Revell/Monogram 1:48 P-40B Flying Tiger AVG (Complete)

Last quick update here for a little while.  Honest! ;)

Started looking more at the wheel bay just so I don't have any surprises later on when I'm ready to get the wings together.  I realize the wheels will cover mostly everything, but since I'm going the distance already I figured I'd do a little something for all visible areas.  Didn't want to over do it and find issues with the fit so i settled for this:

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Still going to fix up the landing gear here.  This is a stopping point for now.  Anybody else out there who's tackled the Warhawk have any input...hit me.  

You're very welcome!  If anything I can add is helpful, I'm glad.  I'm looking forward to your next installment.

Brad, thank you so much for everything packed into that post!  I long for helpful tips and methods of treating some of the trickier parts of scale model making.  I may stay in the dark about dealing with some particular snafu for quite a while until I stop being lazy and look for a better way to tackle it.  So it's posts like these that I'm only too happy to see.

I checked out the milliput site and was very happy about what I saw. This is exactly what I've been looking for.  Too many times I've thought how I wasn't happy with the shape something made and my only solution was to sand it down since I couldn't build it up proper.  So this will come in quite handy in the future.  I just needed to know where to look.  =]

And thanks again for the encouragement.  I'm afraid I might have bit off more than I can chew this time.  That ticking clock might get me! =P

They'll be more to come soon.

Oh, I remembered one more thing about this kit, but I don't think it will be an issue for you, because you're adding the engine.  I noticed that the front edge of the fuselage is sometimes a little pinched, compared to the back side of the nose piece.  It can cause a visible step where the three kit pieces meet.  I've made spacers to push the sides of the fuselage out enough, to try to correct it, or at least, make it as invisible as I can.

Wow, what a great build!  I love the engine and the detailing you're adding under the hood, Britt!  You've got great skills for scratchbuilding.  This kit is one of my all-time favorites, and the additions you're making make it a real jewel.

You mentioned about using Milliput.  I recommend it, especially if you haven't worked with 2-part putties.  It is relatively simple to work with, and is good for filling seams or for sculpting.  It comes in two logs, one of putty and the other of the catalyst, and you just mix equal parts by kneading, then use it for whatever application.  It can be smoothed with water while you work it--water applied with your fingertip, or with a brush-and when it sets, it takes sanding very well.  A box will also keep for a long time, though over time, the logs can start to dry out, forming a skin.  I've had a batch for over 20 years, and I can still use it, but I have to shave away the outer skin, to get to the good part.  I have that batch so long, because I moved to epoxy putties, settling on Aves Apoxie Sculp.

There are also different grades of Milliput, based on the fineness of the grain.  Anyway, you should get yourself some and see what you think.  From the rest of the work in this build, I suspect you'll pick up working with putty and become a master in no time.

Best regards,

Brad

It's actually for the Academy/Hobby Boss kit.  So it did take a bit of tweaking.  More so on the later end of fitting it somehow...  ;)  But I never doubted!  I was going to see that thing fit in there one way or another!!  The only part that really needs modifying is the floor.  I have just learned as of last night that the IP will need a little "more" help in securing to the fuselage side walls.  Soooo... I'll be back with more from that.

Keep your eyes open Ray. =]

Coming along nicely.  The detail work on that TD pit looks great.  You cited issues with the fit.  Isn't it designed for this kit?

Joe

Thanks Dave!  That's refreshing to hear.  For the better part of two years, I dug through pages of forums looking for examples and tips on how to produce these scale aircraft nicely.  So, I'm happy to pay it forward as well as continue to gather advice.  =]

So here's what I have scratched out so far with the .50 cal set up and the bulkhead behind the motor mounts.

On account of the time left for this build, I decided not to engineer another bulkhead where the .50 barrels rest.  Instead, I just fashioned a shelf that also reinforces the fuselage.  It's basically just an L bracket.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Next, I've built up the coolant expansion tank with the straps to hold it down and some other goodies...primed it for paint.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

So far...everything seems to still be right on the money.  No ill-fitting parts yet.  I had to be careful with that strut for the .50s.  It was a tight fit and I didn't want it to spread the fuselage to the point where my engine mount would be loose.

Critiques and comments are always welcome.  =]

Great work on giving this classic kit a new life, BV!!   Keep up the awesome work; I've been following for awhile and will use your posts as an additional resource for my builds.  (Although I don't think I'll be able to go as "crazy" with all that close, detailed work!

Finally decided to install the cockpit. Here it is now.

I had to fix up the bulk head here to make the TD cockpit fit:

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

IP installed:

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Bulkhead behind the seat:

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Everything in place:

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

I did have to mess with the fit a bit more.  Usually the case when you actually go to put it in.  So, keep your eyes open Ray.  The floor needed a bit of narrowing to get it to seat better.  Nothing a sanding tool can't take care of...And you might want to consider doing something similar behind the seat as well.  Just double check your fit before you glue anything in.

I asked about it on the GB, but I wanted to expand it to the Aircraft section as well...any thoughts on wiring the IP here?  I'd like to for the practice, but I'm starting to think none of this is remotely visible.

