I just picked up a copy of P-40 in Detail & Scale, and while looking through it I had to do a double take! The picture sure looked like a P-51, but it was in a P-40 book! Well, then of course I read more and learned about the XP-40Q.

Which direction do you plan to go with the markings?

I'm going with the nmf scheme, I have plenty of OD P-40's already.

Working on the P-40Q.  Going pretty well except for the worst job of painting seat belts ever.  Parts fit is pretty good except as you can see in the photos the fuselage sides and cockpit side panels had to be routered a bit to allow the instrument panel to fit.  Lots of test fitting because as is usual with resin kits there are no definite part locations for most parts.  I hope to improve the seat belts some more before installing the canopy.

Interesting kit and build.  I have not seen a resin kit being built.  

HI, Scott.  It would be an excellent first resin kit, but you are probably just referring to the XP-40Q.  Just one real issue so far.

This is very cool, Jeaton. I've always been a fan of the P-40 ever since I watched "God is My Copilot" with my dad waaay back when. A while back I built an AMT P-40N, Lowry Field, Colorado, 1945, when my dad was there. I still have four different AMT P-40 kits in my stash and I'm always looking for more. I've thought about building this Planet Models P-40Q occasionally but I haven't been able to find one. There are two ways I'd like to build it. Well, maybe three. Who knows. Anyway, the first I'd like to try is the airplane as a post-war racer.

Or maybe as a P-40Q-1:

I'll be following this build, Jeaton. Good luck. Can't wait to see it finished.

Do you think a P-51 spinner and prop would work on this kit?

Frank, the spinner looks pretty close but the blades are the toothpick style, not as broad in chord as any Merlin powered Mustang.  The Allison powered Mustang prop blades look broader too.

I'm not so sure that the blades are correct on this kit, the general profile looks right but might be skinnier than they should be compared to photos.

I got mine from Hannant's recently, they have them in stock.

Oh wow John very cool! Personally maybe I'm weird but I always thought the P-40Q was a better lookin' bird than the P-51...

Cool that Hannant's has them, I've looked for the kit a few times and it seemed hard to catch it in print. 1/72nd isn't really my scale so I'll probably pass though.

Gamera

Oh wow John very cool! Personally maybe I'm weird but I always thought the P-40Q was a better lookin' bird than the P-51...

 

Cool that Hannant's has them, I've looked for the kit a few times and it seemed hard to catch it in print. 1/72nd isn't really my scale so I'll probably pass though.

 

Mr. Garibaldi (chuckle), this kit is 1/48 scale. For that reason I may give it a try when I find one. I did see one on eBay priced at (are you sitting down?) $185.00.

From photos the propeller blades look to be the same as the blades on earlier P-40s. Hmmm.

Thanks Frank!

John listed it as 1/48th in his header text but I'm old and blind...

Yeah, I'd seen it listed around for insane prices, now that I think about it (memory is shot too) that's got to the reason I kept on going...

Hannant's has them for 55 pounds, I think.  In 1/48!

That is a good looking P-40, but not a variant that I am all that familiar with. 

Thanks John! Still a little rich for me though!

Your P-40Q is turning out great though!

Jeaton, this is coming along nicely! I love when you get the airframe together and it looks like a plane!

I do have to say, those prop blades look a little off... no fault of yours, though. 

A very interesting subject.  Looks like a cross between the Mustang and a P-40.

Well Now ;

 This is interesting . I thought I knew All the P-40 variants .This is so cool ! This would look good next to my Gabby Gabreski "Jug" and John Glen's P-51 . Very interesting to see a resin kit , up close and WIP .Thank You ! T.B. 

Saw this review from five years ago. Ultracast Hamilton Standard 1/48 scale propeller hub and blades. These might work in place of the kit propeller. I might be late with this suggestion though.

http://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/hamilton-standard-11-7-dia-3-blade-6353a-18-prop-and-spinner

Frank, it was a Curtiss Electric prop.  As was mentioned the blades should be similar to the earlier P-40's, I think.  However, I am not going to get bogged down with it.  Although it is an interesting airframe I am building it more to fill a gap in the Curtiss P-40 line than as the ultimate P-40Q.  You gotta choose your battles, right?

As usual, the pitiless eye of the camera shows some places to go back to.  I just finished installing the exhaust stacks.  Each one of the 12 is an individual part to cut from the pour block, clean up, and then try to align correctly.  I used 5 minute epoxy.  Very fiddley and not entirely evenly aligned.  Here's where it is now.

Just looking so cool. Modelpalooza is coming up in mid September here in Orlando. Maybe a vendor will have a kit for me to bring home.

She looks pretty friggin' good to me John!

Thanks, Gamera.  Thank you too, Frank, and good luck with your search for the kit.

I made the dorsal antenna out of fine transformer wire, it is straight right now but very delicate.   Do they make .005 music wire?

Very well done!

The last two comparison pictures seem seem to me to show two entirely different families of aircraft! Very interesting.

Great job there John, love how she came out! 

With them sitting there side by side I think even more that the P-40Q was a much more attractive aircraft than the P-51D. My two cents anyhow. 

Jeaton, the finished airplane is terrific! I want one for sure now. Maybe two if I can find 'em. I have the Classic Airframes P-51H I picked up at model show a while back. Haven't had the gumption to start it yet. Hobbycraft made a 1/48 scale P-36 some time ago. I'm building one right now. Great kit. Not too difficult to find. The ESCI 1/48 P-36 is around too. I have one up in the stash, but the Hobbycraft is nicer. If I can find the Planet kit, I have several AMT P-40 kits in the stash that I can liberate exhaust stacks from instead of using the kit stacks.

Thanks, Mike and Gamera.  Frank, I have 3 of the AMT/ESCI P-36 kits, just haven't built any yet.  I only have the Hawk 75 version from Hobbycraft.  I did build the 1/32 Special Hobby P-36 but my photo setup isn't big enough to put it far enough back to look right

Well done, sir. I like the comparison pics, very neat. 

Thanks for sharing this build!

jeaton01

As a side note, I am almost sure I saw one of these at Ed Maloney's museum when it was still at Ontario in 1965.  I was certainly a P-40 with a bubble canopy.

Question, do you have any pictures of the aircraft at the museum. Also, what happened to the aircraft since then, as I have never found any "recent" pictures of it.

Just last night I happened to be looking through an old Air Clasics magazine that had an article on Canadian P-40's and it mentioned this airplane.  Turns out it had a modified P-80 canopy and was not a Q at all.  It was actually a P-40N which had been registered as N1251N and as an E in the FAA records.  Sue Parish bought the airplane from Ed Maloney and registered it as P-40N  N222SU.  I took some photos of this airplane at Oshkosh in 1978, it was beautiful.  The N was originally from Chowchilla, USAAF 44-7619, N5038V.

It's probably in the Kalamazoo Air Zoo collection today.