Dynamo11

Hey all, Found some time this morning to finish off the construction of the P-40s. I added the props, undercarriage doors, wheels and the canopy. Of course it was only after the canopy went on I suddenly saw a headrest shaped piece on the sprue. I double-checked the instructions to see how I could have missed it and sure enough they miss out adding the headrest to the cockpit. Something to keep in mind if you build these Sword kits. They're all ready now for a coat of primer and painting so stay tuned for that.

From what I can tell the P-40Ks that the USSR received were an order placed by the RAF but were then diverted onto the USSR. As such they were painted in RAF colour schemes at the factory in the USA (with American paint equivalents), I think the Tomahawks were a lot more hasty as the USSR were dying for any kind of modern fighter aircraft when they received those.

Ah yes I meant to address this. The consensus on the colour of P-40 side windows seems to be mixed. They were either the same interior green as the cockpit or repainted over with the camouflage colours. I've decided to do the USSR P-40 with the interior green whereas the Desert USAAF scheme will have it over-painted with a Sand colour. Whether this is accurate or not I'm not sure but this seems to make more sense to me seeing as the USSR plane was directly delivered from the USA whereas the Desert P-40 was repainted in North Africa. The darker green is the Interior Green I mentioned earlier which I initially applied before realising the dark shade was only standard after 1943 and replaced it with Zinc Chromate Green.

Hey all, Got a bit more done this afternoon, I filled and sanded the fuselage halves down and then set about adding the wings. The fuselage wing root was far too wide on both sides needing copious amounts of sanding to get it to fit onto the wing correctly. I knew I'd have to fill the gap anyway so I sanded more off than needed to ensure a smooth transition. Again it's not the biggest job in the world but if you're after a quick throw together kit for a weekend then this ain't it (the Academy and Airfix P-40s however, practically fall together with no fit issues to speak of in my experience). Once the wing was set I went about adding the undercarriage and tail planes. There's no slots for the tailplanes, just smooth roots so you have to hold the stabiliser for a bit to ensure it's on straight which is slightly annoying. Just a few more bits and bobs now and they'll be ready for painting. I've decided to do the Desert USAAF scheme, "Nick Nichols' Nip Nippers" will have to be one for the future.

Hey all, Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement with this project, it's definitely got me more excited to get stuck into some more advanced projects. For the meantime it's time to start on the P-40s. First up was the cockpit instrument panel, it's a nicely moulded part but I am not even going to attempt to actually paint in the dials (not that you'd see much in this scale anyway). I gave it a black basecoat to work off of then I heavily drybrushed it with Vallejo "Black Grey" from all directions. I applied a wash of GW "Nuln Oil" to help darken the highlight before then reapplying the Black Grey but only from the top this time to give the dials a sense of depth. I finally added a few spots of red in various places for a bit of colour. I really like the final result and should look good when it's in the cockpit. It was at this point whilst adding the gunsights that one decided to ping off and was promptly eaten by the carpet monster, which is unfortunate but I'll hope the canopy hides it well enough. It was onto the rest of the cockpit and the sidewalls, here I found a pretty interesting discussion concerning the cockpit colour. The instructions call for US Interior Green, and indeed I've used that before on various US aircraft. I painted the sidewalls Vallejo "Interior Green" but it struck me as being quite dark compared to the reference images I had seen on the internet. I went on a quest and discovered that, although Interior Green indeed was the official colour for most US fighter aircraft interiors, before 1943 this was not standardised. In the case of the pre-1943 P-40s it appears Zinc Chromate Green was used, and sure enough the Vallejo equivalent I had of that more closely matched the references. So Vallejo "Green Zinc Chromate" went on which I then followed with a heavy wash of GW "Agrax Earthshade" to dirty it up. I then went back over and edge highlighted the more prominent surfaces with the base colour. I also picked out some of the black areas with Vallejo "NATO Black" before highlighting them with Black Grey. I then drybrushed Vallejo "Silver" going particularly heavy on the floor where the paint would be most easily rubbed off. References to the seat in the P-40 suggest they were either painted the cockpit colour or just bare-aluminium, I decided to go for the aluminium to add a bit of colour to the cockpit. I painted the seat Vallejo "Gungrey", washed it with Nuln Oil and edge highlighted with Silver. With all the cockpit parts completed it was time to add them, and the front air filters, into the fuselage and bring them both together. The fit of the fuselage is pretty dodgy, don't expect Tamiya engineering here. On both examples the only way I could get the tail and rear to line up would leave a gap at the front of about 2-3mm. Not a massive gap by any means and an easy job to fill and sand but for such a recent kit I would have expected it to have fit slightly better. And here's the two together: It's coming together quite quickly, even doing two at once, soon I'll put on the wings and getting ready for painting. At this point I'm considering buying some PE seatbelts to place on the seats, they are just so prominent that it looks a bit too stark for my liking.

