FINISHED AIRFIX P40B 1/48

Oh yes! Glad you pulled this one out, Piper!  :D

The answer to your question is no. They still had U.S. interior colors. The U.S. equivalents of the British paints were used for the camo (Dark Green, Flat Earth) but the inside was painted the same as any other A/C from the plants.

The trouble spots to look for are the landing gear knuckles (can be a bit of a pain and need a little putty) and the nose cut-outs should be installed before mating the fuse halves for best fit.

That should get you started with less trouble. The pit goes together easily so just keep an eye on the color call-outs, scrape all the flash out of the side wall inserts, and use a little micro sol to get the IP decal set into place. Mine lined up perfectly so you shouldn't have any problems with yours.

If you can get past those areas it all falls together.  :)

Have fun!! Ill be keeping an eye out for ya!  :D

Thank you Sir! I guess thats what happen when one assumes lol

I know what you mean lol. The guys have schooled me on P-40's. I'm passing on what I have learned.  :)

M. Brindos

Oh yes! Glad you pulled this one out, Piper!  :D

The answer to your question is no. They still had U.S. interior colors. The U.S. equivalents of the British paints were used for the camo (Dark Green, Flat Earth) but the inside was painted the same as any other A/C from the plants.

The trouble spots to look for are the landing gear knuckles (can be a bit of a pain and need a little putty) and the nose cut-outs should be installed before mating the fuse halves for best fit.

That should get you started with less trouble. The pit goes together easily so just keep an eye on the color call-outs, scrape all the flash out of the side wall inserts, and use a little micro sol to get the IP decal set into place. Mine lined up perfectly so you shouldn't have any problems with yours.

If you can get past those areas it all falls together.  :)

Have fun!! Ill be keeping an eye out for ya!  :D

 

Actually Mike, Dana Bell states that Curtiss used green-tinted zinc chromate for early P-40 interiors until the middle of E model production in 1942 when it changed to Curtiss Cockpit Green.  This is done by mixing a little black into yellow zinc chromate.  Hyperscale forum answers don't translate well to over here.  It was a thread titled P-40B Cockpit Colors, Dec. 21, 2006.

Thanks, but that still means the anser is no. They did NOT paint them in Brittish cockpit colors. It was just as you stated. Early models were green zink til the -E. None of them were painted in Brittish cockpit green.

Did I miss something? Honestly, did I?

Just for the record I did not paint my pit in green zink. I liked a more medium green for mine.  :)

Just my personal preference for my build.

Brindos, thanks for posting that picture , give me a visual on the pilot :)

I need to add one of these to the stash. I will be watching this one.

I would also refer you to this IPMS article regarding the interior colors.

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/01/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us.htm

And this article which has a reference specific to the P-40.

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/02/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us_part2.htm

BK

Moving along......

iampiper13

Brindos, thanks for posting that picture , give me a visual on the pilot :)

 

Oh, you're welcome :)

I painted him up as an AVG pilot. Black leather jacket with a fur collar. I modified the Mae West to make it look like that because the AVG didn't use them. If you choose the Pearl Harbor scheme then the jacket is brown, pants are Khaki, brown boots, yelow vest, off-white chute straps. You dont have to worry about shoulder belts because the early P-40's only had lap belts before we entered the war in December of '41. 

I believe the addition of shoulder straps was one of the changes that were made to the -C's along with external fuel tanks.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.  :)

Ooopps good thing there's 2

Ouch. There are two different types. One for the AVG version with the rear view mirror and the pre-war style without it. Completely interchangable, of course. So yeah, looks like you'll be using the other one now lol.

Yeah I know but it bummed me and I guess luckily my daughter was right near me doing homework and I managed to only say a very BIG UUUGGGHHH lol now what I said in my head was a different story

I suppose you'll have to be a bit more careful with the clippers from now on lol. Unfortunately my children are quite familiar with "adult" words. 

They at least know not to repeat them. 

How are you liking the kit so far? Quite the change from the typical Monovell kit, eh? Lol

Brandon, that IPMS reference for P-40's is only useful for E models and beyond from August 1942 as per Dana Bell.  
Curtiss-Wright mixed their own coating of close to apple green zinc chromate.  August  is when they converted to Berry Brothers paint.

M. Brindos

I suppose you'll have to be a bit more careful with the clippers from now on lol. Unfortunately my children are quite familiar with "adult" words. 

They at least know not to repeat them. 

