@lgardner This plane is on PH Museum? I read that plane was found in sea and restored?

Thanks everyone (@lgardner, @lis, @fiveten, @johnb, @holzhamer). Your photos clear up some things, Louis. I wasn't sure if the canvas was just on the side of the wells, with metal on top, or all canvas. Like all the colors on this plane, the canvas colors of the main and tail wheels should be fun to replicate. I wasn't sure about the kit insert for the tail wheel which depicts canvas slightly bulging out of the wheel well, but it matches your photo well. Some nice detail on the mechanism for the gear doors in the photos. The kit depicts the drain tubes on the belly...very cool.

I don't know about an early P-40 being in the Pearl Harbor museum, @lis. @lgardner may know. When I was in the Air Force I used to pass through Pearl Harbor several times each month, and visiting Pearl Harbor was one of my favorite things to do when our crew rest allowed time to visit. But that was in the 1990s, so a lot may have changed.

Hi, @lis:
I watched the video (great video) and managed to find the extended comments with the video. They say this plane was at Pearl Harbor during the attack, but was in a hanger for maintenance. Just a few months later it was involved in a crash in Hawaii. It was later restored in the US and now it is at Duxford in the UK. The flying demonstration in the video is pretty cool. Cheers.

Lis, @lis
That's an awesome video ! I have never seen it before. Thanks for sharing it.
George, @gblair
This P-40 was inside of a hangar during the attack on Pearl Harbor. It had been previously involved in a wheels up landing accident and was undergoing repairs. This is likely the main reason why it survived the attack. Here is a picture that was posted on the Collings Foundation website. It shows the P-40 as it looked sometime in October / November 1941.

Shortly afterwards, the repairs were completed and it was deemed airworthy again. Then again in January 24th,1942, it was involved in a fatal crash in the Hawaiian Islands. It seems the plane flew into the side of a mountain, killing the pilot, when he was unable to recover from a spin. The crash happened in a location that was very inaccessible.

The US Army retrieved the pilot's remains, and removed the weapons from the crash site. The rest of the airframe was left there and forgotten about... Fast forward to 1985, and it was rediscovered. What was left of this plane was then removed from the mountainside, and by the early 1990's it was undergoing restoration.
This plane is absolutely stunning to see in real life...

This plane is now based in Hudson, Massachusetts as best I can tell. It is part of the American Heritage Museum.

Here is a link that tells the story much better than I do... and there are some very cool pictures too.

Curtiss P-40B Tomahawk

Your P-40 looks really good, George. I am just catching up on this build. With so many themes GBs going on I sometimes neglect the WIP - Aircraft section. I really like what you have done withe the AK Worn Effects. That seat with the chipping and worn belts is amazing. You've really achieved some impressive realism in this small scale (small to me, anyway). The Airfix kit is obviously quite petite and finely detailed with good engineering. Great to have the build tips along the way. Seeing a P-40 being done without the shark mouth and from such an historically interesting perspective is refreshing. I will be venturing back into 1/48 single engine with my Macchi C.202 after doing 1/32 for some time. All the parts seem so tiny. I really respect the patience of the guys who work exclusively in 48th or, even smaller, in 72nd. I hope you are enjoying this one.

I got a little more done today, and getting close to painting. I decided I wanted to get a set of canopy masks for this build, so I am dragging my feet while I am waiting for the masks to arrive. I got the wheels and hubs prepped and painted. The hubs had some significant sink marks on one side, so I filled them with acrylic putty, smoothed everything out, and then re-drilled the screw holes in the hub covers.

The prop is interesting. The P-40B had an aluminum prop with the back of the blades painted black to reduce reflection in flight. Painting one side silver and the other side black was harder to do neatly than you might think, and I still need to do some touch-ups. I painted and weathered the spinner at the same time.

I also painted the area directly behind the cockpit that will be covered by the rear canopy glass. I think these areas were usually painted the same color as the fuselage, but in the black and white photos they appear a little darker than the fuselage. I suspect this was because the paint didn't weather quite as much as the exterior that is exposed to the elements. I reasoned that this area would have some dust collect in Arizona, so I added some "dust" using artist oils. The port side glass also has two circular cutouts to provide access to two filler caps. I added a little fluid staining under the filler caps using artist oils.

That's it for now. Everyone stay safe. Cheers.

Very nice progress, George @gblair
Painted the back panel on my build in the same scheme as the rest of the plane, but I think you are right about that this area did suffer less from weather influences.
The fluid spills look very nice.

George,
You have made significant progress since the last time I have checked in !

Just like Colin stated, there’s a lot happening on here lately, and with all of the other group builds currently under way, it’s hard to keep up with all of them. This is a good thing, as one can never have too many modeling projects to look at. I know that I have been inspired by the work that we have on display here on more than one occasion !

Your P-40 is almost to the point where you will be working your magic with the paint. I’m looking forward to seeing how you go about this. It’s going to be interesting to see how you replicate the various faded OD green colors.

From what I have been told, the side windows that cover the fuel and oil filler locations were easily removed, and sometimes they were taken off during the repainting process when they were assigned to a unit, or when field camouflage was applied. Also the light affects the way the color looks under the windows, just as it looks different when you are looking at something that is under water like in a swimming pool for an example.

Also I think that you are spot on that dust would have accumulated behind the windows. It would likely accumulate in the small recesses and panel seams. I have seen some pictures showing that the oil and fuel would sometimes seep out from under the windows and run down the side of the fuselage. You could see where the ground crews had made an attempt to wipe it off. This led to a discoloration of the paint where the spill had occurred.

This build journal is getting to the point where you can try out your ideas on weathering and such. It’s looking great and the propeller and spinner are fantastic.

Keep it coming ! You’re rocking it buddy.