AIRCRAFT - On The Warpath: The Curtiss P-40

That's a very cool pic Heath. Would make a great looking model.

Regards, Rick

Hey Steve-O you can call me whatever.....some people just calle me @$$hole....I say whatever gets the job done...lol Actually I call you by your name cause it rolls off of the keyboard easily.....whereas Blackwolftake2 isn't so hot.....I thought of shortening it and callin you Blackie.....but then that just opens the door for a whole heap of other troubles..

I couldn't think of a great way to describe the Sicily version I am seeing on the data sheet that came with the kit. However, I did some research (if you can believe it!! LOL) and found a 2/3 replica of the orignal plane with the scheme I was referring to.





According to the site, the original aircraft was lost on December 19, 1943 over Ripa in North Africa. It belonged to the RAF squadron 112. On the placard sheet I have for the decals it says Squadron OC, 112 Sicily, July 1943. Perhaps it was stationed in Sicily at this time? The most notable difference in the Markings that I was going to mention between the Sicily one and the Brazilian one, is the shark mouth and eyes themselves. As you can see the Sicilian one is almost pie shaped with the eyes high on the engine cowling, almost level with the top of the spinner. Whereas the Brazilian one has more of an "S" shape lower portion of the mouth and the eyes are about the middle of the engine cowling and almost center with the tip of the spinner.


Brazilian version

Sorry dude, I tried like hell to find a pic of the Soviet Version, but it is late, and I'm not having any luck. I did find a pic of a model with the Soviet markings....and I'm not all that impressed. Still trying to decide what markings I will do in the end. But I did get a bit done tonight, cut the main pieces off of the tree and cleaned em up as well as most of the resin pieces. I'm off to bed, hopefully I will burn through some more tomm.

Well I amazed myself tonight and discovered that I still know how to use an airbrush!

It was pretty warm here in the BUFF and I took advantage to do some spraying outside. Never done that before and I may have to do it more often until I get the new spraybooth built.

Anyhoo, I didn't get a whole lot painted, just enough to allow me to glue the greenhouse of the AMT P-40N onto the fuselage. I'll post some shots when it's all dried and after the greenhouse is attached.

The Mauve P-40N has not progressed beyond some parts clean-up and I haven't even looked at the Hasegawa P-40E. I'm actually thinking of pulling a kit-bash with the Trumpeter, Hobbycrap and the 'ole Monogram kit. (Revell nowadays) But I gotta finish one of these before I even begin to plan that project...

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Looks like a few more folks are coming along... Justen, that looks really nice... for little scale!

VA, bad luck for you. Hopefully you'll get things ironed out...

Bryan, my personal choice would be Wood's ship. Matter of fact, that's one of the 49th FG Hawks I've got on 'the build list'. I believe I have at least three shots of that particular ship... will get them up on the site for you soonly... hopefully...

Rick, there's plenty of time guy...

Kik, (I dunno why I call everyone else by their names and you by your forum name... ) you mentioned a Sicilian P-40... I don't have that exact kit but I have the decals from it. Are you talking about the Brazilian P-40? Just curious.

When you go to build that P-40M, be careful when putting the radiator and splitter assembly together inside the chin scoop. The splitter has no locaters of any kind and although it's not a tough eyeball-job, it doesn't line up easily with the inside edge of the scoop opening... no matter how it's attached to the radiator piece.

Keep it comin' folks!


Fade to Black...

Hannaman she is looking sweet!! I just got my 1/48 Eduards P-40M deliverd on my door. It looks pretty sweet first glance. Has quite a bit of PE and resin bits to play with, and the panel looks like I can make it look nice. It even came with the express masks. It has 5 different decal options available. I am leaning towards the Soviet P-40M which is a basic olive green with a Neutral gray bottom. It still has a sharkmouth, and quite a bit of Soviet stars. Of course the Sicilian one has a better camo job and a cooler sharkmouth.........hmmmmmm

Well done everyone. I haven't got started on my build yet, but hopefully soon.

Regards, Rick

great progress. excellent work.



joe

Well I guess it is time for an update on my part, I have started the first Monogram P-40B and have decided to do a basic out of the box build with the exception of a new seat, backing to the cockpit, drilled out exhaust, landing gear wells, and repositioned elevators. The model will depict a basic P-40B fighting in the early years of the Pacific war, very heavly weathered with replacment parts and patches galore, including mismatched insigneas with a painted over but still partially visable US Army Airforce lettering on the bottom. I have gotten to the painting stage and have applied the basic heavly fadded NG over OD but when I was appling my insigneas (I use a stencil technique and paint them on) a HORRIBLE THING OCCUED the decals I was using for the stencilsfor some reason stuck and pulled off all the paint on the model where the insigneas go!!! Now I have to build those parts up with paint and use decals Very hard to fade those.

So tonight I am going to try and fix it and attemp one mor time the stencil technique.

And thats my update.

The skies the limit,

V.A.

Okay, I finally am able to post some progress pictures. Sorry if the quality is kind of low. I'm still figuring this new fangled camera out. Anyway, here are those awesome True-Details bargain cockpits I was yammerin' about. BTW: They look better in person.

Thanx for the ideas Steve. I will have to try them out. Now here's another problem that I am facing. I don't know which decal option I want to put on the kit. I am no where near ready to do it yet, but I want to be prepared. Here is the super scale set that I have.



