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Hi again, While awaiting the finishing touches for the Maltese Mosquito, and before attempting another bigger build, I thought I'd take the opportunity to bash out my Airfix P-40B that was originally intended for the Starter Kit GB. Unfortunately, in the course of the GB, it became clear that the paints provided by Airfix were so completely wrong it was practically a 'what if' build. We were only allowed to use what came in the box so the Tommy went back into storage. Now here it is, living to fight another day! The kit is completely bog standard from the Alamein Dogfight Double set, which looks rather like this: As you can see, the markings given for the P-40B are AN218 nickname 'Menace' which was on the strength of 112 Sqn at Sidi Hanish in the summer of 1941. However, at the time of the markings provided, 112 Sqn was operating its aircraft in the approved colour scheme: Temperate Land (Dark Earth/Dark Green/Sky). The squadron was lobbying hard for a more effective desert camouflage to be approved, because Sky was no good from below and dark green was hopeless from above - but change was slow to come. Photographs of 112 Sqn up the blue in 1941 show an evolution from Temperate Land Scheme towards the definitive Desert Scheme. When supplies of Mid-Stone were finally allocated, there were some aircraft with the Dark Green areas overpainted (to make Desert Scheme), others with the Dark Earth overpainted (making Tropical Land Scheme). This seems to have happened when 112 Sqn applied its recognition letters of GA as well as the individual aircraft letters, and anecdotal evidence from squadron members states that this took place in November 1941. The best picture I've seen of AN218 has her still in Temperate Land Scheme of Dark Earth/Dark Green over Sky. The spinner should have been Sky but appears darker, assumed red, and she has a shark's mouth painted on. Neither the red spinner or the shark's mouth were officially approved at the time, but were almost universally adopted by 112 Sqn aircraft. Quite how these colourful additions supported the squadron's demands for better camouflage is not made clear! Anyway, that's my plan and while I've got the complete kit and decals I appear to have lost the instructions somewhere! Hopefully they will turn up. Meanwhile I got started by painting the interior green - I took a dollop of Tamiya 'Cockpit Green" and mixed it with Flat Yellow in an empty cupcake box until it was the sort of shade that I wanted: So far so good. If anyone has the instructions and is able to scan them I'd be grateful to see them please, although the fundamental build looks fairly straightforward!

This is my first ever participation in a GB, and although four months is a long time, I'm a slow builder and the time frame coincides with peak work period, some planned holiday, and a probable job search, so spare time is likely to be very limited on occasions. Plus, it's summer! So, bearing that in mind, I've opted for this kit as my initial contribution. It's the relatively new Airfix moulding, packaged with VVS decals in the Airfix Club kit from a few years back. I built the Flying Tigers P-40 last year for my son's ceiling display, and I don't recall any major issues with the kit, so it should be a straightforward OOB build. The challenge for me will be to do the winter whitewash. It's not something I've tried before and I'm a wielder of hairy sticks, so I'm not feeling too confident. The kit decals depict White 58 of 20 GvIAP, with a scheme absolutely plastered in whitewash. The info on Massimo Tessitori's site (http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/lendlease/p-40/tapani/p-40b-c/58khlobystov.htm) has the whitewashing rather more restrained, and on balance I prefer that both aesthetically and as I can at least see the research underlying that scheme with my own eyes. I believe box and sprue photos are traditional at this stage, if only I could get photobucket to work properly, I would post. Maybe tomorrow it'll behave...

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk / Tomahawk / Kittyhawk. Even though shown in the markings for The Flying Tigers at Pensecola this P-40B was an RAF Machine which was then supplied to the Russians. Pics thanks to Bootneck Mike.

