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Jay Mitchell
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P-40 Warhawks

March 8, 2023 · in Aviation · · 25 · 0.7K

These two 1/48 P-40s were kindly sent to me as a gift from Bob Torres @v1pro . Bob also sent along some extra decal sheets with these two kits. I've been working on them off and on for several months. Warmer weather recently paid N.E. Oklahoma a short visit, and I was able to get my airbrush set up in the garage and finish the last one up.

The P-40E is a kit from about 1979. It's a nice kit that was also released as a Promodeler kit many years ago. I used Tamiya XF-67, XF-52, and XF-80 paints.

The post & ring gun sites that go on the nose were inadvertently destroyed when I tried to clean the flash off of them.

This is my interpretation of an aircraft flown by 1stLt Dallas A. Clinger of the 23rd Fighter Group in China during 1942. Lt Clinger is credited with 5 victories over Japanese aircraft. After the war was over, he stayed in the Air Force and retired as a Major in 1953.

Under the cowboy art work on the rudder is “ Holding my Own”.
Clinger is the only Ace from the state of Wyoming.


The P-40F (L?) is an kit. It is finished as a fighter from the 325th Fighter Group that operated in the MTO. The decal sheet has markings for a black & red named “ Big Stud” with the checkered tail. I liked the yellow & black checkered tail , but wasn't crazy about the black & red paint scheme. So, I put on the desert camouflage and used the decals Bob sent as well as some from an aftermarket set of A-20 decals to make this similar to ones I found in photographs.

For the paints I used Tamiya XF-23 for the bottom, and mixed XF- 59 & 60 in equal parts for the middle stone, Dark Earth was 3 parts XF-49 to 1 part XF-52.

I enjoyed building these two old kits and am happy to add them to my collection…

Reader reactions:
14  Awesome

16 additional images. Click to enlarge.


25 responses

  1. Great job on both builds Jay @ssgt. They are both nice looking P-40's and adds nicely to your collection. I think both schemes came out spot on.

  2. Jay Mitchell (@ssgt)
    Excellent work here Jay ! If you're not careful, you're going to be catching up with Tom Bebout @tom-bebout
    as far as the number of P-40's you have... 😉

    and that's a good thing ! One can never have too many of them.

    You did a fine job with these. I definitely clicked on the "like" button.

  3. Excellent job on both, Jay!
    Well done!

  4. Both are equally beautiful, Jay @ssgt
    The checkered tail one really pops-out this way.

    • Thank you John @johnb & Spiros @fiveten .
      I appreciate your comments. The P-40 sits next to my P-47.

      1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

  5. Nice builds and presentation, Jay! Well done. I like the WW2 era flag background.

  6. Nicely done Jay, and one can never build enough P-40's. Those old kits can still be built into good looking models as you've demonstrated here.

  7. nice looking pair of P-40's!

  8. Great work and painting!

  9. Hi Lis @lis... thank you ! It was nice to get the airbrush out for the first time in a few months.

  10. Excellent brace of 'Hawks! Both look great - well done!

  11. Nice pair of 40's. Interesting transitional markings on the P-40L.

    • Thank you Robert @roofrat
      It seems from the photographs I saw online that having the different National markings on the wings and fuselage wasn’t uncommon on the MTO P-40s at this time in the war.

  12. Well done Jay! This is another WINNER and a great addition to your collection of aircraft on display. I love the North African campaign markings!

  13. You must be very pleased with how these two came out, Jay, definitely great additions to your collection.

  14. Nice job on the pair. The wartime photos of the real deal are a nice touch!

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