How are you liking the kit so far? Quite the change from the typical Monovell kit, eh? Lol

 

It happened when I put too much pressure on it for that little piece of tape lol. Oh my kids know the words and my youngest is 16, she's actually allowed to cuss a little but only when life is really getting to her with her limitations and sickness. I just try to watch my mouth lol.

I'm really liking it so far the canopy is actually the only thing that has come off so far.

Keep up the good work!  I'll be following.  I was considering this kit at one point.

Toshi

M. Brindos

 

 If you choose the Pearl Harbor scheme then the jacket is brown, pants are Khaki, brown boots, yelow vest, off-white chute straps. 

 

Actually, if you are doing a Pearl Harbor scheme and making them look as they did on that morning, do not paint the pilot in anything resembling standard flight uniform. Taylor, Welch, Harry Brown, and others who got airborne that morning had just wrapped up an all night poker game when the attack began and were wearing things like tuxedo pants, pajamas tops, and slippers when they made their flights. The first AAF heroes of the war flew their sorties into history in very unmilitary garb.

I'm not going to argue that! Lol!!

It would take some extensive modifications though lol.

How much sooner till someone gets the hint that maybe they could make those figures to go with this kit?? The Revell P-40 pilot is pretty close to wearing pajamas.... I may be able to carve him a little to get rid of the vest. 

I'm thinking now. :) I could make a master, but I don't know the first thing about casting.

Going for the AVG 

I may eventually get another kit and do the Pearl Harbor one then.

Office is ready to go together, had a lot of problems with the little decals but some actually stayed on.

Oh My !  

The pilot looks REALLY good as does the detail painting on the office so far. keep up the good work Mate.

 I did the Academy P-40 in Pearl Harbor version , so now I need to do the Airfix in the AVG.  Looks like there is no comparison in the kit quality.

Well done, Piper! Looks like you did a great job on painting the pilot too. ;)

Did you use any gloss before adding the decals? That always helps make them stick better. If you don't have any Micro Set and Sol you should add those to your future aquisitions list. They help a lot!

I can only see one issue with the right side .50 cal being off kilter. That will cause some alignment issues if you don't straighten it up. The little round circles at the top of the front firewall are the gun barrels that the breaches line up with. That's where you want those to line up when the side walls are in place.

The colors look fantastic! Again, well done!  :D

M. Brindos

Well done, Piper! Looks like you did a great job on painting the pilot too. ;)

Did you use any gloss before adding the decals? That always helps make them stick better. If you don't have any Micro Set and Sol you should add those to your future aquisitions list. They help a lot!

I can only see one issue with the right side .50 cal being off kilter. That will cause some alignment issues if you don't straighten it up. The little round circles at the top of the front firewall are the gun barrels that the breaches line up with. That's where you want those to line up when the side walls are in place.

The colors look fantastic! Again, well done!  :D

 

No to the gloss I kept thinking I should be but I plowed ahead with the flat. I did use testers decal solvent I thinkmost of the problem was with me being a klutz lol. Yes it has caused issues and I appreciate you narrowing it down sir, I'll have to work on it later as I'm about to get into a busy weekend.

Thanks guys I'm actually pleased with the pilot :)

Lol! Just so you know, Testors decal solution is just watered down vinegar and is relatively useless. It doesn't do anything for decals but make them stink. I've tried and tried with that stuff and it has NEVER worked lol.

I am definitely looking forward to your next update.  :)

This is looking really great!  Can't wait for your next up coming WIP additions.

Toshi

In my continuing studies of the P-40 I haven't found anything that says the cockpits were painted anything but green zinc until the -E. They all ran on the same assembly lines and all had the same parts. The only thing done different for the British orders were U.S. equivalent RAF colors for the exterior camouflage schemes.

Same for the planes shipped to Russia under Lend-Lease, except that those were all -E's so they had pit green, which is closer to the color I painted my (Airfix) -B in (simply because I like that color better and I already did the proper color in the Revell -B pit).

However, having said all that, I still find discrepencies between articles. So in a large way we are still able to go with some personal preferences while we build. After all is said and done, at the end of the day it still sits on our shelves for us to admire.

I've since pulled mine back out and I'm thinking of finishing it.  :)

Good start, Piper! Nice work oon the pit and the pilot. Looks like a little more detail than the Ju88. I need to learn how to paint figures W/O making them look like Krusty the Clown.

Halves are now together, except for my blunders with the pit it went together fine, had some extra squeezes to do here and there.