Hello Everyone, Well this is my second build for the Remembrance Day Lunch that the librarian, Karen, at work will be holding. This Tomahawk will be displayed next to a Spitfire, Bf-110 and Bf-109, possibly a Lancaster too. I decided to add this one as who doesn't love a Sharkmouth?! Plus I was trying to convey the notion that the world war was just that, worldwide... you know what kids are like. Anyhow, this the newer tool mould from Airfix of the classic Tomahawk (always liked this aircraft). I had a few issues with it, I think most of those issues where my own doing. Live and learn huh? I had to strip the paint as the xtracrylix didn't wanna play for some reason. I had to resort to Tamiya and mixing the middlestone colour. I am quite impressed with it. On to the pictures. Still learning how far I can stretch the EZ-Line, unlike the Spitfire, I dont think the weather is heavy enough. I had fun making this model and it went together really well, apart from a few silly bits. Once again, please let me know what you think. Kind Regards, Dazz

Well here we go discovered my P.E. is for an M and Legends resin look far too difficult. I know nothing about the P-40 to risk it

Hi folks could someone confirm the colours of RAF tomahawks of 26 Sqn based at Gatwick.I would like to build RM-D AH893 for the P40 GB.One further question on looking at a clear photo of a trio of them they are camera equipped which complicates things, were they carried on the one side or both?

My first WiP post, so many excellent models that I can only aspire to getting close to. Here goes, please be gentle. I started a P40 a while ago, and it went terribly wrong, so I binned it, and bought one of Airfixs 1/72 starter sets. Am still feeling my way back in, and I thought it would be a simple enough model to try my hand out on, and practice minor fixes if needed. Although different marques, I'm using The Fighter Collections P-40F "Lee's Hope" as a painting guide, and will be shown in flight for a change to compliment the spitfires on the shelf Cockpit and pilot ready, and attached to the assembled wings. Problem is, the pilot doesn't fit into the seat But a hip operation, and removal of feet, and he fits Onto the body, and the joint between the body and wings left a step, so a little (ok felt like a lot) of filing got the wingroot looking better, I didn't want to go too far incase I went too far Although, during sanding I've managed to knock one of the moulded guns. A bit of glue and a bend back had it back in alignment. Managed to apply the first coat today, and while I'm happy with the coverage, the sand on the TFCs P40 is a lot more yellowy. Will see what it looks like when the brown is applied, but I have noticed I have no yellow in the box, so a remix and respray not likely to happen, but lesson learnt

Hi folks,just a couple of questions with reference to Airfix,s kit.most builds of GA-F seem to show 112 sqns. trademark red spinner as opposed to the kits colour call outs black spinner,did Airfix get it wrong? and what wheel hub colour is correct? I have seen blue and sand used on different builds.

Righto everyone. After some shocking builds I picked a simple one to practice. I'm building up to a particular Hurricane and need to put some work in! I managed to splurge and got myself a brilliant Iwata double action airbrush and I'm learning as much as I can as quickly as possible. I have to say it's brilliant to finally be able to afford my hobby! HA HA! On this build I was trying the new airbrush, tried polishing compounds to clear up an accident on the canopy, practiced a bit more weathering, tried some new glue (Tamiya Ultra thin....I'll never look back!) tried PVA glue on the canopy fix (that's a revelation for me) and generally tried to get a bit better before tackling a build that means a bit more to me. Here's some photos ...SteveJ60 has built another P40 just recently and he is a kind, regular and generous contributor to this page. It's cool to have an Academy P40 built and displayed at the same time as him. Cheers Winenut The sharp among you will note I did the wheels wells in grey being lazy but had the inside panels of wheels covers in a greeny colour!!! Oh well....put it down to a practice kit. Thanks for looking Cheers Winenut

I am planning to make AN218 "Menace", a 112 Sqn Tomahawk IIb, as a holiday project. It is from the 2012 Battle of el Alamein gift set which Airfix did for Modelzone. The painting instructions very distinctly stipulates that the spinner is to be painted white, however most references seem to say that this squadron's aircraft had red spinners. Similarly, the one picture I have been able to track down suggests to me that the spinner is darker than the underside. http://www.scalemates.com/profiles/mate.php?id=14121&p=albums&album=19078 Does anyone know of any definitive evidence on this point? Many thanks, Anthony

