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Hi, Concerning those P-40's defending Pearl Harbour I wonder if the edge between the green and the grey was hard edged or soft edged? https://www.victorymodels.com/products/wolfpack-1-48-decal-p-40-warhawk-part-1-pearl-harbor-defenders-at-dec-7-1941 Cheers / André

Several P-40Ns and P-39Qs operating from Gilbert Islands within the 15th FG were painted Desert Pink topsides and Azure Blue undersides. The reason for such a camo oddity is frequently explained, as the a/c were prepared for the North African campaign and then redirected to the PTO. Maybe... But for me it still apeears strange that less than hundred of P-39Qs (of almost 5000 built) and P-40Ns (>5000 built) were painted especially in Pink//Azure, while other hundreds reached units in standard OD/NG finish. Moreover I have never seen neither the P-39Q nor the P-40N operating in the Mediterranean in Pink/Azure camo. Some 40 years ago I've seen (in Scale Modeler IIRC) the Soviet P-39Q in these colours (white "13" on fin, red fin top and white "Za Rodinu" on port nose side), but nothing from the MTO. Is this only my opinion or were there Pink/Azure P-40Ns and P-39Qs flying over the Med? And if this was only the Pacific-applied "specialite de la maison" did this also apply to the 15th FG P-47s operating in the same period from other Pacific islands? Cheers Michael

This is the Curtiss P-40 E - Maj. A.A. Matveyev, 154th IAP that I have made for the "Curtiss P-40 STGB GB". If you are interested Click here for the WIP hope you like it 😉

I started this model as a part of the recent P-40 group build but in rushing to finish it to meet the deadline I managed to snap one of the undercarriage legs and ruin the wheels. The retraction jack from the broken leg pinged off and in disgust I threw the model in the bin. A couple of weeks later I managed to find the retraction jack and remove the other leg - along with the remnant of the broken one. With a paid of new undercarriage legs from SAC (at great expenses) I fished the model out of the bin and started to re-finish it. So, around 6-weeks after the group build finished we now have a Hasegawa P-40E in the markings of 'Texas Longhorn' of 1st Lt John D Landers from the 49th Fighter Group, 9th Fighter Squadron from New Guinea in 1942. The original build log is here: I'm actually pretty pleased with the way this has been rescued - although I still need to glue the canopy on. Still some work needed on the photography I think. I've got a new light-box studio to work with but need some practice.

Hi all, So it seems that there were several different radio wire arrangements possible on the P-40, and I wondered if it would be possible to maybe pinpoint it to time and place, and also how it could coincides with the type of radio used at that point. For example, I can hardly ever see the long wing wires. Were these dropped after a certain moment that a new type of radio was introduced? Here are some planes I'm trying to decide on, the picture quality unfortunately isn't always Hi-Res. P40-E from RAAF 75 Sqn, around April 1942, supposedly flown by Les Jackson. Frankly I cannot see any wire at all, some photo's (of other planes) show only a wire from the fuselage to the tail fin. P-40F USAAF 65 Sqn, around April 1943. The enigmatic 'Grim Rip'. The tail section is gone here, but again, on other planes of the same type and timeframe, only a wire from fuselage to tail fin is visible. P-40K/Mk.III SAAF 2 Sqn, 1942. Colour profiles often show the whole lot of aerials, wing wires and all, but as you can see this blurry pic hardly shows anything.. Cheers, Luka

