Kingcobra - 2010/12

THE BELL P-63 Kingcobra
was developed to improve upon
the earlier P-39 Airacobra. The
P-63 ultimately went into
service with the Soviet Air
Force during the war and is
often overlooked as a warbird
model.
Mark Fineman designed this
22-inch-span version of the
Kingcobra for the Flying Aces
Club (FAC) WW II Mass
Launch event. Therefore, its
retractable gear can be modeled
in the “up” position.
The construction of this P-
63 is similar to that of an Earl
Stahl or Comet kit. The
fuselage is built using the halfshell
method, and the wings use
a standard spar-and-rib design.
The curved wingtips and rudder
tip are made using laminations.
This project was finished
using dark green and gray
Japanese tissue. Control
surfaces and landing gear were
simulated using a Sharpie finetip
marker.
Once completed, the model
weighed 11/8 ounces minus
rubber. It was flown using a 7-
inch propeller with two loops of
3/32-inch FAI Tan rubber
measuring approximately 24
inches in length.
Mark noted that his
Kingcobra was extremely stable
in power and glide portions of
flight and consistently put in
performance times that
exceeded 1 minute; 2-minute
flights were common.
This P-63 was featured in a
construction article that was
published in the August 2004
MA. It is AMA Plans Service
listing 964 and is available for
$10 plus shipping and handling.
See page 191 or go to www.
modelaircraft.org/plans.aspx for
ordering information. MA