I really don't want to do Robert Scott's (Thinking about saving that for the Hasegawa P-40E). The other two options are for Capt Joseph Kruzel 9th FS "Dragon Flight" Australia 1942, and the other would be for Capt Sidney Woods 9th FS/ 49th FG New Guinea 1943. Any help would be appreciated.

QUOTE: Originally posted by BlackWolf3945 Take 2 I'm off to relax with a model after a night of watching my Sis' rugrats...

I was going to ask if the model was plastic or a real model.......but either way it just sounds wrong....LOL

Falcon, if you can get through my long-winded explanation, my method may work for you...

How to Scribe Grooooovy Panel Lines


Fade to Black...

Man you guys are onto a fast start on this one. Joe, very nice looking cockpit.

Well got some more sanding done last nite. Now I have to rescribe some lines. Anybody have a better idea on what to use than the awkward rescribing tool that I have?

Geez, Louise...

One's done and another is well on the way. Wish I could work that fast. Well, I suppose I could but I'm never satisfied when I take my time!

Kik, I'll add you to the duty roster soonly...

Darwin... make that Hawk look like it's been to hell and back! They definitely didn't get cleaner as time went on...

I'm off to relax with a model after a night of watching my Sis' rugrats...


Fade to Black...

Looking good Joe. Your'e moving fast on this one.

Regards, Rick

Looking good Joe. Can't wait to get back to my build.

a little more progress from me. the pit is done and attached. this is a scratchbuild/pe pit with just a couple of kit pieces thrown in.








now on to the engine. first up is the braces for the engine mounts.



next up is to detail this resin engine.





joe

Looks pretty good Yardbird. A little weathering wouldn't hurt. That's not a bad little kit, considering Academy copied it from the old Frog molds & added some recessed panel lines & a little more detail.

Regards, Rick

I think that you did a good job on your build. I too am never pleased with my builds, but one always finds things that they should have done different.

I have just finished my Academy 1/72 P-40B in the markings of Charles Older of the A.V.G. 3rd Pursuit Squadron. I am not at all pleased with the end result, probably because I was in too much of a hurry. The brown is not the right shade and the overall paint job is really poor.
I did drill out the two .50 calibre machine guns and air intake on the cowl, as well as each of the 12 exhaust stubs. I added a few details to a very sparse cockpit and otherwise it is pretty much OOB. I probably need to add a mist coat of light yellow and do some chipping, weathering, to get rid of the "brand new" look. ? ? ? ? ?

Darwin, O.F.

QUOTE: I'll tackle the 49th FG next. Justen, I'm trying to find some overall shots of 'O'Riley's Daughter' but all I have at the moment is a shot of the nose art.

Thanks in advance, Steve. I really appreciate the help!

The only thing that I don't like about the old AMT/Esci kit is the cockpit. There is some good detail, just the placement could be better.

One of the kits that I am really looking forward to is the XP-40Q from AMTech. Just wish they would hurry up and release it.

Hey Steve-O I would like to jump in on this GB if possible. I ordered the Eduards P-40M Profi-pak.....I am not sure of the markings yet, but may be leaning towards soviet just to shake things up a bit.

Joe, looks like you have some heavy duty detailing planned for this kit...

Bryan, you're progressing rather quickly! That Tenax is great stuff isn't it? Some folks don't like it but I think it's the cat's meow. The only thing better was the original Micro Weld, but they switched to a different formula which smelled really nice (I'm a citrus kinda guy...) but it worked like... I'll be kind and call it garbage...

Anyhoo, I'm glad to see some work being done on plastic!


Slowly I'm adding stuff to the website for those who are building specific subjects. I'm in the middle of processing a buncha images of 343rd FG Hawks for Rick and I'll tackle the 49th FG next. Justen, I'm trying to find some overall shots of 'O'Riley's Daughter' but all I have at the moment is a shot of the nose art.

I also have a few shots of the Napier Field Hawks for Quag.

Tex Hill's Hawks are proving troublesome for me. I have one crappy shot of a P-40E he is said to have flown but that's all so far. However I have a sh*tload of printed material to go through and I have to believe that there's at least one shot of one of Tex's P-40s in there somewhere...

For those who've expressed doubts as to their participation due to time constraints, this GB will be going for quite awhile I think. At least until the end of the year...

More later and keep it coming guys!


Fade to Black...

Shame of it is that I probally won't be able to get back to working on it till Wed or Thursday, due to Softball and baseball game. Oh well I might be able to squeeze in some time.

Joe, Bryan, Looks like good progress is being made.

Regards, Rick

bryan that looks awesome



joe

Blackwolf - That's a great looking kit. I wish I would have picked it up when they had one in my LHS. I want to build all the variants of the P-40. I don't know if my fiancee would like that to much .

Joe - Great looking start on your revellogram B. Can't wait to see more.

Well got a lot of work done on the old AMT/Etrl P-40E. I must say that I am liking Tenax 7R. I am the regular model and super glue person, but this stuff is amazing. The reason I am doing the AMT kit first is to get back in the hang of actually building a kit, instead of collecting it. Well without further ado here are some pix.

ok what have i done. i am working the revell/monogram 1/48 p-40b. although it lacks the details it is a good overall shape. i am planning some major reconstruction on this one. so here we go.


first thing to do is show the kit as it was out of the box.



notice how bland this looks. just wont do for what i want. so i took my trusty exacto and went to work. i cut the flaps, the rudder, and the nose. now this is what it ended up as.



tonight i finished all the cutting i had planned. next up. the pit.


joe