An Airfix starter kit. Curtiss Tomahawk flown by Neville Duke in WW2 of the No.112 Squadron based in Libya, 1941. He ended the war with 27 victories flying Tomahawks, Kittyhawks and the Spitfire before going on to becoming a test pilot. It was a fun kit, I enjoyed making it. The colour scheme was what sold me on buying this. I hadn't built a plane with a face before so the shark jaws motif sold me on it

Hello all! Having just taken about 8 months on a complex build of HMS Illustrious and a little bit of photo-etch, I needed something to have a bit of fun with. Cue Airfix, (funny how the auto spell-checker on a modelling site always says Airfix is spelt wrong!) and some of their newish tools. I have built the odd one or two Spitfires over the decades, but never one with a flat canopy, so It is a great little kit, the only section of plastic I had issues with was the instrument panel, which needed some sanding to get it to allow the fuselage halves to close up. The wing roots were one of the best fits I have ever encountered. The other issue I had was the brown paint coverage. I use Humbrol H29 with a wide, flat brush, but even after 3 coats it still looks horribly streaky. Never mind. Wilkinsons Varnish was my preferred gloss for the transfers, and it gave quite a good finish over all. Then I did the Curtiss Tomahawk (this version is the one with all the numbers rather than Tomahawk on the box). This too was a great one to put together. I needed just a smidge of filler on the top of the engine cover, nothing anywhere else. These colours went on better this time (admittedly the brown was not H29), and the transfers settled well into the panel lines. This one only took about ten evenings to finish, and really set me up for my next plan, which had been stashed away for a while... Now, I know you may not recognise the scheme, but I had access to previously classified information which was passed onto me by the well known Aviation Historian Wyatt A Loader-Crapp. The story goes that a fighter pilot from 603 squadron, whilst doodling over the Channel in September 1940 encountered a German twin engine fighter, he quickly thought 'I'll have some of that' and barrelled down out of the sun and fired from 50 yards a warning burst across the nose of the German. Seeing he was up against an obvious 'ace', the German decided to call it a day and lowered his undercarriage in the universal sign of capitulation. Our Hero followed the Me110 down from a secure but dominating distance, and the aircraft landed at Manston. The Officer Commanding the Station had a superb idea that in view of the awful quality of paintwork seen on many of the RAF aircraft (see photo 1 above), and founded the Crown Paint School (CPS) and the ME110 that had been so wonderfully captured was the original test piece for all the budding aircraft painters that the RAF employed from then on. I did have photographic proof that this aircraft was in this scheme, but the photo disintegrated in my scanner when I tried to copy it for your delectation, for which I humbly apologise. Again, this one went together really well, but I had an unusual hitch this time. The wheel wells have a 'lid' in them and that gets glued in before the upper and lower wing halves get fitted. Hmm I thought, they are bound to be a weak point, so I slapped LOTS of glue on the joints. Later, I came to add the undercarriage, and the first leg I fitted popped the 'lid' out! So much for preparation hey? I somehow managed to get it back into place by putting a pin into the undercarriage location hole and pulling in back down into place. Otherwise all was well, but I drew the line at masking the canopy - I just tried to paint the framing as carefully as possible then used a wooden cocktail stick to scratch away any surplus paint - it seems to have worked ok. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed building these kits, and it was a great way of working out the effort that I expended on Illustrious. I just wish Airfix could produce their ships as well as they are currently doing their aircraft. I am close to finishing a Harrier GR1, and oh boy! what a load of stencils on that one - they took me 5 sessions alone. Ah, I remember the days when we got roundels and serial numbers (then I found that they were from REAL aircraft and were not made up numbers. Wow!) and when we got ejection seat warning triangles I thought that was the bees knees. Details like these stencils are so different to the old days... I know many folk have said that these tiny stencils can be read when you use a magnifying glass, but did you know that you can even read the stencils that are marked on the instruction sheet too? Ah well, enough waffle, hope you like the models, I know they are not winners, but they did the job and gave me some great fun. All the best, Ray