Thank you John. Just wish I had a little more time at the moment.
Good luck with your Meteor. It should look great in Australian markings. I'll keep an eye out for it.

I painted the lower wing surface with a coat of Mr Hobby Sky (H74). I'm not sure this is 100% correct, but had some at hand, so decided to use it as I wanted to progress the painting of the model.
I let the paint harden before using a Black Flory Wash to highlight the panel lines.
It was at this point I remembered that a section of the lower port wing is painted black!
My fault for trying not stopping to think.
The section that is going to be painted black, has a curve starting on the outboard edge of the undercarriage door, to the wing trailing edge. I've already enlarged the painting plan to full size so I can make a template for spraying the black section.

The undercarriage bays have also been weathered at the same time as the wing.

Thank you for looking.

Julian, this is a great thread, I'm really enjoying checking in - sorry this is my first comment.
Fabulous work and really interesting narrative - somehow I almost feel I'm part of the build which I think the best posts do (Louis is a master at this).

One question; I'm just wondering if you stick by a particular 'mindset' when you are building - I'm always struck by how carefully crafted your models are. I really admire your style and wish I could capture some of that. Are you deliberately careful or is that just a natural thing?

Louis,

This has been beaten to death on other forums, but, did you get a chance to photograph the Nun's Hat behind the engine cowling cooling flaps. Folks say that Airfix screwed the pooch on this but, given that they used a restored Long nosed P-40 as source material and when Curtiss went out of business they tossed all the drawings out... The folks who restored the air frame had to rely on either later model P-40's or look at the P-36 to get a serviceable replica.

Hello David, thank you. I try to be careful, and build my models in subassemblies. I find it easier to build models like this. I find I don't have to mask as much which can make painting easier.
I think I've made a mistake on this one with the main wing though.

Having built this kit and being fortunate enough to see a real one all up close and personal, (even though it has been restored), I would venture to say that Airfix got it right.

Stephen, it's funny you should mention the so called "Nun's Hat"... Why yes I did get some pictures of it. Here you go. This photo was taken from the Port side and is looking aft.

This picture is looking forward, towards the coolers. This picture was taken from the Starboard side while I was crouched under the wing.

This photo is self explanatory.

as are these two...

The wings are not flat on the underside as described by some. And the flaps do not close completely when raised. There is a gap along the trailing edge.

One of the wheel wells showing the canvas cover...I think this is the Port side. If I remember correctly, I am looking towards the rear and the center of the plane when this picture was taken.

You can see where the rubber from the tire has left a mark on the canvas. This is because the wheel was spinning as made contact with the liner. There is also a small wooden block present inside the well, that helps to act as a brake to help stop the wheel from turning as it is retracted. Keep in mind these tire and wheel assemblies are heavy. They also are spinning at speeds close to 100 MPH.

Here's the proper orientation of the tail wheel doors. They are not positioned flat or at a 90 degree angle when open. It's more of a 45 degree as shown here.

Here's the left wing root...


and some pictures of the nose... which looks good to me too.



Followed by a few pictures from the Starboard side...

You will have to scribe on a trim tab that was somehow missed when Airfix made the kit molds. The tab details are strangely not molded on the Port side of the rudder... However they are present on the Starboard side of the kit part, but not on the Port side. That is strange indeed and an error, although small.

This will take you all of 4 seconds to correct with a sharp blade. Meanwhile here's a picture of that spot too... The Port side rudder.

Here's a few of the radiator / cooler details.


Lastly here is the spinner...

I hope these help to answer any questions that might be out there about the so called inconsistencies with this kit.

For the money Airfix charges for this kit, and what you receive in turn, this is still the best kit on the market for the price as far as I am concerned.

I personally like this kit, so much so that I went out and bought 3 more of them... making a total of 4 Airfix P-40B kits that I own now. I don't have investment stocks in Airfix, or a personal gain (or some kind of benefit) by commenting about the kit. I paid for my models using my own money too...

But please don't take this directly as gospel from me... Check out the photos I have provided for you, and make up your own minds. Granted this "Real" plane was restored, and was rebuilt from a crashed example, but it was done correctly. If it wasn't, then good chances are the FAA wouldn't have granted it an airworthiness certificate.
I put it to you this way. It's the best "restored" P-40B out there, (and it's possibly the only one in the world that is airworthy too).

I hope this helps to answer some of the questions that were raised about this kit online ...

I'm not trying to highjack your build log Julian, please forgive me if you think so.
I like the work you have posted on your P-40 build. It looks fantastic to me. I will be looking forward to your future updates.

Love P-40s! I have 2 Airfix kits that I've yet to build but I've built all of the rest. #13 is Monogram, #48 is Trumpeter, #300 and #57 are Academy and Hobbycraft kits that were corrected using the Rick Barnds method; (#57 was flown by James Howard who later won the MoH in P-51B "Ding Hao")

http://www.hyperscale.com/features/2000/p40brb_1.htm

Thanks to Airfix the early P-40 is no longer such a daunting build.

I'm sorry if this seems to be a hijacking but P-40s excite me and I'm watching your thread before I start into mine.

4 attached images. Click to enlarge.