Here's a quick reposting from the P-40 GB. =D

Just made some major progress on this V-1710-33 Allison.  It hasn't received a clear or flat coat yet.  I've got a few more things to add still before I can finish weathering everything here.  One thing I had to settle on was attaching the rod for the motor mount onto the engine first.  It was just too touchy trying to match it to the engine while a part of the rest of the mounting support arms.  There's also some touch up painting to do still, but I really needed to get to this part so that I could move on with it.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

You can see here where a few of the ignition cables have fallen off while handling.  They'll get put back on later.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Here the radiator is loosely attached to test fit.  Quite pleased with it so far. =]

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

The blue is a Tamiya's Medium Blue.  I made a quick coat with the AB and followed up with some Med Blue lightened up with Flat White with a fine brush to fix up weathering the paint in places.  I mixed and thinned the color to lay down somewhat what randomly.

The top over the crankcase is painted in Alclad's Jet Exhaust.  It puts down a nice dark color that isn't quite black but has enough character to look to reflect some of what is going on with the rest of the engine being hot.  The oil and coolant piping is made of brass rod and primed and painted in Tamiya's Flat Black and then Flat Aluminum.  The radiator is painted in Alclad's Pale Burnt Metal first and then touched up with Exhaust Manifold.  All of the green parts are just painted in Tamiya's Olive Green for now so that I have something up there.  I will later paint these with a color that will go down on the rest of the cowl parts of the engine area.

This is a really fantastic resin engine from Engine & Things and with just a little bit of love and some scratchbuilding, you can make something quite special to add some life to your build. =]  I'm glad I got one!

Great work Bv!  Looks really nice!

Steve

Here's a quick update.  Nothing really special here, but I thought I would show how I've mated the cowling panel to the separate kit piece.  I've also got the gun fairing attached to both parts as well.

You'll note the cut away part for the .50 cal gun barrel to fit through.  I've dug through everything I could to find a photo of this and came up with nothing.  This is the solution I came up with mostly out of functionality and little to do with anything I referenced.  But it seems to make the most sense also.

The fairing has been sealed up with CA and sanded smooth to fit flush over the two kit parts.  Same with the cowling.

It's a little difficult to see in the photo since this is just taped to test fit, but so far all the parts are matching up without any unsightly gaps.  *fingers crossed.  =]

Does anybody out there happen to know what color the interior cowl area of the these AVG P-40s were?

This has helped a bunch!   'Preciate 'cha!!    =]

I have found a link to Charles Older's build of an open cockpit and how that canopy seal and frame rail should be. www.percongrp.com/.../p40b3_ms.htm

If you put your P-40 in flight, you will need a pilot to fly it and then you will loose sight of all that good detail you put into it. I just spent many hours on a P-51 cockpit; put a pilot in it and could not see a bit of the cockpit detail!

I actually have a squadron canopy I was thinking about using. I can see what you're speaking about now. I will likely be putting this one in flight. I haven't entirely decided yet.  If I do, I thought about placing it in a dive. You think that would be at all conducive to allow it to open? It might make it more of a pain in the ass?!  You may have just convinced me. =]

bvallot

Shipwreck, could you maybe elaborate just a bit more...I think I follow you but I'm not totally clear on what you're referring to. I actually just thinking a while ago about opening up that cockpit as well. So I wouldn't mind some pointers in navigating some possible snafu.

Bvallot, sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Look at the side of the fuselage in the cockpit area. You will notice that just aft the bulkhead/headrest there is a thin line of plastic molded onto the side of the fuselage. That is the rail that the canopy slides back and forth on! Now look at the area before the bulkhead/headrest forward to the aft of the windshield. You will notice a much thicker strip of plastic, about .75" long. This is actually the bottom seal of the canopy when it is glued on top of it. The rail runs throuh it on the kit in the closed position. In order to move the canopy back in an open position; you need to scrap off the thick section, replace it with a rail section. Then scrape off the rail section and fabricate new seals (thicker portions) for the bottoms of the canopy. You also have to make sure the new seals are attached at the same height as the molded on ones or the canopy will not sit right on top of the fuselage.

Study the cockpit photos on this link and I think that you will see what I mean.

http://www.aviation-history.com/curtiss/p40.html

http://warrior481.blogspot.com/2012/07/greatest-show-on-turf-2012.html

Shipwreck, could you maybe elaborate just a bit more...I think I follow you but I'm not totally clear on what you're referring to. I was actually just thinking a while ago about opening up that cockpit as well. So I wouldn't mind some pointers in navigating some possible snafu.

Joe, I couldn't believe it when I opened the box to peek at those Revell decals and I saw those British colors. I thought to myself,"well son of b!$@h."  I wasted no time sizing it up. =]. I was also thinking I'd repost this in the GB since it'd be of more immediate use there.  

Great progress, Bvallot! Thanks for sharing, especially the reference material.

Bvallot, that is an ambitious project you have there on a really neat kit. With that TrueDetails cockpit, you must be tempted to leave the cockpit open. As a heads-up, I have noticed that several open cockpit Revell P-40's do not have the bottom of the canopy frame back with the canopy. The canopy seal is molded to the fuselage in a closed position!. Sure looks good so far.

