This is Academy's 1/72 P-40M/-N done up as the well-known NZ3148 G/"Gloria Lyons" on the strength of No. 4 Servicing Unit of the Royal New Zealand Air Force's Fighter Wing, operating through the Solomon Islands from October 1943.
Gloria Lyons was a 19-year old spinal tuberculosis patient in hospital in Christchurch who had become a pen-pal of several members of the squadron, and was 'adopted' as a mascot by the unit as a whole. This was the first of four aircraft that would be named in honor of Miss Lyons---(3) P-40s and an F4U Corsair---each earlier aircraft crashing, lost in action or otherwise being taken out of sevice. NZ3148 was damaged in crash landing at Torokina on Bougainville island on 09 February 1944; the engine failed just prior to landing and the aircraft missed the runway, hitting a mound of earth and somersaulting. Sergeant Pilot Charles Woods of No. 18 Squadron was unhurt. The airframe was written off the books in March of that year.
[For those who are curious...Miss Lyons herself eventually recovered, married, and moved to Australia; she had a long life, passing away in 1998.]
NZ3148 was a P-40N-1, similar to the earlier -M model, still with older-style canopy and six wing guns. Scheme was the factory-applied standard OD & neutral gray with Medium-green 'blotch' pattern on wing leading and trailing edges; white spinner, tail surfaces and fuselage bands were theater and unit markings.
The Academy kit itself is basic but cleanly-molded, and comes with the option for the older style canopy with quarterlights aft (which I used) or the cut-down aft fuselage with 'greenhouse' style canopy. Kit isn't 100% perfect---a few gaps and some shape issues here and there---but went together well with overall great fit. I used bits of both Eduard and Part etch sets, mainly to amp-up the simple kit cockpit (most of which is barely visible), and as a more-articulated option to the single-piece cowling flap assembly beneath. Decals came from the excellent AeroMaster RNZAF set (SP72-10), and---as per my previous experience---were utterly trouble-free.
These birds were hard-used and at the end of a long and iffy supply chain, and photos show them heavily-weathered. I used a combination of washes, dry-brushing and pastel highlighting to try to make it look suitably 'bitty.'
I've always found the long-tail P-40 marks the most elegant-looking of the lot, and few were more attractively-marked than the Kiwi birds of the RNZAF. Hope you enjoy!