Curtiss Hawk H-81A-2 (P-40B) | 1/72 | Airfix American Volunteer Group, 3rd Pursuit Squadron -- Charles Older, Pilot -- 1942 I finished this on November 17th, 2019. This is the P-40B flown by Charles Older in the Flying Tigers (American Volunteer Group). I was very excited about this build as I'd never done a Flying Tiger before. When I was a kid, it seemed like most of my friends had P-40 Flying Tiger models, and I somehow never got around to it. The P-40 is one of my favorite fighters, but until a few years ago, I really didn't know much about the early B and C models. Reading about them in one of my Dad's aviation history magazines, I discovered that the P-40B/C is my favorite model of the P-40. I think it's the sleek looking nose. So this has been a fun build for me. Charles Older was a member of the 3rd Pursuit Squadron ("Hells Angels"), having earned his wings in the US Marine Corps and subsequently resigning his commission to join the Flying Tigers. He was the 3rd highest scoring ace in the Flying Tigers. After the AVG was disbanded, he flew P-51s as deputy commander of the 23rd fighter group. He left the Air Force a Lt. Colonel with 18 confirmed victories and 5 probables. He went on to become a lawyer and Judge in the state of California. His most famous trial as judge was that of mass-murderer Charles Manson. This kit was a terrific kit to put together. I had no fit problems to speak of, except that the piece with the guns and intake on top was slightly smaller than it should've been, requiring a little sanding and re-scribing. The decals are inaccurate: The roundels are a little too light and the starboard Hell's Angel is facing the wrong way and has the wrong leg positioning. WIP is here. Special thanks to @ArmouredSprue for the Academy decals which have the correct starboard Hell's Angel and to @Corsairfoxfouruncle for weathering advice and some info about P-40 gas cap colors! Finishing: Seams filled with CA (superglue) Paints: Mr. Surfacer 1500 black primer > Mr.Color 311 (FS36622) gray underside, and Mr. Color 310 (FS30219) Brown / 2 parts FS34092 and 1 part FS34079 (Model Master Enamel) topside Decals: Kit decals except for Hell's Angel on starboard side, wheel hubs and underside roundels from the Academy kit. Weathering/Wear: Tamiya weathering pastels (black) > white oil paint dot filtering and tan pastels for dust effects > oil staining and dirt streaks with Black and Burnt Umber watercolor Paints > Chips with Testors Chrome enamel applied with a spotter brush Thanks for looking! Questions, Comments and constructive criticism welcome!

P-40N | 1/72 | Hasegawa United States, 49th Fighter Group, 7th Fighter Squadron -- Lt. J.B. Paris, Pilot -- New Guinea, 1944 I finished this on November 27th, 2019. This is the P-40N flown by Lt. Joel B. Paris. I love P-40s, and this is the first 'N' model I've done. The 'N' was the last P-40 model made and is easily recognized by its distinctive "squared off" canopy behind the cockpit for better visibility. The 'N' model was also the most produced P-40 Model. Joel B. Paris III volunteered for duty in 1942 and flew 167 combat missions in P-40s and P-38 in the Pacific. He had 9 confirmed victories and was decorated many times including the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross and Purple Heart. He retired from the Air Force a Major General in 1970. The kit was typical good quality Hasegawa, with no fit problems and nice external detail (although the cockpit is a little sparse). The kit provides the wrong wheels (the P-40N had a lighter landing gear than previous models, including a smaller diameter spoked wheel) and I had to buy some nice quality SBS resin replacements (oh... darn! ). The kit also had an unfortunate seam right in the middle of the flaps on the underside of the aircraft, which were easily filled. The canopy didn't fit as well as I'd like and I am living with a gap at the bottom rather than try to trim it to fit because that could go very wrong. WIP is here. Special thanks to @Jackson Duvalier for introducing me to SBS resin wheels and alerting me that I missed filling in the flaps before it was too late! Also special thanks to @Corsairfoxfouruncle for providing me with info on interior colors. Paints: Mr. Surfacer 1500 black primer > Hataka RAF Dark Earth and RAF Dark Green topside > Mr. Color C306 (FS36270) Underside > Mr. Color White for the tail > Mr. Color White and Tamiya Royal Blue for the spinner. Decals: Kit decals Weathering/Wear: Tamiya weathering pastels (black) > white oil paint dot filtering for sun fading > oil staining and dirt streaks with Black and Burnt Umber watercolor Paints > Chips with Testors Chrome enamel applied with a spotter brush > Vallejo European Dust Dry pigment for dust on the wheels Thanks for looking! Questions, Comments and constructive criticism welcome!

