1/48 Monogram/Revell (Monovell) P-40B - Completed pg. 6

It's been a while, I know.

I finally had a day to myself where I could work on repairs and get back to a position when I can make forward progress again.

I cut up the one-piece canopy and rebuilt the rails with a better design based on actual pictures this time lol. It's sturdier and looks more like the real canopy.

I repainted the tail, correcting the shade of blue and touching up the white and red by hand. It looks a LOT better.

For the finisher in today's events I also added more sprue bits under the windscreen to make it easier to blend into the fuselage after putty. Oh, and I fixed the crack in the spine. 

Not much more to do before I can put a last coat of primer on it and get a coat of O.D. over her.

It's all good from here. I think the hard parts are over lol.

Thanks for taking a peek!  :)

A little street racing, eh? Lol

How am I going fix this little problem? Well fortunately the kit includes two canopies. I'm going to have to cut out the center section of the one-piece canopy and start fresh. 

Perhaps with a little improvement even. I'll get to work on it when I find the time.  :)

Thanks for the comments guys. Every disaster seems to be another opportunity to improve something. At least it is for me lol.

M. Brindos

What type of race?

 

Bad news about your damaged canopy Mike. How are you going to fix that ?

Yikes !!! That is a setback.

BK

What type of race?

Yesterday I worked a race where one of the teams was called "Flying Tigers". Their car number was 40 and it was Painted OD like the aircraft with the shark's mouth on the front and sides and the AVG symbol below and aft of the "cockpit.

I just thought it was too cool and had  to share it with you guys.

Hi,

Oh no.  Sorry to hear that.

Pat

Tragic news! I just came home from spending a couple days at the in-laws and now I have repairs to make.  :,(

seems my friend was over, chased one of my cats around (because he thought it wasn't mine) and knocked the model down and stepped on it.

The canopy is cracked and the rails are toasted. The spine is separated and the tail wheel busted off.

Fortunately I can repair/replace  all of it, but it's a setback I hadn't planned on.

[sigh]

Toshi

Everything looks fantastic for this classic kit!  I admire your perseverance in moving forward with this project.  Now that I feel a little better, I'll be following your progress with this project!

Toshi

 

I've got to be back working on that boat this next week. I'm not sure when I'll be making more progress lol. When I get home from that job I'm too tired to do much more than eat and sleep lol!

Oh lol! I've seen more than a few build logs on that B-26. 

Now that is a putty monster! 

But the finished model is usually worth all of the trouble.  ;)

You know how to pick your battles, Shipwreck lol!

Everything looks fantastic for this classic kit!  I admire your perseverance in moving forward with this project.  Now that I feel a little better, I'll be following your progress with this project!

Toshi

M. Brindos

BK- Sanding, sanding.... [sigh] sanding. There just always seems to be something that just needs a little more sanding lol. I've had to reshape the front wing roots three times so far. I think I've got it shaped correctly by now. 

Sanding on a Revell P-40; that is hardly a warm-up. I almost have a B-26 ready to paint. There were a couple of joins that needed a little sanding, most needed a lot of sanding, and others that just needed re-built! So, enjoy; it is good exercise!

Yeah I used Tamiya tape. That's why the blue and the white went down so well. The red just got under it. It's fixable, but what a bummer pulling that tape off lol.

BK- Sanding, sanding.... [sigh] sanding. There just always seems to be something that just needs a little more sanding lol. I've had to reshape the front wing roots three times so far. I think I've got it shaped correctly by now.

Joe, I'm going to go check out your Airfix P-40 thread now.  :)

Nice!! I'm going to pick up the Airfix Me-109E next.  :)

M. Brindos

There really is no comparison between these two kits. The Revell can still be a solid winner with a lot, and I mean A LOT, of work, but right out of the box the new Airfix is far superior in every category.

You've seen how much work goes into these Revell kits. It's all a matter of commitment I suppose. Lol

You just won't regret the Airfix kit. Its solid right out of the box! :)

 

And..... I bought one this morning, glad I'm not married anymore lol

M. Brindos

I mean A LOT, of work

You just ain't kidding there. I've been filling and sanding for what seems like forever now. I just keep telling myself, "you're getting closer to paint". Yet I keep finding things that need addressed. Patience is a must with the Revell kit.

