AIRCRAFT - On The Warpath: The Curtiss P-40

Nice paint scheme and clean build.

That's a great looking aircraft!

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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?

Sounds good Daniel. I'm at the same point in my build. Looking forward to the pics.

Regards, Rick

Great looking progress Marc, Hannaman and Gary. Can't wait to see some of these builds finished.

My build is coming along slowly. I've got all the join lines filled and sanded, now I just need to re-scribe some panel lines that I lost during that process. I'm doing the fuselage and wings seperately at the moment to make it a bit easier to work on. The fit of the wings to the fuselage is really good, so as soon as I finish the cockpit, I'll glue it in and then put the wings on.

And, I actually started working on my Mauve P-40N today. Not much progress at the moment. I test fitted all the major components and all the parts look like they'll fit well. I decided to glue the wing tops to the fuselage to start with because it looked like it could have been a problem if I glued them to the wing bottoms first.

pics soon.

Yeah lookin' good. More pics when the wings go on please.

Good progress Gary. Keep us posted.

Regards, Rick

OK, I got the cockpit finished and installed along with the exhaust, and cemented the fuselage together.
I think I will take some blacked out card stock and fill in underneath the pilot's seat and where a front or rear bulkhead should be ( a little too much 'see through" for my taste when you look into the "pit".
I dry brushed the instrument panel with silver paint.
Thanks for all the encouragement !

Marc,

Yours is probably accurate as there is little to no references (at least that I can find) that show any kind of standard practice for painting those white tails. I have three profiles of my plane and none of them match as to the demarcation line and how it goes 'round. I simply went with the easiest to paint. I'm not too sure about the numbers. Where are they supposed to be according to your sheet? I would've thought those were pretty standard.
The decals are Aeromaster out of the Hasegawa 1/72nd P-40 "13th Pursuit Group" AT-107. They are the 'other' option.
Now, where is that canopy?.......

Nice hannaman. When I post my next progress pics... well probably will be the finished plane at this point... you will see that very much like your choice of markings. As if the paint I have down so far isn’t a give-away. Did those come with the kit or are they AM? For me anything non-German will be more or less OOTB and I don’t have massive amount of references materials on hand. As I follow the recommendations that came with my AM decals (Eagle Strike) it is interesting to see subtle differences as to paint lines and marking positioning. The 2 thing that are most prominent to me so far seems to make more sense on yours than on mine – Position of the numbers on the tail and on mine there is a small “step” in front of the tail between the upper and lower fuselage colors - which leads me to believe yours may be a tad more accurate

Thanks guys!

Waikong, the pipes are painted rust then stained with thinned lamp black (artist oils). The stains themselves are in three thinned layers of Tamiya acrylics. The first being flat black right up to under the windscreen. Then a streak about half as long of neutral grey, (same color as the underside), finished off with a smidge of flat white right at the rear of the pipes. I over-spray the rear pipes a bit when I do this because I've noticed that the real things have the rear-most two or three catching all the poop from the forward pipes.
In some cases you can use Tamiya smoke if you're shooting for an oily brownish look.

hannaman, looks great. Hear you about the canopy, I don't think I have done one where I'm completely happy with it. What did you do for the exhaust stain?

Looking good Hannaman. Almost home with this one.

Regards, Rick

Great looking bird so far, Marc. I am doing a 1/72nd scale 'N' from the 49th. I had to deal with those stark white leading edges and tails. I used an oil wash of lamp black and raw umber in the panel lines and brushed the access back to "stain" the white a bit. Then I dusted the top of the wings and tail with a thin Tamiya Desert Yellow to give it that dusty "I've been left out in the sun in New Guinea"-look.





Unfortunately, this same oil wash brought out some un-wanted details, like that seem on the leading edge by the guns. D'oh! I guess I should fix that.



Now I get to do my least favorite part: the canopy.

Joe and Gary, your builds are starting out looking great. Hope to see more progress pictures soon.

Marc, I can't wait to see your finished bird! Your paint job looks super. In regards to your question about leaving masking on a canopy, I've left both the precut masks and Tamiya tape on for several weeks and have had no problems in their removal. I also do like Jerry said, in that I paint the canopy the same time as fuselage so that the colors match. This is especially important if I plan on fading the paint. However, I usually don't have the canopy on the fuselage while painting, just off to the side.

I have my P-40N pretty much assembled, but am still working on fixing the seams. Most of them are probably due to "operator error," but for a couple there was just no easy way around. Of course, this means the resultant rescribing of lines lost in sanding, which I detest (because I'm so poor at it).

Mark

Looks great Marc. The success of a good looking canopy is relative to the care of your masking on that particular part. Obviously, carefull masking should produce nice crisp lines. I've left tape on for 2 weeks with no adverse effects. Also, If you're going to leave the canopy closed, you may as well paint it at the same time you spray the fuselage as you have already done. I also like to gray white down a little just for scale effect. Reefer white does have a little gray in it, but I like to go a little further.

Your model really is looking good Marc, can't wait to see it finished.

Cheers,

Jerry

Progress pics of my ‘N. Getting down to the wire… finally.



Obviously some work to do before I can unmask the canopy. A question for you all about procedure as I am concerned with A. how will the canopy look and B. how long the tape has been on there. Do you do the canopy separate if you are making a closed cockpit? Or as I have done… all glued up and masked off as one piece?

I also have to ask about the white. Do you tint it to tone it down before applying? That’s a lot of white and WOW is it stark. I am wondering if just weathering will “take it DOWN a notch…” and still not be too white.

That's a nice restart to the hobby. Keep the pictures coming.

Darwin, O.F.

You're on your way, can't wait to see more. Looks good so far.

Jerry

Looks like a good start Gary. Keep us posted.

Regards, Rick

Ok...I'm "under way" here on my first airplane build since about 1989?...a long time ago...
Monogram P-40B OOB, nothing fancy here, I just want to try and get a decent looking plane out of this.
I have filled in the hole in the seat( NO WAY am I ready to detail paint a pilot!), and painted everything else in the simple kit cockpit the base colors.
I drilled out the exhaust and painted them with Testor's Rust from the little square bottles.
I haven't decided which of the kit versions it will be yet, the ARMY or AVG.

Joe, looks like a start from here.

Regards, rick