P-40B Tiger Shark (WIP) - 4/21/15

I've never thought about doing an instrument panel like that but it's a good idea. It looks like it turned out pretty good. Instrument panels are quite difficult to make look real without going PE. This looks like a nice start to you war bird collection.

A trick I used to do is painting the instrument panel black, and put a small amount of silver Rub-n-Buff on my finger, and lightly swipe my finger across the high points.

Nice job. It's too bad that Revell put a late model panel in what they call a "B" when actually this model should be labeled as a "C".

What scale is that?  It's tiny!  

I would say just attack panels like you would the dashboard gauges on a car.  For the most part, the colors are pretty similar.  Often (but not always) knobs in modern cockpits are grey, switches are silver, and handles are red or yellow.  There are so many exceptions though you're safer finding a picture if you are worried about accuracy.

Beyond that, aircraft are like cars only the paint is flat and more forgiving (gloss is hard, flat schemes, piece of cake, spray it on and then go through your decaling process).  Good luck!

Groot

Now you're in the right territory there atomic!! There's plenty of aircraft fans here!! Like I said on MCM ...great job and welcome aboard to FSM buddy!! 

Joe 

That's a great idea.......try a dab of clear 5 minute epoxy or even Future floor wax (or whatever its called now) on the gauges to simulate glass.  It works well.  I look forward to your work and welcome...

Joe

Hey Joe (mustang1989)!  Fancy meeting you here!

Thanks for the comments and suggestions gentlemen!  Looking forward to learning as much as possible from you all and contributing what I can.

Groot:  It's 1:48 scale.  I'd say the panel is about 5/8" roughly.  And the raised detail is very light.  This is the kit I have -

Looking forward to more out of this one. Cool bird for sure!

Hello there Atomic.  I'm just catching up to this thread.  How's your progress so far?  I see it's been a while since your last post.

Sorry for the delay guys.  Progress has been very slow on this one lately.  I was waiting on paint to arrive.  I have all the supplies to build about any car you can think of, but when it comes to military colors, I didn't have hardly any (read "none").  Could have had this thing wrapped up by now it I'd painted it candy apple red!  haha!

Anyway, paint is here now and I started working on it again today.  The cockpit is ready for wash, and a few other pieces are ready for Future and then wash.  My plan it to hit the cockpit tomorrow.  Pics coming soon.

Well, something is going on with my account.  Every time I post anything I get a message saying it must be approved first.  That usually take about a day to happen.  So I'm betting you won't be reading this until Monday sometime.

Anyway, here's where I'm at with the cockpit.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

Thanks!

I've made a little more progress on this bird.  I'm sure my colors aren't quite correct, but I'm more concerned with trying out some new techniques this time around.  I can't decide if I'm happy with this wash or not.  I don't know how realistic it really is.  Opinions?

It looks good to me so far Jeremy! I'll tell you who to ask in here about P-40's right off the bat and that would be fightnjoe or lawdog. That's all I can think of right off the bat. Good progress Jeremy!

I think your wash looks just fine.  It doesn't need to be overstated...just enough to bring out some detail.  The colors of your wheel bay look okay for an AVG bird.  I'm assuming that's what you're building out of this P-40B/C.  The flap assembly could work fine as it is although I would probably keep it the same color as your wheel bay.  I understand a lot of the time a certain color paint would run out and they'd use whatever they had that needed to be used in its place.  Since the AVG P-40s were originally supposed to be sent to the English, they came with the Dupont equivalent of the English color schemes.  But I imagine maybe at some time that touch up paint might run out.  So if you left your flaps the way they are I suppose you "could" argue that point.  ;)

I just finished a Hawk earlier this past summer, and if you're interested in taking a peek thru a WIP then I'll drop you this link to it:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/158668.aspx

I made it as thorough as I could.  I scratched a lot of what's in it, and I focused hard on getting the colors right since that's one of my quirks.   

I'm working on another one right now...I wanted a Pearl Harbor Hawk too.  You can see that one going on right now on the main page.  If you have any questions at all, just ask.  It's no trouble.  =]  I'll help you with what ever I can.

........and then there's good folks like bvallot!

Thanks Joe!

bvallot, great looking bird you build there!  I'll definitely be referring to that for reference.  Thanks!

