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Mark Hedrick
12 articles

Revell 1/48 P40 B Flying Tiger

October 15, 2024 · in Aviation · · 1 · 17

This is a very old model. I had built it back around 1977 when I was in law school. Maybe then? I saw it at a local store on a very reduced sale so I thought I would give it a try for old time sake.

It really shows its age. Interior detail is almost nonexistent. Fit at several points is very bad and even with a lot of work done parts just don't come together. So I decided to experiment and make my first model on a stand with wheels up and a pilot.

I freehanded the camo with airbrush for the practice instead of masking.

I made several changes from the instructions. I read that no AVG P40s ever had red spinners and all period photos show camo colors on the spinner. The kit decals come with a yellow fuselage stripe but I found that the 3 AVG squadrons had white, blue and red stripes. Since red was for the 3rd squadron and the kit came with the “hells angels” marking I went with painting the red stripe. I fudged on the number because I had no higher number as would have really been on a 3rd squadron plane. So 13 will have to do.

Kit comes with a drop tank but I found that AVG P40 Bs could not use a drop tank so I omitted that.

Overall this was fun but not up to what I had hoped for. If anyone knows a better P40 kit please let me know. I would like to build one with the skull or tiger head markings. I like how the stand I made turned out.

Reader reactions:
1  Awesome

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1 response

  1. A great result out of this aging kit, Mark @markhedrick
    Good idea to build it with the landing gear up and using a stand.
    The free handed camouflage looks really good.

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