Cool reference pics Bvallot.  Those will definitely benefit the scratchbuilders. I'm glad you found a solution to the Roundel issue.  

Joe  

Thanks guys.  Sanderson, I'd really like to hear about how that milliput stuff works.  I've seen others mention it before, but I've personally never seen the process of it being used.  Seems like there'd be a few times when it might be nice to use.

After a little more consideration and searching in vain for photos of how this hawk is put together has convinced me to share what I have found.  That way anybody here on the forum who's looking for something has another outlet to peruse in case their search turns up as sparse as mine has.

So here goes:

Starting with the cutaway.  Not a very detailed view, but a good look see to envision how everything comes together.

P40_Av_4008_cutaway_W by brittvallot, on Flickr

The rest sort of speak for themselves

P40_Av_4209_sk_engine-mount_p156_W by brittvallot, on Flickr

P40_Av_4209_sk_firewall_p156_W by brittvallot, on Flickr

Engine_mount_top_side by brittvallot, on Flickr

Here's a look at one being restored

1283257M by brittvallot, on Flickr

One thing I was discussing with lawdog114 was about the size of the old British roundels that would've been on the planes before they became repurposed for The Flying Tigers.  Evidence of the roundel can be seen on the camo scheme where it was omitted:

Screen Shot 2014-01-13 at 5.14.37 PM by brittvallot, on Flickr

I actually took another look at the decals for the Monogram/Revell kit as I had originally put them aside.  I did happen to find a couple versions of the British roundels used at the time.  I cut out a small mask I made of one to see how it would match up on the wings.  I also noted that the Chinese roundels from the kit were about the same size.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

The decals from Eaglecals are much better and offer a lot.  Not to bash the kit's decals.  I'd actually give them a little more credit than some Tamiya decals I've seen before.  But the size difference is clear and would impact your build...figured it was worth mentioning.  =]

Great work on such an old classic kit!  I've got at least 3 in my stash and will definitely be following your build!  Thanks for all the great pictures!!

Bvallot,  looking really good!  I'm working on the same kit.  I scratched the cockpit and wheel wells.  I also chopped the nose machine gun farings off the nose piece and molded them with milliput.  I'm gonna post some photos over in the P-40 GB.  

Steve

Ha! Brave some times goes hand in hand with foolish.  =D  We'll see which one wins.  The resin piece didn't have much to go with it.  I've actually been looking up builds done of the 1:32 scale from Trumpeter and various other sites with collections of P-40 photos.  It's hard to find any B variants but I just recently found a few that are sketches from back in the day that are quite good.  Maybe I'll post them here to help out any future modelers.

Once I got my firewall piece sanded to fit, I made a couple of marks to scale from a diagram that shows front, side, and top views of the engine mount.  Some of the angles on the horizontal struts may not line up 100.00%, but from an "engineering" stand point of close enough for practical purposes...no one will really tell the difference. =P

So long as I can get the big stuff to line up and fit right on the fuselage, I think it will work out okay.  I'm just worried about navigating around the nose piece which is separate from the rest of the kit fuselage.  That part has to line up snug with the front of the prop reduction box.  Sooo...fingers crossed!

You are a braver man than I Bvallot.  Thats unchartered territory for me since I build my stuff closed up.  It certainly looks like your on the right track.  Didn't the resin set come with instructions?  They usually do..

Joe

Thanks B-17 Guy!! Sorry, I'm just seeing this.  I've got to pick your brain later about a conversion I'm doing to an E.  I've put it aside for now till I hone certain scratchbuilding skills.  =]

Nothing too new for at the moment.  I've been dreadfully careful about releasing the two engine cowls on the left side of the fuselage.  I want them to fit snugly without a large gap when they are closed.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

So far I have one piece fitted to the kit part that comes separate.  It will require a little more attention, but I feel good about it so far.  I've also thinned down the panels to better approximate the scale here.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

I've also started working on the firewall and locating mounting points for the engine.   Even with all this modification, it seems this kit is holding up well and so far it's not giving me too much trouble.  After I separate a piece, I double check my work to ensure nothing is getting away from me.  Luckily, I've also found that the flexibility of the the kit parts on the wings and fuselage allow me to manipulate everything without any fuss.  Hopefully this proves to remain an advantage.  

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Still working on it...

I certainly welcome any advice from others who have been here and done this before.  This will be the first time I've attempted opening up the cowls and modeling the engine this way.

=]

Thanks Joe.  Yeah, looking over it now that XF-71 does seem to be a good match to it.  I think I got it pretty close by mixing it the way I did.  These photos come out a bit dark.  The sides of the cockpit near the floor will seem a tad darker (that was sort of the goal), but the floor will definitely look right once it's all installed.  I'll have to double check but I may even have the bottle in my collection already! =P  I have seen your AVG P-40 thread before...it may have even been one of the first ones I'd seen you do come to think of it.

And I did pick up that EagleCals sheet you told me about before.  It's really nice in fact.

Sheet_1 by brittvallot, on Flickr

They give you two options for the number as it seems unclear to some whether or not they were originally white.  I'm excited about them.  =]