BK

There really is no comparison between these two kits. The Revell can still be a solid winner with a lot, and I mean A LOT, of work, but right out of the box the new Airfix is far superior in every category.

You've seen how much work goes into these Revell kits. It's all a matter of commitment I suppose. Lol

You just won't regret the Airfix kit. Its solid right out of the box! :)

With all this talk about airfix, I think once things calm down some here I''ll get me one :)

Its been too long since I last had an update on this build. I was busy working on a tug boat for the last two and a half weeks solid. Good money in that, but very hard work.

Anyways, on to the progress, which honestly hasn't been much.

I sprayed the nose yellow and masked the tail for the Red, White, and Blue, but the red bled over the white and I'll have to do some touch ups by hand. It's a bit of a mess as you'll see in the pictures. The blue is off in tone to match the blue around the stars, but I'll fix that as well.

I blended the landing gear knuckles into the wings. These things are a terrible fit, as most of us know, and this was a little labor intensive. There is still a little work to sort out with these, but they're mostly complete.

Now that I'm off the boat I'll have a little more time to play with this build.

The scheme I'm working on is consistent with the 33rd Sqdrn. 8th PG in 1940. The yellow goes further up onto the nose than just the spinner and the tail should have the R,W,B of pre-war American aircraft of the time. Sadly these details are not included in the instructions, so I am fixing it lol.

Agreed Mike. As far as the confidence thing goes...I say just work the problem. Don't let your troubles get in the way. Whatever you don't like can usually be fixed provided you don't move faster than you're ready. You're putting together a great looking Hawk. 

Max, the guys here couldn't be more right about the Revell/Monogram kit. It's got great bones. A little love here and there goes a long way to improve your build. 

I find myself in agreement, Max. Lol

The P-40B is my absolute favorite.  :D

Remember the saying that if it looks good, it should fly good. The P-40 is a great example. I remember the day I bought the stick P-40 about 50 years ago. No other kit on the shelf had "The Look". The airplane seemed to be designed around the shark mouth. What a classic icon aircraft. It was all business. I've come to bite and kill you. Ok, a little carried away but I think we all get the point. War machines should intimidate and the P-40 is a great example of threatning adversaries. Definitely the classic war machine, one of the best, at least in the top ten. Did I leave anything out?

Max

I would love to have an entrance decorated in such way. A P-40 and a motorbike hanging over the entry. Awesome.  :)

For your museum, you will like the Airfix more. It suits your style.  :)

It does sound like the Airfix is the way to go. The Museum really needs a good example of the classic P-40, one of my favorite aircraft. I still have the original decades old Guillows stick model I've been dragging around most of my adult life. You've probably seen it.  It's survived a divorce and two moves and has had its battle damaged repaired many times. I see some fabric disentegrating as we speak. It hangs in our home entranceway and as you enter the house it is always flying over head sometimes dusty and battle worn. Fun huh!

Max

Man, that thing is really hard to dust, ladders and such, an annual thing frought with danger! You can reach it with a dusting tool from my wife's upstairs office but it's so fragile I usually do ladders on stairs from below.

The Saturn V stack is re-posted under Space for those asking about it.

I think your reasoning is absolutely sound. The Monovell kit makes for a good upgrade platform, but OOB the Airfix is superior in every way, but that one.

It all depends on the time one wishes to commit to the project.  :)

M. Brindos

 

i still recommend the new Airfix kit over this one however. It makes a much better model and has accurate markings options.

 

Mike, I believe that your Airfix P-40 recommendation is a good one; especially if you build out of the box. The Revell office is totally wrong! But if you are going to detail to no end; then the Revell offering might top it. I say that because, all else equal, the Airfix kit has recessed panel lines and the Revell kit has raised panel lines. The real P-40 has overlapping panel lines. Neither recessed or raised panel lines are correct; but, I believe that the raised lines are a better representation of what a real p-40 looks like than the recessed ones (gaps)!

Darn right, Jeaton, it's almost like a right of passage lol.

Nice Tigershark you built there.  ;). That's a sweet #7!

You'll get nothing but full support from the community if you take another stab at it, Max.