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Bill Koppos
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Hasegawa 1/48 49th FG P-40N

November 3, 2015 · in Aviation · · 25 · 2.8K

's being my fave airplane, the 49th being my fave group, a perfect combo. I always had large interest in the 49th's activities, which covered a lot of War and a lot of square miles. They flew the P-40 in various marks for a long time and were damn good with them. As a bonus their aircraft featured a variety of noseart and models of them are a canvas for weathering skills, most of the service being seen in the hellholes of New Guinea.

Here I present one of these,a P-40N used by 9 victory 49th ace Bob White. It was the 3rd P-40 to be KC Kiddie. The kit has these decals within and they work well. White's P-40 ended up going to the 71st Tactical Recon Group when the 49th went to all P-38's and beaten up some more. A 71TRG pilot was the last P-40 pilot to score a kill in the Pacific theatre in January 1945.

The Hasegawa 48th P-40's have become the standard and look great when all the sanding and filing is done. Tru Details wheels enhance it a bit, also etched seat harnesses. Figured I would give the new format a try here goes...

Reader reactions:
6  Awesome

7 additional images. Click to enlarge.


25 responses

  1. Nice job on that, Bill. By the way, unless I'm missing something, posting pics didn't seem to be much of a change - at least for ME.

  2. Wow! If I hadn't seen the scale posted, I would have sworn it was 32nd scale! I like the scheme and nose art! Well done!

  3. Bill, Nice looking P-40, Like you, one of my favorite airplanes, I will watch the "Pearl Harbor" movie every time its on, just to watch the P-40s. I have not built the Hasegawa kit however, how was dealing with the issue of the tail plug?

  4. Very nice looking P 40. The Hasegawa kit is crammed with detail. You did a great job on this one!

  5. Very nice. Now we have three KC Kiddies on the block 🙂

  6. That's very very nice. Great job. Love the P-40.

  7. Gotta love P-40's and this one is awfully nice Bill. Will have to take a second look at the one in my stash.

  8. great job bill and excellent photography!

  9. Bill, what a great looking model!

  10. Beautiful P-40, Bill and well presented. You can t have enough of these fine looking aircrafts ( goes for the Hasegawa kit as well )

  11. Very nice indeed Bill - thank you for these!

  12. well done sir, really nice finish on that bird!

  13. Hello Bill, very nicely done...loved the markings and paint scheme.

  14. great job nicely done

  15. Lovely build/paint as usual. Worshiping at the P-40 altar is understandable... a great looking plane indeed. I think this one only topped by BK's previous desert scorpion effort... as a pretty much exclusive Luftwaffe devotee myself, I can't remember the P-40's unit, but the latter was a superb build/paint job. Anyway... this one another great work by true master. All hail King Koppos!

  16. Bill, love the P-40, it was the first kit I ever built, the old Aurora.
    Great choice of scheme, and with transitional insignia, which I've usually seen on Navy aircraft. That unit does have great noseart
    Great work!

  17. 🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
    The P-40 has always been one of my favorites, and this model is no exclusion. Very nice work and a very unusual scheme. Thank you for sharing the images.

  18. Thanks Guys! Appreciate the praise, P-40's make it easy ;0

  19. Great model, Bill, it looks just like how an American WWII fighter should look like!

  20. Beautiful work, as usual.

  21. That's a beautifully done model! do you know of any websites out there that explain how to weather a model like that? I've never been able to get it quite right.

    • Thanks. It's classic really. The center of each panel is lightened wit a few drops of white into the base color. Then the gloss coat is applied, and the engraved panel lines given a "sludge wash" pulled back in the direction of airflow. This link will give you the idea but this guy uses oil wash I use water base. Check out the others too for much more ideas than I can give here.

  22. Very nice - I love the P-40 and especially the white-tailed birds - just have a distinctive look. Very nice subtle shading and weathering.

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