Hey all, Well according to my profile it's been a good 3 years since I lasted posted here. It's mad to think in that time I've finished a Post-Graduate degree, bought my first home, got married and expecting my first on the way later this year. Amazing what you can do when you have a few years off the hobby eh Anyhow as with a lot of these things I've had the calling to come back (I can only pre-occupy myself with ConflictMallet for so long) and atleast try to make a dent in my stash, starting with this Sword kit. I've always loved the P-40, not entirely sure why but it's definitely up there with my favourite fighters of WW2, so when I saw this peeking out at me from the cupboard I grabbed it. Nice boxart, note to self: must build an IJAAF Oscar at some point. It's a simple kit, not many parts and a little bit of detailing inside the cockpit. It would likely scrub up well with a few aftermarket items but I'll be doing this 100% OOB. A nice decal sheet with a varied number of subjects. I'll definitely be going for the USSR scheme (it has the Red Stars on the upper-wings which is not very common), however I'm not sure between the New Guinea or North African USAAF options. I'm always a sucker for Desert schemes but I can't pass up the opportunity to have an aircraft called "Nick Nichols' Nip Nippers" either. Oh yes did I mention you get 2 in a box? Great value for money I think (I got this for about £14 I think a few years back). It would be rude not to do them alongside each other, so this is a double build. I'll hopefully not disappear for another 3 years this time 😛

Careful with the decals on this one, they are absolutely atrocious

Gentlemen please, rest your sphincters Inter-service banter aside I've been able to get the majority of construction done on the Gnat. Again no major fit issues, just the usual sand filler job on the underside of the wing join onto the fuselage. I did have an issue with the cockpit cowling(?), it wouldn't suit flush I assume because of a mistake I made when I glued the rear cockpit panel in. Either way it was not a major issue as I was able to get one side to sit flush but the other did have a gap that needed filling: Said cowling was painted and the cockpit glazing was installed: After that it was a case of masking the cockpit (as an aside it's been a while since I've used the Eduard masks and in the interim I've been using the cheaper vinyl ones, which are still good. Say what you like about the price but the Eduard ones are just so easy to apply and they'll never lift off, highly recommended as always): Then it's on with the ubiquitous Halfords primer: So that's where I'm at, I'll leave the primer to harden and finish overnight then hopefully I'll get the first paint on by the middle of the week.

Had no idea Kiwis were in Vietnam

Cracking build, that Churchill base really looks the part too

I love me some TSR-2 good-ness

Gucci Boys strike again! My entire family are all Rock Apes. Funnily enough it all started when my Grandad asked to be a "Gunner"; as in a rear gunner on a Lancaster way back just after VE Day. Cheeky recruiter signed him up as a Gunner in the RAF Regiment and it's been like that ever since.

If it's anything like its little brother then it is a filler queen around the wing/fuselage join. I recall reading a tip somewhere where someone suggested attaching the lower part of the wing first before building it up. I'd say as far as the paint goes Anti-Flash white was a high gloss so leaving the plastic bare may give it an incorrect satin sheen, so I'd still paint it. That said if you are not too fussed and know the finish wouldn't be any better if you did spray it then by all means leave it as it is, with the pale roundels on it'll still look a treat

Just picked up the TF.X/Fw190 double set so looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

That looks great! The camo's colours are really well done.