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Hi there, I'm currently in the process of building a Kiwi Kitty III (P-40M) from the well known Hasegawa's kit in 1/48. There are two building options in this box, the first for an NZ Kitty III, Geoff Fisken's own "Wairarapa Wildcat", a P-40M which is option one, and a SAAF Kitty III, a P-40K, for option two. During the building process, Hasegawa propose some mods,, all related to option 1, the NZ Kitty. First one is to open a small hole down on the side of the cockpit, and fill it with a round part of clear plastic. Found nothing in my documentation about this, and don't know what it is, but I suspect a window to check gear up/gear down? But whatever, at the end of the instruction sheet, the NZ Kitty doesn't show any modification in the profile, but the SAAF Kitty have it! I've checked many pictures, espcially of Gloria Lyons, but this small window doesn't exist. So the question is: What is this? And am I right to think it doesn't belong to the NZ Kitty? Another mods concern the wingtip position lights shown below. Same situation, didn't see this on pictures of NZ Kitty, so, same last question. Thanks for reading me!

Bonjour à tous ! I keep telling myself since quite some time that I should try to really come back to BM and again post some build reports, if only to exercise my english. And this is the opportunity : The book I’m reading now is Air-to-Air by Chris Rudge, the subject being A2A combat claims by Kiwi pilots during WW2. No surprise at some point in the book appear a guy called Geoff Fisken. I’ve first heard about him in the early nineties when I was reading the Bloody Shambles trilogy, from Chris Shores and his team. Well, I won’t say much now, as I’ll tell the whole story once the build is finished in a thread on RFI room. And to make a long story short, I’ve in my stash the following Hasegawa kit in 1/48 (it does exist also in 1/32), and I’m going to build Fisken’s Wairarapa Wildcat, aka NZ3072. First impression when opening the box is a very good one, and I’m going straight to the cockpit’s parts, so that I’ll be able to close the 1/2 fuselage as soon as possible. I don’t have that much documentation on the P-40, so I called a friend with a very good knowledge of WW2 aircraft colours, and in a few minutes, I had everything. Thanks Michel ! So here’s the pit. Overall colour is what I would like to be Curtiss cockpit green, but still a bit too much zinchromate green, I’m afraid…. I choose dark dull green for the armour plate, and exercised my artistic licence for the headrest ! The box offer no less than three different instrument panels, with two kind of decals each (black with instruments, or clear with instruments). As usual, I quickly destroyed both, and then add to go for another solution, that is painting everything ! See you next time!!!

P-40M Warhawk "Ruth Marie", 90th FS, 80th FG, Moran, Assam, India, April 1944 I finished this on 9/21/2019. It is the Hobby Boss easy assembly kit. The P-40 was, for some reason, my favorite US plane when I was a kid. I don't know if it was the mystique of the Flying Tigers, or the fact that the first kit I finished by myself was a Revell snap-together P-40E. More recently I started learning about all the different P-40 variants and how to tell them apart and decided I'd like to do a kit of each of the "major" variants (no 'D' or 'G' models for me). About that snap-together... it had a skull on the front that was very dramatic, so I thought I'd make a new version of it and as a bonus, the decal sheet I found was for 'N's and 'M's (well, N-1's and N-5's, more on that later). There were only 2 P-40M kits readily available, this one and the Academy boxing, but looking at finished Academy models, it appeared to have some serious shape issues, so this kit it was! Hobby Boss easy assembly is a love/hate thing for me. They are inexpensive and often have very nice surface detail, but... the cockpits have little or sometimes no detail and there seems to always be one major flaw that need fixing to get it to look right. And, that was the case here too. There are lots of great photos, many close up, of the Burma Banshee P-40s so I was able to match the wear of the P-40s in a couple close up photos. Also, the Banshees flew P-40N-1s. A book I have said that the N-1 was basically an 'M' model with 2 wing guns removed and a lighter landing gear (which somewhere I read was a P-51 gear, but I can't confirm that). This book said that in the field they would re-install the two guns in the wing, and put the older, heavier and more robust gear on, which effectively brought it back to the 'M' standard. So I think I'm justified in calling this an 'M'. WIP is here Finishing: Seams filled with CA (superglue) Paints: Mr. Surfacer 1500 Black primer > Mr. Color 303 (green)/Testors Olive Drab/Mr. Color 22 (Brown) marbled on top / Mr. Color FS36270 marbled on bottom > Testors Model Master Olive Green (Top) / Testors white/black mixed to match FS36270 (bottom) > Alclad Aqua Gloss clear coat > Decals > Testors dull coat for sealing in the decals > Testors zinc chromate for the wheel wells > Decanted Tamiya Silver Leaf spray for the landing gears > Tamiya acrylic NATO Black for the tires > Testors Chrome silver for paint chipping > Tamiya Royal Blue for spinner Decals: Rising Decals RD 72084 "The Burma Banshees Pt. II" Weathering/Wear: Oil wash on the landing gears, thinned watercolor and Tamiya pastels for various dirt and oil streaks, 0.2 mm Pencil for panel lines, sun fading by dot filtering with oil paints The grill behind the spinner is very prominent and the molding for it was shallow and wouldn't take wash well. The holes in the grill are very prominent, and this grill is the defining feature that AFAIK is the only way to tell a 'M' model from a late model 'K', so I had to paint the holes on. About the big fix I had to make in the Hobby Boss kit: They made an insert for the canopy behind the cockpit so they could make an 'N' or 'M' just by swapping out inserts. Problem is, it didn't fit well at all: I thought I'd sand the bottom of it to drop it down, but luckily I dry-fit it first and found that the canopy would hold it in place, so any sanding on the bottom would just make a bigger gap. So I had to sand down from the top. I cut off the antenna mast (to be reattached later) and sanded away. then glued it in, filled the gaps and filled/rescribed the mis-matched panel lines. Build notes: The sun fading came out pretty subtle, so I still have some to learn about that technique, especially how the dull coat changes it. So I'll be doing more experimenting! I was at the hobby store yesterday, and on a whim bought Testors burnt iron metallizer for the exhaust. It came out looking just as good as the more cumbersome methods I've been using, so I may be using more of it in the future This was the first time I used a 0.2 mm mechanical pencil to go over the panel lines. Where the panel lines were deep enough, it was really easy to run the pencil lead through them, where they were more shallow, I used 3 layers of Tamiya masking tape stacked on each other as a guide. The nice thing about the pencil is any goofs can be removed with the eraser. I find this to be an easier and more reliable method for panel lines than a wash. For fun, this was the first kit I finished by myself and inspired this build: Thanks for looking! Questions, comments and constructive criticism always welcome!

