Profile Photo
Tom Cleaver
908 articles

Last P-40Es

July 2, 2014 · in Aviation · · 4 · 2.5K

The P-40E-1/Kittyhawk IA flown by CAPT Andrew Reynolds of the 49th FG is actually a Kittyhawk IA - the Lend-Lease version of the P-40E-1. When the 49th FG arrived in Australia in March 1942, there was not much attention paid to whether the P-40s the unit was issued were "American" or "otherwise." The fact this is actually a Lend-Lease airplane is shown by the RAF serial number, ET903. Thus, the airplane was painted in "U.S. equivalent colors." Curtiss used DuPont enamels, and mixed a pretty good equivalent for Dark Earth; I did this using Gunze-Sanyo "Dark Earth" with a couple drops of Gunze-Sanyo "Cocoa Brown" to give it a more brown tinge. I used Gunze-Sanyo Medium Green FS34092 for the Dark Green, and Tamiya "Sky Grey" for the lower camouflage color. I also used the camouflage pattern shown in the old Camouflage and Markings booklet for the Curtiss in RAF service, which is different from the pattern shown in the markings instructions of the kit; this is in accordance with photos of the "Eagle Flight" this airplane was part of. The Three Guys Replicas decals were included in the AMTech kit. I used the Falcon P-40M vacuform canopy.

The P-40E-5 was released by as their "P-40K," but they managed to produce the earlier enlarged vertical fin that was used by the P-40E-5, rather than the larger one used by the P-40K. Using a set of ProModeler decals, I was able to create Col. Robert L. Scott Jr.'s second P-40, "Old Eliminator" which he flew as CO of the 23rd Fighter Group in the fall of 1942. This kit also utilized the Falcon P-40M canopy (the Falcon "P-40E" canopy was for the Otaki kit, and would not look right on these AMT models)/

Reader reactions:
4  Awesome

15 additional images. Click to enlarge.


4 responses

  1. Nice P-40s, this is a good place for Warhawk fans, i guess !

  2. That's some lineup Tom! I've yet to build even ONE P-40 :-)!

    Best regards Magnus

  3. Thanks so much for sharing these wonderful P-40 models - they continue to provide inspiration and insight as I work on an Italeri P-40N

  4. Tom,
    All of your P-40's look great and I like the little rundown on each. Very nice.

Leave a Reply