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While plugging away on other recent bigger projects, I've been spending some time working on an old 1/72 scale Monogram P-36. I thought it might be interesting to not just mention that aircraft, but some of the other, related builds done with the same kit over the years. I'll begin with a plain old out-of-the-box, kit decals and no-mods build I did many years ago. Out of the box, you actually get a P-36C. Mine looks like this, I think, painted with Metallizer, but I can't remember for sure: There you go, just a clean, simple out-of-the-box build. Of course, there are other things you can do with the kit. With a little hacking and slashing and a little plastic card, you can make a passable XP-40 from it. Mine was also done eons ago, with spare bin decals and Floquil Old Silver, as was the standard in those days. Also fairly standard back then, was that when you had chopped and sanded a conversion to the death, you normally didn't bother with re-scribing lines, etc. That is a more modern convention. Anyway, here's my old P-36 conversion to an XP-40, done much the same way that Curtiss did on the real thing: She's not all high-tech and modern, but I'm proud to have her in the collection. Speaking of High-tech and modern, here's my newest addition. By dint of removing the wing guns and filling in the ejector chutes (and leaving off the cartridge collector boxes), and adding a different style antenna, you can come up with a P-36A version out of the same box. Mine is painted with MM enamels, and Alclad II metallic and gold colors. Various stripes are decals from the spares box. I have added the Starfighter P-36 upgrade, featuring engine, cockpit and wheel wells. I have also opened the cowl flaps, which ended up being such a major work that I wish I had documented it! Done in the markings of the 18 Pursuit from Hawaii, I used two sets of kit decals to make the numbers and letters, adding an extra leg to the "P" to get an "R" for instance. The unit emblem was from a Starfighter I think P-12E set of decals IIRC. Anyway, here's my high-tech and modern P-36A: Please forgive the variations in pictures, as I am experimenting with the camera... And, finally, all three together: See boys and girls, what fun you can have with a few boxes of P-36 on a rainy day? Ed