AIRCRAFT - On The Warpath: The Curtiss P-40

Your'e welcome mucker. Looking forward to the pics .

Regards, Rick

I'm intending to do another P 40 for this GB.

My subject is the P 40e A29-99 'P' [Cleopatra], as flown by Sqn. Ldr. G Atherton of 75 Sqn at Milne Bay March 1942, using the older AMT kit.

Daniel:

If intersted in Cloepatra II, A29-459 GA-P was a P 40k, still with 75 Sqn but based at Horn Island. This bird had a white tail, similar too that of my P40m flown by Wilfred Arthur that I previously did.

I might do the whole series of Cleopatra's one day Rob. It would make an interesting display. I don't think I'll be doing it for a while though, after my 2 N's I've had enough of P-40's for a while.

On another note, I've got a true details resin pit on the way for my Mauve P-40N. So, I'll be starting it pretty soon.

Tonight was spent on the fit problems on the nose of my Monofgram P40B. This build will be sponsored by the makers of Porc-A-Filler! That handy little modellers freind no one should be without! Nothing worth posting yet, maybe by the middle of next week...

This portion of our show, is brought to you by ....Porcifiller...will even fill those pesky moon size craters.

Don't let it get to you joe.... keep on keep'in on.

Jerry

Keep at it Joe. If it doesn't kill you, it should make you a better modeller. All that filling and sanding lets you know how good we have it with all these modern kits that fall together. Believe it or not, I actually don't mind the extra work. Makes me feel more proud of my efforts when the build turns out looking half decent at the end. Just take your time and don't let it get to you......

Porc-A-Filler is great stuff. Highly recommended.

Regards, Rick

Thanks Guys ! Truly appreciated...tonight I got past the part I was most worried about...Rick you are the on that turned me on to Porcafiller...thanks!

Did some on line research...found out not all RAF P40B/C in Western Desert had Sharks mouth...any where I could get a picture?

You could do one of the RAF P-40B's flown by 3 sqn RAAF pilots in Africa. From the pics I've seen, they didn't usually have sharks mouths. They were painted in standard RAF desert camo with squadron codes like CV*V or CV*U etc. They had standard RAF roundels too.

QUOTE: Originally posted by pingtang You could do one of the RAF P-40B's flown by 3 sqn RAAF pilots in Africa. From the pics I've seen, they didn't usually have sharks mouths. They were painted in standard RAF desert camo with squadron codes like CV*V or CV*U etc. They had standard RAF roundels too.

Cool! Were the prop spinners different colors, some of what I have seen show red ones...

The black and white photos I have seen show that the prop spinner was a different colour to the rest of the aircraft. And red was a pretty common colour for RAF aircraft, so I'd say that they probably were red.

Oi! Hang about...I think I saw these before...possibly even a color rendition...thought is was in The Hawks Nest, not there...would those squadron id marks been done in sky color?

There were many RAF Tomahawks in North Africa that did not have shark mouths. They all had the desert camo of dark earth/midstone/azure blue. All that I have references on had red spinners. Codes varied from light grey to white. One of the more famous is an aircraft flown by Clive Caldwell for 112 Squadron. A Tomahawk Mk I, code letters GA (in light grey) X (white), serial # AK658.. All of these aircraft carried standard roundels & fin flashes.

Regards, Rick

Not much to report on the kit for this build other than the filling and sanding continue...

However, for the Pearl Harbour build I am also doing a P40B...this is my progress to this point...(I figure what the heck it is a P40 so it works here to)



It is the Academy 1/72 kit. I cut the flaps loose and used styrene strips to "box in" there then closed up the wheel wells and strur compartments. The photo shows the first coat of interior green, musch more to do. The spars are fishing monofilament...

Looks like you've done a good job of the spars in the wheel wells. Doesn't the Academy kit come with any detail in the wheel wells? Nice clean job of cutting out the flaps too.

Monofiliment...great idea...Looks good Joe.

Jerry

QUOTE: Originally posted by pingtang Looks like you've done a good job of the spars in the wheel wells. Doesn't the Academy kit come with any detail in the wheel wells? Nice clean job of cutting out the flaps too.

Thanks ping and Jerry...

To all of our Australian brethern, just got up from watching the first Bledisoe Cup match...looks like it will stay across the Tasman for another year...how are your boys fairing against England at the cricket?

There was nothing for detail in the kit for wells. I figure the kit to be from the late '80's. It does have engraved lines, but minimal in number though fairly good in quality...

Take a closer look at the photo, in th lower right hand side you can see a bit tof the styrene used to box in the flap area...

Don't really follow the union too much mate. I'm more of a league person. What was the score in the Union though?

At the moment, we are going pretty ordinary in the cricket against the poms. Our top order can't by runs at the moment, Shane Warne actually top scored (for those who don't know, he's not exactly known for his batting). Todays play has been rained out (typical english weather eh?).