My next project is one I've been looking to for quite a long time (maybe even longer than my recently completed Rolf Berg Spitfire Mk. IXe). and the obligatory parts shot: I've been a huge fan of P-40s most of my life -- I don't know why exactly, maybe it was the mystique of the Flying Tigers or maybe it was because the first model I finished by myself was a snap together P-40. At any rate, I love P-40s. In spite of that, I was pretty ignorant about early P-40 B's and C's; I just knew the early ones looked a little different. Then 4-5 years ago, the cover of one of my dad's aviation history magazines had a refurbished P-40C on the cover. It was in-flight and all polished aluminum, and I realized how sleek and fast-looking the early P-40s were and started reading up on them. I think the B/C has become my favorite variant. Around that time I saw Airfix came out with this kit, and I read some pretty complimentary reviews so I pounced on it. I've done some research on the AVG's paint colors and found this fascinating and informative discussion: I also found a similarly thorough discussion on Rato Marczak's website here: http://www.ratomodeling.com/articles/AVG_cammo/ In the end, I've decided to go with Rato's FS recommendations as I found that easier to match to Mr. Color paints. I don't do Acrylics, and the Britmodeller discussion I linked to had Tamiya XF numbers that I found nearly impossible to cross reference to Mr. Color. They did a fabulous job of researching and testing, though, so if you are a Tamiya paint fan, you may want to check out their recommendations for AVG colors. I bought Mr.Color 311 (FS36622) gray, and 310 (FS30219) Brown. The green was recommended to be 2 parts FS34092 and 1 part FS34079, both of which I have in Model Master Enamel. I'm regretting that decision now, as I've had some terrible luck lately with Model master paints in regards to their performance in the airbrush and rough finish. I will give it a shot, though. I believe these recommendations are pretty close though, because Flying Heritage Collection in Everett, WA is meticulous in their research and their P-40B is painted in AVG colors which looked like a nearly perfect match to the recommendations at Rato's website. My picture is not well-lit, but going to the Flying Heritage Collection's website, they have lots of good photos of the P-40 flying in daylight. So, today I got started and painted the interior parts Zinc Chromate, followed by a Tamiya clear gloss coat for a wash: Looking at ArmouredSprue's WIP I linked above, I see that the seat is an incorrect shape and needs to be NMF, so I'm going down to correct that now.

Since work has stalled on my Flying Tigers P-40B waiting for decals, I thought I'd start another kit. I'm still in the mood to do a P-40, so I dug this one out of the stash: I bought it because of the Burma Banshee decals it had for an alternate theme, but I decided that I really liked the markings on the box art. It all turned out great, because my quest for a Burma Banshee, led me to finish my P-40M, which frankly looks way better than the markings in this kit. Not much in the way of parts: and some pretty nice looking decals: Unfortunately, being an older Hasegawa kit, there isn't much in the way of cockpit detail, and no detail on the sides of the cockpit. So, I had to make do with what I had. I painted the sides and just scuffed them up with Tamiya weathering pastels. The cockpit came out a little better though with some Eduard PE seat belts added Now, I'm just waiting for the radiator intake parts that I glued into a fuselage half to dry so I can button up the fuselage....

This is my first entry to a group build but as I had just picked up the kit on eBay and intended to build it straight-away it seemed logical to join the build. The kit is the Hasegawa 1/32 P-40E Warhawk and at this point in time I'm not sure what markings I'm aiming for. The kit provides a Dark Earth/Dark Green P-40E 'Texas Longhorn' in New Guinea in 1942 and a China based aircraft in similar markings. I've got some old Superscale decals on order for Texas Longhorn and I'll have a look at those before choosing the final scheme. Anyway, here's the kit: With it I also got the new Eduard Look set with an instrument panel and seatbelts. I haven't used one of these before but they look great. There'll be some more resin and brass before we start building along with the inevitable mask set.

Hello All, Please find attached some in-progress pictures of my Airifx P-40 B. It is a good kit, not perfect as we know nothing is, but it is very good. As with all the new Airfix kits I have built, dry fitting and a little trim here are all that is needed usually to get an excellent result. In any case on with the pictures..hope you enjoy them. All the Best! Don

I've got myself the new Special Hobby 1/72 Kittyhawk Mk III (P-40K) and I want to check the colours for the RNZAF one on the box art. The instructions say Foliage Green on top and Grey-Green (I think they mean RAF Sky Type S) underneath. Would this be correct? The Special Hobby P-40 kits are brilliant btw, everyone should make one! thanks Mike

Hi all. I just saw this video of USS Ranger launching P-40 planes to North Africa. Any clue what the upper colour is? Bottom I would say is Neutral Grey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtjeJynhFtw Thanks. Milo.

Hello friends, here are a few planes from the Pacific Warfare. The biggest objections on this model are decals, but it is up to the manufacturer. I did not want to, and I could not buy them anymore. I am generally pleased that the model has fallen out. Here's the picture, enjoy it.

