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Bob Torres
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Otaki 1/48 P-40E

May 20, 2021 · in Aviation · · 14 · 2.7K

Here's my P-40E in scale. I build this in 1988 and it was my second time building this kit. My first time was in 1979. For this build I took my time to correct many issues that existed, worked on the spinner's shape, carburetor inlet, undercarriage, cowl flaps, corrected the tail plane misalignment and used Monogram's 1/48 Mosquito propeller. At the end I was happy with this build.

Note: this was another NJ Aces build back then, the pilot was John Petach. Again we had very little info on how this plane looked like so someone identified his plane number was 47 but it turned out to be #48 with a light blue tail stripe and it was a P-40B. When John Petach was done with his AVG tour, he was going to leave for the states but decided to help out Robert Scott train the new pilots on the new P-40E when the AVG transferred over to the USAAF. He died on July 10, 1942 on a bombing run. The pilot who flew on his wing said Petach's bomb hit the target but at the same instant his plane exploded, apparently hit by ground fire.

Reader reactions:
8  Awesome

13 additional images. Click to enlarge.


14 responses

  1. Another old kit made into a winner, Bob!

  2. Looking great, my friend @v1pro!
    I liked the fact that you "corrected" many issues to this second build.

  3. Great work done on this one, Bob.
    Those sharmouth P40s always look awesome.

  4. Nice work on the old chestnut. Considering what was available in 1988, this was about as good as it got back then.

    Unfortunately there's no possible way to correct the major alignment problem - the wings.

  5. Good looking build! Nicely done. Some TLC involved in the corrections.

  6. Nicely work, looks great!

  7. 🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
    Look rather fine to me.
    All the efforts made to a quite a complicated kit just shows your dedication and resolve for
    the issues at hand, all your skills paid off Bob.

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