Four more P-40s

Started by Michael Turner · 74 · 3 months ago · 1/48, AMT, Armee de l'Air, Eduard, Hobbycraft, P-40F, P-40L, P-40N, RAAF, RNZAF, USAAF
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    Spiros Pendedekas said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Splendid job allover, my friend @michaelt!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

    All looking excellent, Michael @michaelt

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    George R Blair Jr said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

    It looks like the extra work you are doing might almost be done, Michael @michaelt. Your additions and improvements will certainly make a difference. Looking forward to your paint and decals.

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    Michael Turner said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Thanks Spiros (@fiveten), John (@johnb) and George (@gblair).

    The AMT P-40N also has a visible void through the rear of the radiator, so I did something similar, although this time I added a vertical blanking plate to the extension.

    This is it assembled. A bit of super glue filled the gaps and it was later painted black.

    I have two Italeri P-40E/Ks, which are also AMT moulds, to build one day and I will do this for them as well.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Nice attention to detail, my friend @michaelt!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Nice additional work indeed, Michael @michaelt

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    Michael Turner said 10 months, 2 weeks ago:

    It was all a bit of a rush to get these kits finished for our club display for Expo, but I took a few pictures along the way.
    First, the Eduard P-40N.
    The rear canopy includes part of the rear fuselage and it lower edge is slightly wider than the fuselage.
    It takes a fair bit of effort to eliminate the rear seam as this isn't on a panel line. So many builds of this kit don't do this and have an obvious, visible join. As it turns out, this is very hard to eliminate and, because I was rushing to a deadline, my efforts were less successful than I hoped and clearly showed after painting.
    I also decided to glue the undercarriage doors in position at this stage to simplify painting and assembly later. That largely worked.

    Next is the AMT P-40N. This has similar issues to the Eduard kit canopy.
    I don't yet know how successful I was with this one because I decided to put it on hold due to time pressures.

    Next are the Hobbycraft P-40F and L. These are more straightforward. Again, I added the undercarriage doors at this time.

    Now, time for painting.

    The Eduard N received an OD/NG camouflage and then was wrapped up like a mummy so that I could paint the South Pacific theatre bands. Fortunately, the extra coat of white paint fixed most of the issue with blending in the rear canopy.
    It still isn't as good as I would like along the lower join line.

    And then decals. The kit decal national insignia were cracked and only included upper and one lower wing insignia and no reference to the wing theatre stripes. I used Aeromaster insignia for a P-40 from a RNZAF aircraft super sheet (SP40-10, The RNZAF in WW II), but unfortunately the whites were translucent. Oh, well. At leas I now know for when I build my TBF and SDB later on.

    Skipping the other P-40N takes us to the P-40F.
    I must say that the kit decals were excellent.

    Lastly, the P-40L. I changed my mind on the scheme for this kit when I realised that the one I was going to do was an F.


    So, I chose a 3 SQN RAAF aircraft in Italy from an Xtradecal sheet (X48150, Fighters over Africa and the Mediterranean Pt.2). Luckily I decided to lay down the horizontal tail check decal first...

    That is a tad undersized!
    So, nothing for it but to mask and paint the black.

    And the remaining decals applied:

    You can see the completed models at the club Australian Model Expo virtual display: https://imodeler.com/2023/06/an-australian-model-expo-world-first-display/

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    John vd Biggelaar said 10 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Excellent result, Michael @michaelt
    The checkerboard tail looks perfect this way, much better than a decal I have to admitt.
    All of them will for sure draw a lot of attention at the exposition.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 10 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Wonderful jobs, my friend @michaelt!

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    George R Blair Jr said 10 months, 2 weeks ago:

    All of these look great, Michael (@michaelt). Nice save on the checkerboard on the tail and great masking technique. Too bad the white portions of the decals go over the white stripe, because they would look OK otherwise. It looks like we do the same thing with our used tape: stick it to the workbench, and then clean it up later. Well done.

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    Michael Turner said 7 months, 3 weeks ago:

    It may be too late for the club display at Expo, but the fourth P-40 is progressing none the less.

    Note that I drilled out the three ID lights under the rear fuselage that were present on later P-40Ns.

    I will fill these with white glue for lenses and then paint them clear red/clear green/clear yellow (front to back).

    I have also added these lights to "Gloria Lyons" since the club display.

    It is going to be "Hep Cat" from 75 Sqn RAAF.

    While the decal instructions say it is Olive Drab 41 over Neutral Grey 43, this photo shows that it also had the Medium Green 42 splotches on the wings and tailplane. Notice also that the ailerons are darker than the wing, but not as dark as the Medium Green and the elevators look a little darker too (more apparent on the aircraft GA*L behind).

    The photo is said to have been taken after the war had ended, so perhaps the aircraft had been cleaned up - or perhaps the had new control surfaces. Either way, I painted them a darker OD [Gunze OD (2)] but as the rudder is not obviously different, I left that in Gunze OD (1).

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 7 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Great progress on the fourth P-40, my friend @michaelt!

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    Michael Turner said 7 months, 3 weeks ago:

    G'day Spiros (@fiveten),

    Thanks for looking and keeping track of this build log - I hope to finish this one soon.

    This is the last of the 7 P-40s in my stash - only 7 more seem to have appeared.

    I have another 2 Airfix P-40C/Tomahawks, 2 Italeri (AMT) P-40E/Ks, an AMT P-40F (short tail, my latest purchase), a Mauve P-40M and a (new) Hasegawa P-40N to build.

    Maybe I'll match your rate of builds one day.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 7 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Very nice progress, Michael @michaelt
    Good catch on the camouflage colors, looks very nice this way.
    Also the ID lights are a great addition to this build.

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    Tom Cleaver said 7 months, 3 weeks ago:

    And Eduard is bringing out their P-40E next March!