Airfix Scale: 1/48 Type: Curtiss P-40B Extras used: Eduard exhausts and wheels, and Montex masks Paints and colours used: Vallejo model air Curtiss Brown, Green and Grey (AV71125, AV71294 and AV71296), Vallejo metal colours on exhaust, Vallejo Interior Green, various Tamiya where applicable, Flory Dark Dart, Flory Mug pigments, Aqua Gloss and Tamiya Matt Clear. Hi everyone, sorry it's been so long since I've last posted. I'm hoping to be back here a bit more regularly. Well, what can I say? What a kit! This is what Airfix can do when they put their mind to it! Well detailed, restrained panel lines, lovely cockpit construction and detail, and a near perfect fit, aided by the darker grey, stiffer plastic. This is, in my honest opinion, as good as an equivalent Tamiya kit (the new Spitfire Mk.I excepted as that is the next level). Painted with the newer Vallejo colours which went down flawlessly. Here's the pics. After watching Phil Flory's build of the Hasegawa/Eduard kit, I did a bit of research and found I'd over-done the exhaust staining a bit. However, I used a bit of Tamiya Buff, well thinned, and I think they look ok. The instrument panel is just the raised kit details with the perfectly-fitting decal. I think it's as good as photo-etch in this scale; nice work, Airfix. I used Montex masks throughout and that includes the markings (except the tiger and the lady). They worked well. but a lot of work on the roundels, which could have probably been ok with the excellent-performing kit decals. The lights on the wings are the only things that aren't great, just a moulded lump. I painted them first silver, then a mixture of clear red or green mixed with Krystal Klear glue. Chipping work was done with Vallejo Metal Color Steel and a torn sponge. The staining work was all done with oils. That's it folks! A fantastic kit, highly recommended. The wheels are probably of from the kit, but the Eduard exhaust stacks are nice. Thanks for looking, Val

Looking at what photos I can find (going by serial numbers), Mk.Is appear to have the later larger wing root of the Mk.IIs, not CUs. Is this correct of just my imagination? Did the Mk.I have a canopy horn alarm? - can't find any photos of the starboard side. Is there any reliable wing panel drawings? Anyone know the codes for these II (AC) Squadron Mk.I and Mk.IIBs AH850 AK107 AK144 AK146

Hello friends, another old model is over. I am continuing in the spirit of old maketter times. Here's the picture, enjoy it.

Hi all, When I was eight, my Dad came home from work with an Airfix Kittyhawk in a blister pack, which we built together that evening. It was bare plastic, decals stuck on any old how, but it was fun. It started me on the model making hobby, and ten years later I built the same kit, but this time painted to the best of my ability at the time just to see how much I'd improved. I still have both of those builds, and the second one is nowhere near as good as I thought it was at the time! 34 years later I decided to try again, in 1/48th scale this time, and here's the result. I did make one absolute howler during construction, which was only discovered when it was too late to do anything about it...I'll keep quiet about it unless anybody spots it. Azure Blue and Mid Stone paints were mixed from Tamiya acrylics, and weathering was achieved with a mixture of washes, pastels, post shading and actual chipping. The roundels and markings were toned down by masking around them and fading them with heavily thinned Deck Tan. It's quite heavily weathered in real life, but it doesn't show up too well in photos. So, here's Neville Duke's Kittyhawk sitting in the African sun after seeing quite a bit of action: Evolution...aged eight, eighteen and fifty two: Hope you like it, Dean

Dear fellow Britmodellers, here's my 1/72 Special Hobby P-40K in Russian markings. Built out of the box, painted with Gunze/Mr.Hobby acrylics. Photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. A full build review will appear in an upcoming edition of Scale Aviation Modeller International. With best greetings from Vienna, Roman

Hi, My latest model is the very nice kit from Airfix which is quite enjoyable to build. There are some panel lines that need to be filled in and a few things to be fixed here and there, but nothing major. This is a the aircraft of David Lee "Tex" HILL of the AVG for which the decals were sourced from a vintage Aeromaster sheet. Exhaust pipes are from QB. Pitot, gunsight and barrels from Master. Now that it is done, I must confess that I find the wheels ugly and that they would benefit from being replaced. All comments are appreciated. Thanks for looking Antoine