I'm going to have to do a similar thing to the wheel wells of my Mauve P-40N soon. There is raised detail in there, but it's not accurate. The flaps could be an interesting project too......

Started cutting plastic of an older 48 scale AMT kit of the P 40f, which I intend to do as either a 3 Sqn RAAF or 450 Sqn RAAF bird.

As 3 Sqn had several of the Kittyhawk II aircraft on hand during July '43 when based on Malta in support of the invasion of Sicily, a reference I have shows CV-Y as KS-407 with a red/white spinner, the 'Southern Cross' motif was applied to the rudder of 3 Sqn Kittyhawks in late November '43, just prior to the transision to Mustang III's and IV's.

Or the 450 Sqn RAAF bird with the 'Boxing Kangaroo' on the lower cowling, provided I can locate the AM decals for this bird.

Looks like a good start Joe.

Regards, Rick

Joe, your P-40s are really coming along. Rick's right about the Monogram kit; it's pretty ancient. I had the same problem you had with the nose area. That's why I put mine aside around '98 or '99, and still haven't finished it!

Mucker, Rick's correct again about R.T. Smith's #77 in that it had the red, white, and blue covers on the wheels. I've got a picture of his plane showing this. However, my sources indicate that the AVG Tomahawks had most if not all stenciling. I've also got pics showing the word "Prestone" on top of the engine cowling and the stenciling on the propellers, among others.

Rick, your Aleutian Tiger looks great! Can't wait to see the finished product.

Mark

Thanks Mark. I have it mostly done, but probably won't be able to do much more work on it for a couple of days. Hope to post some pics of the finished model next week.

Regards, Rick

Well, After playing around for a week+ on the camo, I am done with the Trumpter 1/48 P-40B, done with Sky decals in the #77 of R.T. Smith (and a special thanks to Rick for the guidance on the ying/yang wheel covers).

After seeing all of the wonderful creations submitted to this forum by the others, I am both a little nervous to submit my P-40, and proud to have completed my first Group Build.

I chose to close the cockpit because it was an OOB build and you know the poor detail and problems with the Trumpeter kit. Actually, it was supposed to be an OOB build, but becuase I destroyed the exhaust manifold I had to order replacements from Ultracast. They were intended for the Hobbycraft kit, but I glued toothpick to the back to make them stick out to an acceptable appearance.

Also, I incorrectly freehanded the camo, which came out with a feathered edge. From what I can tell, the demarcation in the camo was a hard line on the real AVG birds.

All in all I'm happy with the outcome and know where I need to focus on my next builds. I've always been fond of the Flying Tigers and this one will sit proudly in the display case.







Thanks for letting me tag along...I learned quite a bit about the Curtiss P-40 and was fortunate enough to see the stunning models you guys made.

Mark:

Thank you for the information...now if I can come up with some stencils somewhere, I think I may add them. Otherwise, I'm pretty much finished with this build. In a way I'm glad the #77 had the red, white and blue covers. It adds color and personality to the plane.

Chuck, nice job on the Tomahawk, though the pictures look a little overexposed or a bit of too much flash. Factory painted P-40s, including the AVG Tomahawks, had a hard-edged camo scheme due to the masks used, but I wouldn't worry about it. Your paint job looks great.

Those Ultracast exhausts are great, and I use them on most of my builds now instead of the kit ones. And it's too bad about Trumpeter's cockpit. I have the kit and the detail looks great, just way too shallow.

By the way, how did the Sky Decals go down? I have the other P-40 sheet, which has MTO birds, and hope to use several of the options. And if you really want stencils, I can probably dig up some spares for you. I often don't use them because sometimes they seem to distract from the model for some reason.

Thanks for the pictures!

Mark

Mark:

This was the first time I've used Sky Decals and I am pleased with the results. The Micro-Sol nicely seated them in the initial clear coat and they were easy to handle...no tearing issues. As per many reviews, the "instructions" are a little lax and erronious (such as the lack of mention of wheel covers on #77). I think a major selling point is the quantity of subject matter per sheet. If I remember correctly, something like 16 different AVG birds are represented on one sheet.

If you are interested in any of the remaining decals on the sheet, send me an e-mail (in my profile)...maybe I can swap you for some stencils?

The Ultracast exhausts were my first use of resin. They seemed fairly straight forward...I will definately consider Ultracast for future builds.

Thanks for the comments on the photography...I may res-hoot to get better clarity.

Chuck

Mucker, good job and congrats on your first GB. I like the wheel covers too.

Looks good Mucker. The camo was hard edged on the real bird, but many modelers depict it soft. Only question I have is on the Chinese Nationalist Roundels, which are correctly portrayed as very faded, but seem to be missing the inner blue circle.

Regards, Rick

Thanks waikong and Rick. As for the roundles...good point. I'll have to take a look at the decal sheet to see if I overlooked anything. I take it you mean the "meatballs", like the red dot in the center of the old USAAC star?

mucker, that's a very nice looking model and you should be proud to display such an important aircraft. Great job mate!

Jerry