Next up is another 112 Sqn P-40 but this time a Kittyhawk III (P-40M) in 1/72 using the Academy kit. Academy supplied non-standard upper wing roundels, which I used even though I am not sure of their accuracy.

Hello All, This was progressing excellently till I removed the canopy masking and found that I'd cracked the canopy.... Grrrr it's only a hobby (repeat 50x) Apologies for the rubbish formatting - still getting used to embedding from flickr. Ian

I was able to get my butt down to the EAA Airventure airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin this year. My first ever Airventure. My first airshow in many many years. And my first airshow since getting into photography. While there were numerous aircraft that caught my attention, this one I knew I had to get as many photos as I could. I should have shot more but there's just so much to see you can't really afford to linger in any one spot for too long. So why is this aircraft so interesting? Well, as I was walking past I couldn't help but notice that she looked like she was fresh from a factory in 1943. The owner noticed me and said that's actually a pretty accurate statement! The restoration had been completed only two weeks prior. And this restoration was as complete as humanly possible. This is exactly how the aircraft looked in 1943 when she was reassembled and made ready for operations in the PTO. As the owner said to me, Rosie the riveter was good, but we had the time to make her perfect. And boy is she ever perfect. The gun sight is fully functional. There's a gun camera complete with film! Enough talk. Here are a few photos with far more up on my flickr page. Thanks for looking. 20160731-MJS_8741 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr Another point of interest. This isn't just any P-40M that happened to be painted in these colours. This really is NZ3119! These are the same colours she wore way back in 1943. While this aircraft is not known to have scored any kills, the pilot of this aircraft did get a kill in his previous aircraft. 20160731-MJS_8520 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr 20160731-MJS_8530 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr 20160731-MJS_8559 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr 20160731-MJS_8561 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr Although he did not fly this particular P-40M, this aircraft was signed by the highest scoring ace in the RNZAF, Geoffrey B Fisken. 20160731-MJS_8548 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr The level of detail is jawdropping on this bird. Everything on this aircraft is as it was when it was new in 1943. The individual markings were not just copied in appearance. But they were applied was using the original technique. 20160731-MJS_8566 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr 20160731-MJS_8569 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr 20160731-MJS_8575 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr 20160731-MJS_8579 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr I had no idea P-40's had a cloth liner in the wheel wells. Wonder how long they actually lasted? 20160731-MJS_8581 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr I learned that along with keeping out FOD, there was a second purpose to taping the guns. It indicated to the pilot the guns were armed and ready to go. 20160731-MJS_8594 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr 20160731-MJS_8599 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr Nice chocks! 20160731-MJS_8617 by _m_sinclair, on Flickr If I ever get the chance, I will happily shoot far more detail shots of this magnificent warbird. If you would like to see more just click the link to get the whole album. https://www.flickr.com/photos/92554273@N07/albums/72157672652776801/with/29616383635/ Cheers! -matt

Hey guys, first finished kit in new home Built as part of P-40 GB, here you can watch the WIP if you are interested http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234976954-p-40m-academy-minicraft-172-44th-fs-finished-new-photos-3182015/ I did add some details to cockpit (Marabu PE set + scratch), wheel wells (Marabu PE set + scratch), radiator intake and flaps (Marabu PE, Eduard Zoom and scratch), flaps are from great Marabu PE set (made for AZ Model P-40E), exhausts are Quickboosts, U/C legs and drop tank from Sword kit, AML wheels (worst wheels, never again, the design was totaly out, disapearing here and there...), mirror and canopy slide part made from scratch. I had some disaster happening while spraying the exhaust stain, so i tried to save it a bit, but the finish is much bigger then intended Well, enough talking, some shots are comming

Source: http://old1.hobbyboss.com/a/en/product/fly/...2/0302/824.html V.P.