AIRCRAFT - On The Warpath: The Curtiss P-40

Got a new toy… a mobile WiFi card. I am sitting in a park between jobs right now… very cool.

Anyway… DISASTER. Had some time this morning so starting washing the panel lines on my P-40. A good coating of future, cured for 3 or 4 days, all the decals down… ready to go. If you recall when I introduced myself a couple of months ago, there was a looong hiatus so Future is a new concept for me. My 1st model, ME-109 G, I used enamel and thinner for the panel lines and it worked fine but wanted to try the Swanny describes. Went to his site just to double check the procedure. Wash mixed, applied and dried. A wipe with a damp towel… nothing happens. A bit more water…. clean as the day it was made. OK so its acrylic, so I take some acrylic thinner (smells like rubbing alcohol) and try that… nothing. As long as that smelled like alcohol I try just that…. rubbing alcohol right out of the bottle. SUCCESS! But my wings are turning white. Nice contrast on the olive drab paint. Then I tried lacquer thinner and had some success but I feel the paint getting soft but is did turn the white to green. OK so now I am freaking a little….OK, a lot. I tested a brush coat of future in a small spot and back to green. I start to breathe regularly again. Before putting down any more wash a dump more dish sap in and that seems to get the water to work. Now did all this happen due to using Tamiya acrylic pant instead of Grumbacher paste likes Swanny uses?

You let the acrylic wash dry too long. If you use acrylics, only work on a small section at a time & remove the excess wash as soon as it loses it's wet look. The Future turned white because alcohol is a solvent for Future. The white will disappear under a new topcoat of Future. The problems you had are why I much prefer oils for washes. You have lots of time to play with the effect you want & they are easily removed with a cloth dampened ( not wet ) with mineral spirits or turpenoid.

Regards, Rick

Rick about said it all, if you use acrylic as a wash (which I've done sometimes) you have to wipe it off almost immediately, or it will dry. I've switched mostly to oil also as Rick says, its much more controllable.

When you say "oil" are you referring to an artist's oil based paint or like Model Master petroleum based paint?

QUOTE: Originally posted by wing_nut When you say "oil" are you referring to an artist's oil based paint or like Model Master petroleum based paint?

Artist oils. The type that comes in a tube. ModelMaster is an enamel & can be used as a wash, but dries almost as fast as the acrylics.

Regards, Rick

I tried the sludge wash once and had the same problem you described so, like Rick and waikong, prefer using an oil wash. Personally, I don't like the idea of having to make a mix using specific ratios, as in the sludge wash, when an oil wash is so much simpler. On top of that, I was under the impression (wrongly, I found out), that the sludge wash wouldn't stain.

I use Artist Oils, which come in a tube and can be bought at most art stores, such as Michael's.

Mark

Mark, I think Sludge Wash would be better named Smudge Wash

Regards, Rick

QUOTE: Originally posted by rjkplasticmod Mark, I think Sludge Wash would be better named Smudge Wash Regards, Rick

Too true, Rick! Fortunately for me, I tested the wash on the underside of the horizontal stabilizer of my last P-40E build (the one I posted pictures of earlier in this group build), so I was able to repair it fairly easily and revert to the oil wash for the remainder of the plane. What's sad is that I only had the sludge wash on for a few minutes before it stained whereas, for the oil wash, I've waited until the next day to remove the excess with no staining problems.

Mark

With the painting disaster averted… here is the finished build. Hasegawa P-40N, 1/48 scale. Straight out of the box except for AM decals and harness made from wine bottle lead foil and buckles scratched from wire. Model Master paints. All weathering (after the wash) is pastels… gray and black for some streaking and panel line accent… rust and black for exhaust …and white rub on with my fingers for an uneven faded paint look (not too clear in the pics).

My first GB completed. And it’s been fun. Everybody has been very helpful. Thanks all. Can’t wait to see everybody else’s builds.

That's a great looking aircraft!

Nice paint scheme and clean build.

Nice work Marc . Very good looking build.

Regards, Rick

Hey! That plane looks familiar! Nice work Marc.

Looks great Marc. The weathering job is excellent. Hope mine turns out as nice.

Hi all, I'm not actually a member of this GB but I've been lurking and watching the great work you guys have been doing anyway.