I'm still debating about the color for the flaps.  I'm kind of on the fence about it right now, but I need to make a decision pretty soon.  One question:  I've seen pics of the wheel wells that show a zip-in lining, and I read that it was the same color as the underside of the plane.  But I see a lot of guys paint that area interior green.  Which do you think is correct?

The canvas lining was something close to a Light Khaki or Stone color.  Basically a Flat Buff and Khaki color paint combined ought to get you close.  What kind of paints are you using?

As for the actual surface...it would've been done in the zinc chromate...the color changes due to the pigment added.  The British had grayer greens for this area.  If you're doing an AVG Hawk then I'd stick to this route, otherwise, the more traditional yellow-green zinc chromate color is what you're looking for in a US Hawk.  The liner was just present to keep things clean and kept out of the elements.

The undersurface of the plane depends on the same...British v US.  ??

mustang1989

........and then there's good folks like bvallot!

Thanks for counting me in that number!   lol   =D

bvallot, yup, I'm going with the AVG hawk.  Using MM acrylics for the most part.

One more liner question.  I think I see what's going on with it now, but just want to be sure.  Does that liner cover the entire inside of the wheel well (the part currently in primer on my kit) or just around the sides of the opening?

Thanks for your input!

As a side note, I'm gonna change the color of the flaps. 

Atta boy Cheecho!!!! Give 'em hell Jeremy!

I'm sure this has come up before but I couldn't find an answer when I searched. 

I'm starting assembly on the fuselage and I'm not sure when I should attach the prop.  I'd like to paint it separately, but if I glue on the front part of the fuselage, how can I attach the prop without gluing that pin in place? 

Suggestions?

The last one I built, I glued the pin to the cowl, then attached it to the fuselage. There's going to be some seam fixing at that point. I painted the prop separately, and attached it at the very end of my build. I used some Elmer's glue to keep it there, and if I need to remove it to transport it somewhere, it will just pop off.

Sorry I missed your earlier question about the liner.  It would've covered the entire wheel well.  That was mostly the point of it I understand it correctly.  They were trying to keep dirt and debris clear from the area.

As for the prop issue, there's no rule saying you absolutely must follow the directions. =]  This is an old kit with old parts.  You can always come up with your own solution.  Most of the time that's more fun anyway.  I believe I used an aluminum tube cut to fit for the hole.  It's far easier to match the front fuselage piece now and fix any step off you might have on the surface.  Afterwards, you can have the tube/rod attach to the prop or the front plate of the prop reduction box.  Either way it'll work out just fine.

=]

I always paint the prop separately and attach close to the end of the build thatta way I don't break any blades off in the construction of the model. Additionally it's a beeeeyatch to mask around a prop when painting the whole plane. lol

If you don't care about the prop spinning, I would just glue the pin in and then add the prop at the end.

If you do want it to spin, I would suggest inserting the pin and putting a box around the head, or just using a flat piece of plastic to keep the pin from backing out.  Then glue the prop on at the end.

Groot

Groot's last suggestion is probably going to be the easiest. My Son is building this kit too and that's how we handled it.

When I built mine, I glued a small brass tube into the fuselage and then glued a slightly smaller rod into the prop.  Worked like a charm, allows the prop to spin, and allows it to be removed to prevent damage during transit.  Either way good looking build so far and good luck with the rest.

John

Hey guys, thanks for all the suggestion!  I wasn't sure if there was a proven method out there and I didn't want to re-invent the wheel (well, prop in this case) if there was.

Think what I'm gonna do is glue a pin into the prop and install it last.  I like the idea of being able to remove it for storage.

I'll get more pics up soon.  I've been kinda bouncing back & forth between this and a few other projects, but I'm starting to make a little progress here.

Finally making some progress!  Check it out.

Ok, here are a couple shots of the cockpit.

I've already done some work on the fuselage seam.  We'll see how I did once I get some primer on it.

I got the cowl glued on and applied Mr. Surfacer 500 to fill the seam.  Ready for sanding as soon as it dries.

Flaps installed.  At final assembly they will be open. 

And finally, landing gear ready for assembly.  I still need to figure out how I'm gonna weather the tires though.