it anyway. I definitely won't buy anything else from him, especially after trying to charge an extra $2 for insurance whilst shipping via UPS...as we all know the first $100 is free. :evil: , hate sellers that want to profit off shipping and insurance.

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Post by rose4472g » Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:46 am

When they produce one in this color scheme I'll bite
Image

I believe this is a Hobbie Master in 1/72

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Re: Total POS!

Post by Rowsdower » Fri Feb 15, 2008 8:26 am

vmf214 wrote:Bought one off ebay and got it today, man goes to show there are lemons with every line. Broken canopy, pitot tube curled around, a wing gun that could shoot around corners and LOUSY LOUSY LOUSY freakin' paint!!! Scratches, touchups with a different shade of od, geez absolutely disgusting! As the shipping box was undamaged the seller basically just pawned off a turd and it's goin' right back! Guess will wait till the local hobby shop gets some & hand pick one... :wink:
Sorry to hear about that. My local hobby shop got two POS Airacobras just like that and sent them right back.
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Post by vmf214 » Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:22 am

I guess that maybe they are possibally "early" ones? Man, got a bad taste in my mouth about ordering one of these again sight unseen. The seller is choosing to look the other way so guess will have to do the ole buyer complaint thing with PP and file a claim, yet another douschenozzle to have to deal with...

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Post by tmanthegreat » Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:44 pm

Sorry to hear you got such a lemon... Quite often it seems that sellers do not have the same tastes as we do regarding the perfection of an item's paintscheme, etc.

It really sounds like you got one of the early examples. If I recall correctly, several months ago, some board members were able to find some of the first P-39s at their local hobbyshops and they reported bad quality on the plane. I think all the subsequent delays on the P-39 by Unimax were to rectify this. Mine was in excellent shape and essentially I ordered blindly from a small retailer. I know of a couple other board members who ordered P-39s from the same store and they got good quality aircraft. However, those planes are probably from the later production runs.
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Post by Rowsdower » Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:53 pm

Yeah I was one of the people who found the P-39 in a hobby shop last fall. That one was a lemon as well. These two however were definitely from the new release. I love FOV armor and can't wait to see their ships but their aircraft suck.

I'm sure some folks do get "flawless" examples but there seems to be a large number of duds. I would not recommend buying one that you can't pick up and eyeball first. Have your hobby shop order one for you, if it looks bad have them send it back.
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P-39Q

Post by Coreyeagle48 » Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:51 pm

Greetings:

I bought a P-39Q from the same store Tristan bought his from after he remarked how good the airplane was. I also bought it because it is a P-39 and how the heck often do you see a P-39Q in preassembled form. These are my thoughts on the aircraft.

The aircraft is overall very well done. As with Tristan's, my paint is well done and has no major problems other than ones you see from being made mass production. I love the detail of the engine on the airplane and the nice weight and overall quality of the model. This airplane is the best of the FOV series by far and I would say rivals some of the 21st aircraft in terms of quality. I feel FOV caputred the very unique look and character of this airplane. It's a very welcome addition to my collection.

Like many of you, I found the engine covers difficult to put on. However, I found a solution to this problem. I actually soaked my engine covers in warm water to soften the plastic a bit and give it some more flexibility. I found the engine covers slipped right in place when you did that. After taking the engine covers on and off a few times, I found they go back on much easier. Perhaps the plastic adjusts to where it needs to fit.

My airplane had black smudges in a few places when I bought it. It did not look like any type of weathering paint at all. They looked like grease marks. If this happens to your plane, it comes off! Just take a little soap and water and it should wipe right off. I am personally on a hot streak as I have bought several models recently with no problems. Hope it keeps going.

My plane doesn't balance to well, it does balance, but my shelves are slightly crooked and it has a tendency to fall backward on the shelves at the slightest bump. I put some counterweight in the nose and the airplane sits much better as a result, this will also prevent the airplane from killing itself falling backward should it get bumped.

My P-39Q was fine and I love it!

Corey
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