AIRCRAFT - On The Warpath: The Curtiss P-40

Thanks arki30 !

It's not my intention to make anyone feel "inadequate." I just a modeler, like everyone else here. I enjoy sharing pics of my work with others of like interest, as I enjoy looking at pics of other people's work. If I make others feel that way, I'll have to stop posting pics. I don't want to do that to anyone. I thought others may be interested in seeing what Eduard's detail set is like. Please forgive me if it makes you feel badly.
Here's a pic of my camera, taken with my camera (OK, it's a pic of a mirror). I flipped it horizontally with Photoshop.

It had a high retail price when new, but they can be found for $400 or less today.

Ah, the vagary of email. Or in this case a forum. Dang, should have put an emoticon on my sentence, like , Pix. I don't actually feel inadequate when I see your work, just amazement. Great stuff and don't even think about not posting. I along with others learn from it.

Hmm, $400 is still a bit above what I'm able to spend, but thanks for letting me know. I have a much lower end digital camera that just isn't cutting it, so I'm looking for that next upgrade.

In the meantime I've borrowed a better one so enjoy my posting of progress. Camo on! I cheated and used the Black Magic mask for the P-40B/C which works relatively well with a little work. I've used the BM masks before with great results, but this one almost did me in. When I peeled off the masks, they left an amazing amount of adhesive behind. I've never had that happen before and even used the "press on palm" trick before applying. I didn't think it was coming off, but Goo Gone worked without removing any paint. Crisis averted.

Still a lot of work to do yet , but much farther along than a month ago.

Pix - Great work on that cockpit mate. I like the looks of that PE set. Thanks for sharing it.

arki30 - Your build is looking really nice. The camo looks great.

Arki30... looks good. What kit and scale... or did I miss that??

Thanks pingtang and wing_nut.

It's the 1/48 AMtech P-40E. Great kit, but wow did this one need some putty.

Arki30, the camo looks great! I've a couple sets of those masks but haven't used them. I'll keep in mind the problems you had if/when I use them.

Mark

Nice looking camo arki. I can't wait to see the next steps.

Looking great so far arki. Keep up the good work.

Regards, Rick

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mark Joyce Arki30, the camo looks great! I've a couple sets of those masks but haven't used them. I'll keep in mind the problems you had if/when I use them. Mark

Ever caught yourself thinking something real dumb? I was looking at the camo and said to my self I didn’t like the mask. What's with the weird round shape on the wings? Oh... round shape... round... roundel. Had a small senior moment but it has passed.

Ever realize you just did something dumb? I didn't even catch the import of those weird circles. Well, this is the danger of using a camo mask for a P-40B/C which would have the roundels. This P-40E doesn't necessarily have the same roundels as it's well, not a P-40B/C.

I'll have to look at the markings and see if I need to do some additional masking and painting. I suppose the good news is that this is a relatively easy fix. Note to self: pay more attention to markings.

I'll laugh about this later.

Ahhh...errr... Glad I was able to help... in a round about sort of way ;o)

Yep, I checked the camo and I'll need to make a few fixes. <sigh>

Some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you.

---

As an aside, this is a good lesson not to do 3 builds at the same time. I focused on the P-51 to the detriment of the P-40. Dang.

I added the decals to the P-40 today. They're made by Eduard, and settled into the panel lines beautifully. The white fuselage and tail bands, as well as the nose's tiger head, were nice and opaque. The decals may have been designed for another kit, since the radiator contours produced a slight misalignment. This will be easy enough to fix with paint once they're completely dry.The tail number was translucent, though. I may go over it with a brush and paint later. Some of the smallest stencils required more care. They are thin, and can fold over on themselves easily. This happened a couple of times, but adding water and gently prodding them with a brush straightened them.





Once I seal the decals with more Future, I can start the washes.

As I said in the Aircraft Forum, it's looking great, Bill!

Mark

Excellent work Pix. Looks great.

Regards, Rick

Wow. That's hard to believe that you got that fuselage band to lay down that nicely. I never have luck with those. Looking good Pix.

pix it looks outstanding



as for me. i finally picked up my tomahawk again. it had been too long. i got the legs under her and then tried something. i used a pencil to highlight the panel lines.







joe

Look good Joe. Are those AM exhaust pipes? If you drilled 'em... nice job!

Thanks Mark, Rick, the hannaman, and Joe !

Joe - coming along nicely. Good work !

thehannaman - I use copious amounts of water to nudge it into position. Some little wrinkling is unavoidable, but MicroSol usually does the trick. I applied the fuselage band first. That way, if it was translucent or didn't fit, I could remove it and mask & paint it instead.

Thanks again !

Joe, looks like you're making good progress! I like how you did the panel lines; the pencil turned out nicely.

Mark

Looking good Joe. Keep up the great work.

Regards, Rick

Joe, it looks like the clear ran on the underside of those wings. You might want to sand that out before decals and a flat finish. Other than that, lookin' good.

Almost finished with my western desert B Model. I wanted to try and "distress" this plane, some intense weathering. From all that I have read on the Western Desert these squadrons moved around quite a bit and the desert was like living in a sand blaster.

What I have done is to use high grain sandpaper and polishing pads...2K to 8K as well as polishing cream to "damage" the paint. I have used a reddish brown pastel "sludge as well...hoping to post some pics tomorrow...The flaps were cut out ribs added, the wheel wells added and the stabilizers dropped as well on the Academy 1/72 P40B.

Great progress Pix! I gotta do that tiger scheme some day.

Joe, looks great as well!

Well, finally finished my build! Here are the pics:








As always, constructive criticism and comments are welcome. There are a few little things that I'd like to have done better, but all in all I'm happy with the build. I've really enjoyed this group build, and will continue to check in to see the progress of everyone else's builds. The work I've seen so far by the rest of you has been phenomenal, and really an inspiration!

Mark

So what's to criticize? Looks real nice to me.

looks awesome to me. all of them look awesome.

for me just a bit of an update. this was actually a few days ago but i got lost in the posting of it.







almost completed.



joe

That's a very nice looking P-40 Joe. Excellent work.

Jerry

Mark, Very nice build. Looks like a real keepeer.

Joe, Looking great so far. Keep us posted.

Regards, Rick

Marc, Joe, and Rick: Thanks for the kind comments! Marc, there are always things to criticize on my builds. Fortunately, they aren't as obvious in the photographs, which also allow me to conveniently omit showing the areas I'm not too pleased with!

Joe, your P-40 is looking great! Can't wait to see the final pictures.

Mark