I haven't done a WIP for ages, and this seemed like a good candidate; it's the second iteration of the Airfix P-40 and like many recent Airfix kits there is much to praise, and some to criticise. The design and the parts breakdown are ambitious and in some places clever, but the mould-making is a let down, with too much cleaning up required to get the parts to fit as the designer intended. There are some inaccuracies and omissions but they are in the main easy to fix, or simply ignore... I opted to for the AVG scheme, but rather than the aircraft supplied, 47, I wanted to do number 68 as there are a number of good colour photos around, not least this one: That is RT Smith in front of 68, though I believe this was not his aircraft, rather it was flown by Chuck Older; weathering will be a challenge, look at that dust, particularly where it has been caught in the fuel stains Starting at the usual place, the cockpit, Airfix have done a good job with the detail, but the side panels need a lot of cleaning up, and some of the supplied decals are simply never going to fit over the large rivets that adorn the cross members, so I picked the ones that would and ignored the rest; I also didn't bother with the supplied instrument panel decal, it too looked like far more trouble than it was worth Next up, wings: these git well by and large, but I took issue with the undercarriage housings. Photos like this one show that there should be a continuous contour with the wings for rather than the rounded "knuckle" supplied, very clear in this photo amongst others: Bigger versions of this shot clearly show covers on all the gun muzzles, I might be trying to reproduce those... Anyway I opted to use the old 3M putty to sculpt the front of the undercarriage housings to alter the contour At this point I decided to use the RB Production River-R I got for Christmas to apply some rivets all over the airframe - probably the least accurate modification I have done as unlike many WWII aircraft they appear to be simply invisible on the real thing! This is a quick build, there are not many parts and most of the time is spent fettling the parts to get the best fit, and before long wings are done, fuselage is wrapped up and the two are together I added a small triangular tab on the leading edge of the fin, again this shows clearly on the contemporary photos, although the precise wiring arrangement of the aerials is unclear, and I may be controversial about this later, and not add a wire out to the port wing as it simply is not apparent in any picture I have seen of 68 Primer on and the rivets look subtle at this point - the Rivet-R is a big improvement on the Trumpeter tool I was using previously, much easier! Next up, marbling I auditioned a number of options for the camouflage colours (colour balance is off, so you will just have to trust my eventual choices!): Based on this shot amongs others I opted for the Humbrol Dark Earth 29 and the Tamiya Dark Green 2 (RAF) XF-81 as a good match - basically the brown should be lighter/more faded than the standard RAF version, and the green darker And then the both colours airbrushed somewhat lighter than they brushed! (Colour balance is off again on the second one, it looks worse than it is) I have gone for hard edges as again that matches the original aircraft. This catches up with my progress to date, I am hoping that the colours can be taken down a bit with pastels, weathering and some varnish coats. I am pleased with hose the panel lines and rivets are showing through with the black primer to the extent that I doubt I will be using any washes to highlight them further.

Hello! Here's one of my first two kits completed this year. It's AFV Club's 1:144 Curtiss P-40N-5 Warhawk 663, flown by Wang Kuang Fu (6.5 kills), of the CACW's 7th FS/3rd FG, at Laohokow, China, January 1945. I scratchbuilt the missing intake detail, the CBI radio blister and loop and the outer struts for the drop tank. I added a headrest, belts and stick in the cockpit. I only realised the inaccurate setting of the tail wheel doors when it was too late. These come moulded with the fuselage halves and should be wide open, almost perpendicular to the fuselage. Since the tail wheel comes moulded next to one door, it was risky to fix it at that point. The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush. Thanks for looking and all comments welcome Miguel

Here's the second of my first two kits completed this year. It's AFV Club's 1:144 Curtiss P-40M Warhawk 185, of the 47th Fighter Squadron, 15th Fighter Group, USAAF, at Noumea, New Caledonia, in December 1943. Apart from the comments I made on the P-40N I posted earlier today, I had to correct the cockpit as, despite including an insert for the rear section of the cockpit, the head armour part was incorrect for the M variant being slanted forward (for the P-40N) instead of rearwards. I added the missing radio mast. I had intended to make an RNZAF machine using the decals from the Printscale sheet but these were both incomplete and inaccurate so I went for the kit's only option. The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel

Could someone be so kind to tell me how many sprues does each of the kits mentioned above have? I've read the threaf of the Airfix Mosquito with a sealed bag and missing pieces, and I wanted to check if I have all the sprues in the bags. Does Airfix include sprue diagrams on their new kits? The instructions on the Spitfire I and P-40B don't have them. Thanks in advance.

Löök Resin Instrument Panels & Seatbelts – January 2019 Eduard 1:32 Continuing their line in the LOOK series of instrument panels, Eduard have released two more sets. These are for the 1:32 Eduard/Hasegawa Curtiss P40N-1, and Republic P-47D. As with the previously released sets, the modeller is provided, in these cases with the main instrument panel. Each set also includes a sheet of etched steel for the seat belts. The panels have all the correct markings and placards painted on them and the faces of each instrument is glazed, making them look very realistic, particularly with a bit of weathering to get away from that newly built look. Conclusion This series is a great resource for those of us who are unable to replicate all the markings on a panel, all in one easy package. They are certainly a neat and innovative idea from the masters of aftermarket. Review sample courtesy of