Hasegawa 1/72 P-40N – Desert Scheme
A friend of mine bought me this kit so that the two of us could both build P-40N's (although his was 32 scale). I liked a couple of the Pacific Theater schemes that came in the box - especially the white-tailed version - but as I was doing some research and building my PPT deck, I came across several finished in the desert tan scheme, and I was hooked. I went looking for some decals, and found a set that had Tweedie II - a desert sand bird!
The only additions to the kit was some scratch building of some cockpit details out of scrap styrene. I added a few pics of the finished cockpit with pilot before I popped the canopy on, as it's hard to see in pictures once the canopy is there. Drilled out the gun barrels, and had to file/sand the wheels in half and cut the struts up a bit to build it wheels up.
I went through several sequences of various mediums to try to get the weathered variation I was after in the finish. Since I don't airbrush, I seem to go through more hoops than most to get what I'm after. Not sure it shows up well in the pictures, but live and in person, I really like what I ended up with.
I used a custom mix of MM enamels for the underside blue, and custom mix of Vallejo acrylics to get the sand shade on top. Then used weathering pastels (stuff used generally for HO railroad work - my standby) to try to lighten up middle panel sections by rubbing the pigment into the paint before it had been treated with any topcoats. Also used the pastels to do some of the initial streak effects, both on top, and underneath behind the wheel wells. Then gloss coated and added decals, and did a panel line wash. Because of the scale, and the fact that I brush paint, the lines become filled with more paint than if airbrushed, and I usually get mixed results. It looked ok underneath, but was a bit sketchy on the fuselage and tail section. It really looks more like worn-off paint than an accentuation of the panel lines, but I liked what I ended up with nonetheless.
Another coat of gloss over the decals and wash and then used artists oils and mineral spirits and the dot filtering technique to create some more variation. Next was the first flat coat. Once dry, I used Tensocrom for some fuel and oil staining on the fuselage and fuel tank. Then back to my pastels for the post shading work on all panel lines (various shades/colors).
To get what I wanted with the exhaust stains, I started during the first weathering step before any overcoats with various brown shades of pastels. After all of the various top coats, I finished off with Tamiya weathering pastels, using soot first and then snow over that down the center of the stain. I also used the Tamiya pastels to add some foot traffic grime, dirty up the underneath in places, etc.
After the final top dull coat, I used MM Metalizer paint (from bottles) to do the silver paint chipping, along with some silver and grey colored pencil. I had also used the colored pencils to add highlights to the cockpit details.
I used Uschi superfine rigging thread for the antenna wires. For the upper and lower whip ariels I drilled a small pilot hole and glued in short pieces of nylon thread.
Glued to stand, and done! I'm really pleased with the results. The P-40 is one of my favorite WWII aircraft - don't know why, I just love the shape of them, and the variety of the schemes. I hadn't really studied the N version much until Paul asked me to join him in this build project, and if he hadn't warned me about there being no painted ribbing in the back section of the canopy, I would have painted those as Hasegawa has them molded in. From what I read, there was a seam in the plexiglass, so just leaving the molded detail there (rather than trying to sand away) is a nice compromise to depict the seam without having to do a bunch of extra sanding/polishing! That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!
As always, You killed it right out of the gate. Smart looking build, Greg.
That's a lot of nice detail to add at that scale and an awesome weathering job - Great work!
Greg, Nice looking P-40, always like the desert camo look.
Dunno how you guys do such great-lookin' builds in that scale...I have enough trouble with 48th models. Nice job!
You know - the guys in my club are always singing that same tune, but when I look at all the detail work that goes into larger scale cockpits, wheel bays, gun bays, engine compartments, etc., it's not really all that different! I just compare my detail work on a small fighter to the detail work on a 1/32 scale cockpit! Still need the magnifying lens, third-hand tweezers and good pair of glasses!
Beautiful job. A lot of detail.. and useful tips.
Hi Greg. This one looks awesome. I like the finish that you achieved on this P-40 and the weathering looks spot on! Well done!
Nice job Greg, I too like the P-40 and have completed 8 so far, with 3 more kits to go.
Tom - would love to see a pic of all 8!
A good solution for this is already in the age Hasegawa 1/72 .
Coral scheme Pacific.
Like.
P.k
P.k got it on the color scheme. It's the 45th Fighter squadron of the 15th fighter group. in their sand and coral blue repaint, on Canton Island about Sept. '43. When they got there from Hawaii, the local engineer outfit repainted their P-40s from OD and neutral gray to the sand and blue shown. Supposedly it matched the local terrain better.
My theory is that it gave them something to do so they wouldn't go rock happy, but that's just my opinion.
It's my favorite P-40 scheme, bar none, and beautifully done, here.
There was a P-40 on the airshow circuit painted thus that I saw years ago. The pilot was this real attractive lady, and I congratulated her on the paint scheme.
Add my name to the list of folks who love the P-40. Just something about it.
Nice job and original subject, but the RAF 112th Squadron Sharkmouth, has the bettere camouflage ever seen on the P-40.
Great looking model Greg.
Really good posting, Greg, your enthusiasm shows through along with a detailed build description of just the right length and a great looking model, excellent! Do you have pictures of your friend's 1/32 version?
Trying to get him to post it up - I think he just finished with final details...
Hello Greg! Did you remember what paint did you use to make Coral Sand shade of uppersurfaces?
@lis Lis, I custom mixed the paint color using Vallejo Model Color paints - it was hand-painted, not airbrushed.