1/48 Amtech P-40 L ”Lighthouse Louie” 325th FG Tunisia

Started by Louis Gardner · 111 · 6 years ago
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    David A. Thomas said 7 years ago:

    Some people have all the luck. Ironworks, indeed! Looking great, Lou!

    I'm afraid my progress is much more modest and paced...but I am really excited to see these things unfold.

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    Paul Barber said 7 years ago:

    Wow, the group is turning into a P40 'fest' too! Great history and some very impressive builds going on!

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    Louis Gardner said 7 years ago:

    Today I fired up the "Iron Works" and got busy...

    Here's the cockpit assemblies for both P-40's, just prior to painting.

    Followed by the wings after spraying on some "Interior Green"

    Finally here's the cockpits after painting...

    Just a sneak preview, but here's a picture of the "Iron Works" in action today... There was a lot going on.

    Can you name the different planes by looking at the "offices" ?

    As usual, comments are encouraged...

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    David A. Thomas said 7 years ago:

    Dang! You are showing us how it's done!

    And, uh, no, I can't...

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    Louis Gardner said 7 years ago:

    Thanks David . The answer to the question is...

    Two P-40's shown on the right with the light gray almost white looking plastic sprues.

    Two Tamiya F4U-1 birdcage Corsairs at the very top in two halves.

    Four Hasegawa F6F Hellcat cockpits as a part of the Year of the Cat GB.

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    Tom Bebout said 7 years ago:

    Dang I was going to guess a couple of B1-RD's.

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    Louis Gardner said 7 years ago:

    Tonight the Iron Works was pretty busy.

    I finished the cockpits for both P-40's


    and installed them.


    Coming right along.

    Comments are encouraged.

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    Louis Gardner said 7 years ago:

    Pretty close Tom with the guess. I did find a great picture of the B1-RD cockpit ... That's a cool looking home built ultra light. 🙂

    I had to google search for it to find out what it was. You got me buddy ! Good stuff.

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    Tom Bebout said 7 years ago:

    Coming along well Louis, you may want to add some additional tabs to help secure the panels holding the exhause stacks. Not much there and alignment can be tricky. Hence I always attache them prior to closing the fuselage halves.

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    Louis Gardner said 7 years ago:

    That's a good idea Tom. I'll follow your advice.

    The long tail version has a replacement resin nose which is a huge chunk of resin. I'll have to cut off the existing nose and it simply slides into position... per the instructions... I hope that is...

    But I will definitely add some strips to the other short tailed plane before I go any farther along with it.

    Thanks again.

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    Louis Gardner said 7 years ago:

    Following Tom's advice I'm getting ready to reinforce the area behind the engine access panels before I glue them on.

    After studying the instructions I noticed the exhaust stacks


    are glued in place from the inside of the panels. Since this will complicate things with painting the exhaust, I decided that I would spray the base color on the panels first, then paint and install the exhaust afterwards.

    So here's how the panels look after a quick coat of desert sand.

    Since I had the airbrush loaded I decided that I would also paint the sides of the fuselage behind the rear / side plexiglass. This was normally done in this manner since the side plexiglass panels came off fairly quickly in the field on the real plane.

    It's not much progress but I'll take it.

    Next step is to ready the long tail fuselage for some resin rhinoplasty ...

    The huge chunk of resin gets installed next.

    Please stay tuned for more updates ... and as usual comments are encouraged.

    Thanks again for looking and have a safe weekend.

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    Louis Gardner said 7 years ago:

    No turning back now ...

    I've used resin parts on some of my previous builds. But I have never done anything this drastic as far as replacing major portions of an airframe.

    Here's the resin nose plug after I cut away the pouring block.

    Followed by the fuselage after the nose section was cut away.

    Here I have test fit the lower wing half in place, since surgery was required there too.

    So far it's looking ok. I'm sure that some filler will be needed.

    I also need to plug the four holes under each wing where the bomb racks would normally be. I'm not installing the racks on this one. The short tail version will probably get them though.

    As per standard operating procedures, comments are encouraged.

    Take care and hope you had a great weekend.

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    Bernard E. Hackett, Jr. said 7 years ago:

    Louis, following this with interest, I've got one in the pile. The nose/fuselage/lower wing join will make or break this model. Glad I grabbed mine when I did. You're knocking them out, there at the ironworks.

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    Tom Bebout said 7 years ago:

    Unless you have a miracle occur you will need some putty after all the surgery. Not a lot but some will be needed. Looking good Louis.

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    Paul Barber said 7 years ago:

    There is always something special about cutting parts off a kit and replacing them - it takes real skill and a bit of nerve! Looks like you are doing it very nicely Louis - looking forward to the next update!