Wow, your on the homestretch now.  Looking good!  Really good!

Toshi

Thanks, Joe! I'd have made more progress to show but I haven't been home in a couple days lol. We had a whale of a storm blow through yesterday and the power just finally came back on about 15 minutes ago.

The wife, kids, and I had hunkered down thhrough it here at my Mother-in-law's where the worst of the storm did all the damage. My wife watched a carbage can take flight in the middle of the cul-de-sac as it disgorged its contents over the neighborhod lol.

Now that its been a couple days i think that gloss should be cured lol.

If I find another small scale shuttle I may just paint it up like Astrotrain, from The Transformers cartoon.  ;)

Too many shots? Nah, it keeps us entertained and out of trouble. The W.I.P is as much fun as the build I'm starting to think.

I really did LOL on reading about your shuttles turning into camo space fighters, I can see all this happening! LOL! again! 

Later, 

Max

Thanks, Gamera! :D

Max, there are just too few pre-war P-40 builds, right? Of all the times I've built this kit I've always wanted to build this scheme and always ended up building the tiger's scheme instead. All of them given away or lost to time in one move or another.

But this time I'm keeping it! Lol

I've been watching your Shuttle build with interest and its coming along fantastically. Looks like there is plenty of opportunities for scratch building, but I admire your approach to keep it simple and enjoy the build.  :)

I built two smaller shuttles when I was a kid, and both turned into camo painted space fighters lol.

Thanks for taking an interest in this slow as a snail project. I'm sure you're all getting tired of the same shots with so little changes between them lol. From here on, maybe I should just wait to post the finished model. :)

This has got to be as tedious for you guys as it is for me. Lol

Just checking in on progress. As always I've been off in a different world. (Space actually.) The project is looking great of course and I don't want to lose touch with the P-40 thing you keep lureing me into.LOL! Keep up the good work, I am still watching and being educated on P-40 building!

Non Ace Max

She's lookin' good Mike! 

Thanks, Pat and Brandon!

I agree, guys. The -B/C is the best looking out of the entire line and the -E is a close second. They have the classic looks of late 30's designers that are so appealing. 

The next P-40 project, after my Airfix Tiger's build will have to be a Wild Bill build. The Airfix kit and pilot will lend itself well to that theme I think.  :)

Honestly, out of all the P-40 variants built over time, I personally think the -B/C are by far the best looking. They lost some of their eye appeal as they changed for more performance. The -E is a close second but it's still not a -B/C.

Your bird is looking great Mike. I have one more piece on mine and it will be done also. Looking forward to the conclusions.

BK

Hi,

There's something about the early P-40s that I really like.  Your build is looking great.

Pat

Landing gear sorted and gloss applied. I think I should've stuck to just one coat on the topside because that stuff takes forever to cure.

Toshi

M.Brindos,

This is the best work you've done yet. The paint job is amazing.  I'll be waiting on your decals application.  Great job sir!

Toshi

 

Its funny that you say that, Toshi. This was one of the easiest paint effects to do. Lol

Read the explanation I gave to The Barron. You could easily achieve such results yourself. Anyone could lol. Im no painting genius, guru, guy. I'm just the "how easy can I make this?" guy. Lol

Thank you, my friend. :)

the Baron

Excellent work on those colors!  I wish I were a tenth as good at such subtle shading.  Practice, practice, practice.....

 

Its quite simple really. Spray your base color solid, lighten it, fill in panel centers, then over spray it all to blend until you're happy with the results. You don't even have to change out the paint in the color cup. 

For deeper shadows around the control surfaces leave some black showing through with the base coat.

Voila. Pretty easy to do with little practice. (I like simple ;) )

Thank you so much for the compliment. :D

Pawel

Hello Mike!

That P-40 is looking really good! I like you r shading a lot, and I especially like the landing gear modifications you have made - once in the pre-internet times I was wondering how this is supposed to look like and I have found that the strut didn't penetrate the wing spar way later after my build was done :-( Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

 

Thanks Pawel! I don't think it would functon. John's post shows how it should work on a P-40 and the P-36 parts are incompatible with that system. I'll keep it as it is only because its different and I'm just going to keep progressing. Its at that point where I just want to be done with it.  :)

M.Brindos,

This is the best work you've done yet. The paint job is amazing.  I'll be waiting on your decals application.  Great job sir!

Toshi

Excellent work on those colors!  I wish I were a tenth as good at such subtle shading.  Practice, practice, practice.....

Hello Mike!

That P-40 is looking really good! I like you r shading a lot, and I especially like the landing gear modifications you have made - once in the pre-internet times I was wondering how this is supposed to look like and I have found that the strut didn't penetrate the wing spar way later after my build was done :-( Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Thanks John. Yeah, I know. I took the parts from my P-36. #lazybuilder lol

Mike, the P-40 is looking real nice.  The rudder stripes are really sharp.  I do see one small thing, though it may not be important to you.  The links on the landing gear did not join in a V as you have them, they were separate and when retracted the gear rested between them.

http://www.yolo.net/%7Ejeaton/Propplanes/p40/p40e/022p40e.htm

Here's a Curtiss drawing, see how the links will draw up inside the wing as the gear is retracted by the horizontal cylinder above in the wing.

I finally got the landing gear struts assembled with  some scratch built details. I used some parts from the P-36 as I seem to be making more of a P-40 instead of a P-40B. Which I think is okay because the -B didn't come into play until late  '41 and the markings for this one are from 1940.

So here are the landing struts in position and the tail wheel all fixed and painted up.

And more random pictures for viewing;

I suppose i should gloss this thing and get the decals on. I've only got the landing gear to finish painting.

 Edit: And the wheel wells, MG's, headrest, etc. Details, details. [Sigh]

Thanks!!  :D

I hope it turns out half as good as I want it to. Lol

I still haven't finished the landing gear, and the bay doors are still on the sprue. :/

I'm no expert, but I think all the detailing you've done is looking great!

Not much to really report. I painted the fuel and glycol caps and after a few days of contemplation I decided to try using an adapter nozzle from my AB I wasn't using to press the formation lights into the fuselage sides. Its an easy trick, leaving a perect circle impression in the paint, allowing me to paint the "lens" while providing a border for a wash to settle into. 

The "Magic Blue" isn't as bright in person as it appears in the picture. 

Thanks for taking a peek.  :)

Okay, so here is Where I thought I would have a problem; the rear glass in this kit is notorious for having gaps around the edges. But since I had to sand down the spine so much for the canopy to slide over it, all I had to do was sand the edges of the glass to around a 30 degree angle until they fit flush. Drilling out the ports for the fuel and glycol caps was harder lol. I still managed to end up with a crack, but that's an easy thing to fix in this location with some LC or some thinned clear gloss.

That's the best fit I've ever had with those.  :)

BrandonK

Nothing beats good photos of the exact plane your working on. Too bad that is just not always possible.

BK

 

No doubt! Unfortunately I can't find any pictures of #4, but squadron pictures are out there so I'm just going to stick with the kit plans for the decals. 

Toshi

Wow, this is looking awesome sir.  I'm looking forward to more!

Toshi

 

Thank you, my friend! Its true that these old Monogram kits can still shine with a lot of TLC. Makes me appreciate the new Tamiya and Airfix kits all that much more!

Nothing beats good photos of the exact plane your working on. Too bad that is just not always possible.

BK

Wow, this is looking awesome sir.  I'm looking forward to more!

Toshi