Every since I read God Is My Copilot by Col. Robert L. Scott when I was in elementary school, the P-40 has always been near the top of my list as my favorite WWII aircraft. The Hasegawa P-40E Warhawk in 1/32nd scale has been in my stash for five or so years. I decided it was high time to put it in the workbench and see what I can do with the kit.

The goal is to model Col. Scott’s P-40E, which he called “Old Exterminator”, although that name was never painted on the aircraft.

I have gathered a few items from the aftermarket: the CMK resin seat with belts (Q32123), the Quickboost P-40E resin exhausts QB32159), and Eduard canopy masks (JX080) - all three of which are for the Hasegawa kit. Right now it looks like the decals will be from Superscale International P-40E Warhawks (MS320247) along with the kit decals.

Finally, I purchased the Eduard Look Instrument Panel (#634013). I am of two minds about these. They look terrific, but they are “drop in”. At least I would have had to paint the kit part and thus added something. The fact is the Look panel looks terrific and will add something to the cockpit, so what the heck. I am not trying to say I made it.

Recently, I found a hardcover of Col. Scott’s book. Scott had quite a career and war record in the China-Burma-India Theater. It is an exciting story, but I am sure nothing was lost in the telling. He was a real character, an accomplished combat leader, and one of the real heroes of WWII.

Anyway, the sprues have been examined, the workbench prepared, and I spent the better part of this weekend on the cockpit. Where else? See photo below.

So far, the detail is fine, the instructions are clear, and all looks good. What can possibly go wrong? Please stay tuned…

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

Amazing entry and superb progress so far, my friend @matthewfdyer!
Looking forward to it!

I had the privilege of meeting General Scott at the 1984 AFAA Convention. About halfway through his very nice compliments about the article I had written about Chuck Yeager for "Retired Officer" magazine, I realized who "Bob Scott" (his nametag) was. Getting that compliment from the guy who wrote the books he did was one I still treasure.

Take care in fitting the insert parts and you will make assembly much easier. Attach the tail pieces to each fuselage forward half before further assembly so you can work the fit from inside and outside and get it right so you don't have to use a lot of filler on that seam. Ditto on the rear cocpit window pieces - put the interior in first, paint it, then attach the outer clear part, so you can get the fit just right, since again you will need filler along the seam.

Taking care in assembly, you'll get a nice result.

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

Thank you, Tom (@tcinla). I am already running into some fit challenges, but nothing serious. I tend to assume that such problems are due to my work and that I need to spend more time fitting things. It is a really nice kit, and I like Hasegawa kits generally. There is something about 1/32 scale models. There is so much more detail possible and frankly as I get older, the parts are easier to see!

The kit instrument panel was molded with some detail on the reverse side showing the rear portion of some instruments. The Eduard panel is blank. I taped the fuselage halves together and mounted the front windscreen which is molded with the part of the upper front fuselage (very welcome and I wish it was done with more aircraft models). You can see the rear of the instrument panel.

Fortunately, I have “P-40 Warhawk In Detail” by Bert Kinsey (1999 by Detail & Scale, Inc.) in my modeling library. There is a photo on page 40 clearly showing that the rear of the instrument panel is visible through the windshield.

So, I cut the rear of the panel from the Hasegawa part, drilled appropriate holes for “cables”, glued the assembly to the instrument panel rear face of the Eduard part. The cables are .025” lead wire, which is the smallest size I had on hand. Perhaps .015” would have been better, but I did not have any of that.

It appears that the wiring was mostly black, which would mean it would not show very well, so I used some artistic license and painted the wiring medium grey.

This job completed, I can move on to assembling the fuselage. I have already seen that the intake parts for the coolers and the cockpit will present some challenges in closing up the fuselage, but onward and upward.

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Great job on the cockpit, my friend @matthewfdyer!

Interior looks really nice, Matt (@matthewfdyer). I never noticed that the instrument panel was positioned far enough forward to see the back of the panel. I learn something new every day. I have also reached an age where larger pieces are appreciated.

When I was in 6th grade (about a million years ago), I read a paperback copy of God Is My Co-pilot by Col. Robert L. Scott, Jr. All I remember is the front cover of that book showing a P-40 with the famous shark mouth taking off. I have wanted to read it again, but it is long out of print and not even available on Kindle. Deciding I had to have a copy, I went on eBay and quickly found one. It is hardcover, dust cover long gone, binding in good shape, all pages (yellow with age) present, copyright 1943 but the cover page is dated 1944 with the printing date. Inside there is a notification stating “This book is manufactured under wartime conditions in conformity with all government regulations controlling the use of paper and other materials”.

Tucked inside I found a first day cover. A first day cover (FDC) is a card or envelope with a cancellation mark over a stamp on the first day of that stamp’s issue. Sometimes they are addressed and actually mailed, and sometimes they are just purchased at the post office by philatelists and other collectors. The FDC in the book I received is for 15 cent Air Mail stamp showing an airliner I believe is a DC-4 flying over lower Manhattan and is cancelled on August 20, 1947 (the first day of issue of that stamp). It is clearly a real FDC dating from 1947.

Here is the interesting part. Where there is a place for the address, in very neat handwriting it says ”Robert L. Scott, Jr. 23rd Fighter Group China - 1942 -“ Did Col. Scott sign a number of these FDCs for whatever purpose? Maybe just for friends? Who knows?

I searched the Internet for exemplars of Col. Scott’s signature, and I found a number of them. Of interest is the very distinct way “Jr.” is written. It exactly matches what I saw in real samples of his signature. I am going to follow this up, but until I hear otherwise, I will treat this as an actual exemplar of Col. Scott’s signature. (By the way, Col Scott retired in the rank of Brigadier General, but he was a Colonel all through the war, so I like to use that rank intending no disrespect.)

Why did I waste valuable space here on iModeler talking about this? Because Col. Scott makes numerous references to his P-40E which he named “Old Exterminator”. That is the exact aircraft I am modeling here.

He talks about the actual aircraft number (p.124) which he says was 41-1496, then on p. 154 he says it was 41-1456 and again uses that number on p. 157 and again on 212. No wonder there is a debate over the actual number. Maybe the story of just how Col. Scott as commander of the transport command got hold of a new P-40E to fly explains the “confusion”. Gotta read the book.

This is only one matter he discusses. There are others (such as the color of the bombs they carried). I will mention those as the build progresses. So, let’s see where I am now.

The basic structure is done. After much fiddling I think I have managed to attach the tail end of the fuselage aligned correctly. And the wing structure is completed. Some minor putty work is needed and all the fiddly bits need to be assembled, a part of a build I always enjoy.

4 attached images. Click to enlarge.