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Completing my trio of P-40's for the GB, and last in line alphabetically, comes the K. This is another internet purchase that came as a bag of bits mostly still attached to their sprues, except for the main parts, instructions and a set of decals that look about as reliable as anything that comes out of Putin's mouth. The bag of bits; I thought this came as an E but should have read what is on the bag more clearly, E/K/M from the same kit? Now the front of the E/K/M and N are pretty much the same at the front of the fuselage being all Allison powered variants, but the rear of the fuselage is a different matter, the F/L/M and N all have a stretched rear fuselage. What I have in the bag is a stretched fuselage so that leaves it being an M as the canopy on an N is different and the F/L are Merlin powered so the front of their fuselage is different. There are however the parts for the tail of a K and all that is required to turn an M into a K is the correct tail and a little bit of surgery. AMT got the most of their moulds by giving you different parts to add to the kits and also requiring a bit of surgery in some cases. A result of this is a slight mismatch where the tail joins the fuselage which can be tricky to clean up and keep the details depending on how bad your kit is (they vary from being a good match to an awful one) mine isn't brilliant but thats okay as I'm chopping it off anyway, this is the rear fuselage as it comes; And here it is after surgery with the replacement K tail complete with the fin fillet usually associated with the variant, though they didn't all have this distinctive feature, the P-40 family can be a tricky subject! The parts actually fit quite well and a bit of sprue goo will sort things out nicely. Now onto the markings and the reason for the movie related title. In December 1942 the squadrons of the 57th FG began painting their unit badges on the noses of their aircraft and the badge for the 64th FS was a scorpion so a lot of their aircraft began to look like the one in the profile below; That picture actually illustrates the difference in length of the rear fuselage between the E/K and the F/L/M/N. This is a different camo scheme from my other P-40's which appeals too me greatly, a bit of variety is a good thing. I have some decals for this aircraft by Superscale but they are way off on the size of the numbers and some other details too so I will have to look into sorting that out. So that completes my P-40 triumvirate, all that remains now id to actually build them! Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received. Craig. 🇺🇦

Hi Guys ! Following my first post on my P-40 series, here is the next one. A P-40K-5 as used in China . As told before, my purpose is to go on thru a part of the P-40 family , pointing out elements like , different camos, national markings, units ones, and external charges used,wheels.. . This one is the plane of 1lt Charles.J.White, of the 25th FS /51FG . Specific points on this one : Use of "Dupont" colors trying to match RAF colors as planned for export , but as time goes.. used by USAAF Use of red bordered "stars and bar" insignia Typical unit shark mouth nose art Another point, is as I read, that this unit was the first P-40 unit to use 1000 Pd GP bombs. This unit shared at one time the same field with a B-25 unit. Col Barr an headquarter officier of the 51 st FG , seeing 1000 Pd bombs used by the B-25 had the idea to use them on the 51st FG planes, with deadly results on the Japanese side. So my P-40 is loaded with this kind of bomb. She had also Gonio Antenna to make navigation easier on the Jungle landscape theater of operation. Added "squared " type of wheels. resin exhausts from CMK I tried to render "Dupont" colors with a different mixes of Gunze paints ( don't ask me please, did so much tries.. ) spending so much time to see real pictures , anyway it is as it is, and camera used, type a screen used will probably not perfectly represent the bird as it looks, forgive me about this 😊 Ok , enough talking , let's go on pictures .. And to end with some " dynamic " presentation .. Et voilà Guys !! that's all folks !! Hope you'll like it ! Cheers and take care ! Bye now 😉

Hello everyone... I know I really do tend to ask a lot of questions, sometimes in bursts sometimes randomly. I’m just trying to find as many schemes possible now that I have 3 kits of the P-40K/Kittyhawk III to build. I was just curious if there is any photographic evidence of the P-40K/KittyHawk III in the late war VVS Colors of AMT 7/11/12. I have found this photo of a modified “E” with a 2nd seat and “K” style tail fillet. https://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/lendlease/p-40/tapani/p-40k-m-n/34twoseater.htm Honestly Id be happy to see any photo’s of them in the earlier green black colors of AMT 4 & 6. I know they were delivered in lend-lease colors and schemes. But they must’ve gone through repairs/re-paints at some point ? Maybe @Massimo Tessitori or @Learstang might have more info ? I know this is an off shoot of the main question ? But did any KittyHawk III’s the short tailed version with the tail fillet, make it to Australia or New Zealand in the Pacific, I haven't seen any yet ? Maybe Alan @LDSModeller might know ? Ive seen RAAF & RNZAF KH III use in North Africa and maybe possibly Italy ? Any help or info is gratefully received and acknowledged in advance ? Dennis

I'm currently building the new Special Hobby P-40K and was wondering if the RNZAF and RAAF versions would have used US or RAF type seatbelts? Any suggestions? Thanks Peter

Curtiss P-40K Decals Super Scale International 1:32 This is another new sheet from Squadron Productions in their Super Scale International range of decals. The sheet contains full insignia, stencils, identification numbers and the ubiquitous sharks mouth for two aircraft, although there are only enough decals to complete one aircraft. The two options are:- • P-40K-5, Pilot – Major Robert Liles, CO of 16th FS, 51st FG, October 1943, in Olive Drab over Neutral Grey • P-40K-5, Pilot – 1st Lieutenant Charles White, 25th FS, 51st FG, Summer 1943, in Brown and Green over Light Grey The decals have been printed by Cartograf in Italy so you know the quality is going to be good. The decals are very glossy, in good register and nicely opaque the carrier film appears almost non-existent and can only really be seen on the aircraft numbers. If they’re like other Cartograf products they should react well with most softening and setting solutions, which will probably be required more with the shark mouths than any of the other decals. The instruction sheet has nice colour profiles of the aircraft showing not only decal placement, but also the colour schemes and the FS and DuPont codes for the colours used. Conclusion This is a very nice set of quality decals for the Hasegawa kit giving another pair of options for the modeller to decide upon. Highly Recommended. Review sample courtesy of