A tale of two P-40B and P-40E -- COMPLETED !!!!!

That looks awesome sir!  Just a superb build!

Toshi

That's a really spiffy looking P-40! Great job!

Anyone know why these aircraft needed so much antenna wire?

1943Mike

Anyone know why these aircraft needed so much antenna wire?

 

Good question. I too, have often pondered this.

BrandonK

That is correct for the -E, the -B needs the rail on the canopy. Near as I can tell it's complete. Besides, it's done and I'm not going back now.

BK

Looks correct to me, Brandon, here's a close-up:

jeaton01

 

 

BrandonK

That is correct for the -E, the -B needs the rail on the canopy. Near as I can tell it's complete. Besides, it's done and I'm not going back now.

BK

 

 

 

Looks correct to me, Brandon, here's a close-up:

 

Brandon, you sure got that right. I never would have guessed; the canopy must run on that top ridge with a G shaped atachment to hold it in place - clean! And thanks for the photo, John; it went to my P-40 file.

Ben

Great finish on number 1 BK. 

lawdog114

Beautiful! Indeed very good question about the antenna. I was unaware that set up extended to the E. It certainly makes it tough to handle.

 

And yes, it is all that much more delicate to handle and clean.

Thanks for all the kind words, much appreciated.

BK

So I did some reading and searching and found a small thread on a forum where a modeler said he spoke to a P-40 vet and the vet said that you could have a row of identical P-40s and each one would have a different antenna set up. They basically didn't have any hard and fast rule as to what each plane had. He went on to state that he recalled that if the plane had a mast, then it had tail to mast antenna only. If it had no mast then it could have tail to fuselage only and tail to wing tips with tail to fuselage.

I also went to several sites where photos could be found and I found examples of mast and non mast antennas on planes up through the -F variant.

SO, I guess what this tells us is, try to set up your plane to what any photos of IT may show. Otherwise we just don't know for sure how it was set up. Since my plane has no mast, I opted for the wing tip configuation. I could have done the fuselage only and that may have been correct also. In the end, I set it up as that was the look I wanted for this AC. It may not be correct, I'll be the first to admit that, but in the end I can live with that as well.

BK

Edit, quess I found my answer, I guessed correctly. Whew!!

LOL BK, we start digging around and even more questions come up. Who knows what was only back then and the few pictures one can find now is what we can use as a guide. I went thru the same thing researching my He162 build.

1943Mike

That's a really spiffy looking P-40! Great job!

Anyone know why these aircraft needed so much antenna wire?

 

A guess is that the radios were poor (when they worked).  Some added aerial wire might help their range.  I do ponder those aerals from the wing tip to fuselage as it looks like a good way for a pilot to "clothesline" himself.  I doubt they lasted very long, at least on the left side.

That's good information. Looks like my build only needs the tail to fuse aerial. Which is good, because I dread those wing wires lol.

Great guess sir!  As I said before, I can't wait for the finish!

Toshi

Well, now the -B is in the paint booth. I gave it a dose of Alclad black primer, sanded that with 3K grit, then mottled it up with white to complete the black basing. I then applied Mr Color #317 which is a tad lighter than Tamiya Neutral Grey. I find this color more correct to my eye than the Tamiya which I find is a bit dark, to me. I'll let this dry for a few hours, then shoot the upper surface.

BK

I can see how this is going to work. Waiting for color. :) :) :)

The E looks fantastic!!!! The B is shaping up very nicely!

Top coat is now on. The camera really doesn't pick up the subtle tonal variations caused by the base coat, but you can see it with the naked eye. I am so glad to finally be putting color on this one. I have nearly a year on it and probably over 100 hours. I won't be doing one of these again anytime soon, if ever.

BK

I can barely see it, but yeah its there.  

I feel your pain. I don't think I want to build another one of these for another few years lol.

The results are worth it though.  :)

Coming along splendidly. I too am anxious for the finish - I'm sure it'll be just brilliant.

Coming along BK. Very nice. =]

Thanks gentlemen, I appreciate the kind words.

I have to admit that building the -B is a bit challenging as there appears to be no photos of this actual plane during the war, at least that I can find. SO, that means I have to attempt to read between the lines. The decal placement, tail callout, antenna setup are all best guesses based on various sources and survivor AC. I know this is not an exact mirror of the plane LT. Taylor flew on Dec 7 and got 4 kills, but it's the best I can do with the info I was able to drum up.

I have all the decals on and now I have a bunch of small detail work to do. I still have a ways to go on this one but the finish line is finally within sight.

BK

LOVELY! Just fantastic, BK.  :)

They're going to look fantastic together.

So, I wrapped up this project. I took too long to do this and I am glad to have it behind me.

Overall, I didn't completely pull off what I set out to do on the -B, but I am happy with what I finished with. After painting was done I added the -E clear nav lights that came with that kit and they fit perfectly with the -B and I painted them. They look great.

I eneded up installing a resin prop and spinner as I just could not get the kit part to look correct. I did this after the paint work and therefore it is a tad off on the nose fit, but I can live with it.

I have so much changed over the kit I can't even remember what all I've done.

Let's see:

Resin pit, resin prop, scratch intakes, scratch cowl flaps, scratch wheel bays, Squadron canopy, resin exhaust, scratch tail wheel and boot, AM decals, PE pit parts and sights, clear Nav lights, resin wheels/tires, crank style pitot,...

That's what I can remember. And TONS of scratch work like a full rescribe, dyheadral correction, nose reshape, etc, etc...glad to be done.

Thanks for looking.

BK

Whoops, I forgot to unmask the landing light.

Wow, that looks great.  I really like the early P-40's, and your "B" build looks super.

Pat

PS.  The "E" looks great too

Holy cow, Brandon! That doesn't even look like the same model I'm also building! That is superbly finished!! I absolutely love how yours turned out! That AM prop was  good choice.  ;)

Well done, Brandon.

Well done Brandon!

Sorry for asking naive questions but is that red button on the stick the gun "trigger"?