Marc fantastic work on your kit, where did you get the decals for that one it looks great .

Cheers
Darren

Very nice Marc, It's interesting to compare the N model to the E version. And I really like that nose art. Again, very nice work.

I've finaly started to paint mine today. Hopefully will get some photos up soon.

Jerry

Two views of the older P 40m Mauve kit which when completed will depict a 76 Sqn RAAF aircraft as A29-356 SV-V the mount of W.Cdr. W.Arthur who was OC of 71 wing. The kit is OOB, but the decals for this will be composite.

Marc your bird looks great, nice work

Thad

Looking good so far Rob.

Regards, Rick

Marc, dispite the wash business, your build came out looking great. I like the white pastel faded effect.

Thanks all.

Lobbie…looks like it is coming along fine. What green do you use for the pit? I know there appears to be some color shift in the photo but I just like the “look” of that green better. I used MM chromate green and it just seems very bright to me. Which is more accurate? Or does it need to be taken down a notch (or 2) like the white?

QUOTE: Originally posted by waikong Marc, dispite the wash business, your build came out looking great. I like the white pastel faded effect.

I got the idea to try that from looking at that horrific looking white when I put the rubbing alcohol on the wing. I said to myself that if I could just tone that down… A LOT… it might look like faded paint. I guess some good comes out of everything.

excellent work all the way around. i have begun the academy kit but no pics yet. found an ultracast seat and some more spare parts. we shall see.


joe

Here's a couple of quicks pics of my Hasegawa P-40N cockpit. Mostly OOB except the seatbelts which were made fron Tamiya tape (I'll have to make some buckles one day). The IP has the kit decals cut out and applied individually. Now it's all ready to go in the fuselage and then I can glue the wings on. Once they are on, it'll just be a little bit more sanding and cleaning up before it's ready for paint.

Daniel,

WOW!, That's top notch work! Very nice looking cockpit, can't wait to see more of the build.

Dragonfly

Marc, excellent job on your build. I hope my P-40N turns out half as nice!

Robert, looking good so far! It's hard to tell from the photos, but how was the fit of the wings to the fuselage? The Eduard incarnation of the Mauve kit typically has a large wing root gap unless one is careful in assembly. I found out the hard way the first time I built the kit.

Daniel, that cockpit looks great. The Hasegawa looks to have a very nice cockpit OOB, but you did a super job with yours.

Mark

Thanks Dragonfly and Mark;

The Hasegawa pit is very nice. Just takes a bit of careful detail painting and it will look great.

Mark - I'm building the Mauve kit at the moment too, and noticed during a dry fitting, that the wing to fuselage joint could have been a problem. So I decided to glue the wing tops to the fuselage first. I do that with most of my models these days. It should make sure you don't have any gaps at this important join line.

Nice cockpit Daniel. The IP really looks good. Did you punch out the instruments with the backing? Or where they puched out and thenapplies with a setting solution?

Wing-nut,

The 'pit on my P-40m is done using the Interior green from the old AeroMaster Warbird series, which is an acrylic paint, Model Master make this colour now and Hunbrol # 226 is also very close. If I was to tone it down I'd spray the Xtra Colour flat Varnish over it, but it seemed ok applied straight to the unprimmed plastic from the kit.

I hope this helps a little.

Very nice work on the pit Daniel. Looks great.

Regards, Rick

QUOTE: Originally posted by pingtang Mark - I'm building the Mauve kit at the moment too, and noticed during a dry fitting, that the wing to fuselage joint could have been a problem. So I decided to glue the wing tops to the fuselage first. I do that with most of my models these days. It should make sure you don't have any gaps at this important join line.

I also considered gluing the wing tops to the fuselage first, but decided to use styrene spacer bars inside the fuselage, just forward and aft of the cockpit. After much trial and error, I was able spread the fuselage to the point I wanted. I then decided to glue the bottom wing section to the fuselage first and, keeping my fingers crossed that the fuselage was still spread enough, I glued the wing tops in place. I glued the wing bottom on first because it allowed me to get a better "seal" with the fuselage than I would have been able to do if the wing tops were in the way. It worked better than I had hoped, and the small gap I had was easily filled with some Mr. Surfacer.

Mark