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John Healy
160 articles

1/48 P-40B

February 23, 2017 · in Aviation · · 19 · 2.2K

This is the latest, and greatest kit. The brand new P-40B! What's not to like about this one? I built it out of the box including using the excellent decals provided for Lt. Welch's Pearl Harbor a/c. I mixed the cockpit's "Curtiss interior green" from Testors yellow zinc chromate with a few drops of Humbrol flat black. The exterior is painted with Xtracolor olive drab over Modelmaster neutral gray. The only thing I added to this kit was a set of Eduard lap belts. The last two photos include my 20 year old P-40B for comparison.

I followed Tom Cleaver's advice and fixed the separate cowl panels to each side, and attached the lower cowl piece to one side before joining the fuselage halves. This enabled me to build this kit with zero filler or super glue. Only a smidgeon of Mr. Surfacer was used to do the cowl join lines.

Nice model, and lots of fun. I'm looking forward to doing another in Desert Air Force livery.

Reader reactions:
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9 additional images. Click to enlarge.


19 responses

  1. Nice, clean build, John...I like this one.

  2. Glad to be of help, John. Excellent outcome here.

    • Thanks Tom! What a great kit. I really love that cockpit assembly. I'm thinking of trying to use some old Aeromaster shark mouth RAF 112 sq decals that were designed for the Monogram kit on my next one. Can't be that different.

  3. Well done John! Hope mine turns out as nice.

  4. Looks good! Love the P-40 - what a palette for so many possible schemes!

  5. After I built my Airfix P-40, I had to get a few more...I was that happy with it. They are indeed a very nice building kit. The fit, everything is really nice. Yours turned out very well. Well done Sir !

  6. Looks like Airfix have a definite hit on their hands with this one.

  7. Great timing John; there's one on the way to me as we speak! Yours looks great & the cockpit is amazing with only after market belts. I've built Monogram, Hobbycraft & Trumpeter & this looks light years ahead. Thanks for the inspiration!

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