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P-40N Warhawk 1:72 Special Hobby The Curtiss P-40N Warhawk was a single seat fighter that could trace its roots back to the radial engined P-36 Hawk first flown in 1938. It ranked amongst the most widely produced US fighters of the war, with more than 13,000 rolling off the production line. A popular aircraft with its pilots, the P-40 earned a reputation as a manoeuvrable yet tough aircraft. The P-40N was the last major production variant. The fuselage behind the cockpit was stretched to counter the torque of the more powerful engine. In an effort to reduce weight, the number of .50 cal machine guns was reduced from six to four, but was later increased to six following feedback from pilots. In Commonwealth service it was known as the Kittyhawk Mk.IV This is an all-new kit from Special Hobby, unrelated to the P-40F released in 2008. Inside the top-opening box are three sprues of grey plastic, a small clear sprue and a sheet of decals (plus a small extra 'addendum' sheet. Gone is the fret of photo etch parts, indicating Special Hobby's continued progress towards the mainstream. The parts are all well detailed and crisply moulded, although the panel lines are a little heavy here and there, particularly on the fuselage sides and lower wing surface. Altogether there are over 70 parts. Cockpit detail is very good indeed. The cockpit sidewalls are moulded separately to the fuselage and feature crisp, clear details. The pilot's seat, armour and bulkhead are all moulded separately, as is the instrument panel and control column. The floor of the cockpit is moulded in place on the part that joins the upper wing halves, but this does not particularly compromise detail, particularly in this scale. Aside from the cockpit, the only other item that has to be assembled before the fuselage halves can be joined is the radiator, which is made up from three different parts. The lower wing, just like the upper wing, is moulded in one piece. The main landing gear bays are made up of a plastic square part which sandwiches between the wing halves to give convincing depth and detail. Two different main gear wheels are provided, so make sure you select the correct version for the particular aircraft you wish to build. The tail wheel is moulded in one piece. Once the wing has been joined to the fuselage, you can add the remaining control surfaces. The horizontal tail planes are solid parts, while the rudder is moulded separately to the vertical tail. The engine exhaust pipes are moulded separately to the fuselage and can be added from the outside of the fuselage, which is a major plus when it comes to the painting stage. Two sets of cooling gills are provided; one open and one closed. The propellor is moulded with all three blades as one part which, once painted, can be sandwiches between the front and rear parts of the spinner. A choice of two different drop tanks are provided, along with a bomb for the centerline pylon. The transparent parts are beautifully thin and clear and the sliding part of the canopy is moulded separately to the windscreen. Two different parts are provided depending on whether you wish to finish the canopy in the open or closed positions. The decal sheet provides for three options: ⦁ Curtis P-40N-5, 49th Fighter Group, 7th Fighter Squadron, Gusap, New Guinea, 1944. This aircraft is finished in Olive Drab over Neutral Grey with a white tail; ⦁ Curtis P-40N-5 "Butter Bean II", 80th Fighter Group, 89th Fighter Squadron, Nagaghuli, Assam, India, 1944. This aircraft is finished in Olive Drab over Neutral Grey; ⦁ Curtis P-40N "Snafu", No. 120 Squadron, ML/KNIL/RNEIAAF, 72nd Air Defence Wing, RAAF, Mokmer Biak, New Guinea, 1945. This aircraft is finished in Olive Drab over Neutral Grey; and ⦁ Curtis P-40N "Snafu", No. 120 Squadron, ML/KNIL/RNEIAAF, 2VB Andir, Dutch East Indies, 1947. This aircraft is finished in Olive Drab over Neutral Grey. The decals themselves are nicely printed and look glossy and opaque. Conclusion Airfix have already provided us with a nice early Warhawk, so it's good to see Special Hobby cover the later Warhawk with this new kit. It is both more detailed and more complex when compared to the Airfix kit, and is all the better for it. It should build up into a pleasing model, particularly if you acquire some of the not-inconsiderable resin sets that CMK have released alongside the kit. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hello everyone ... Well im calling it done. Geronimo is all finished and presented to you. A link to the WIP log. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235034795-“geronimo”/ I hope Geronimo meets with your approval. Please feel free to comment. Dennis

After vowing not to start another WIP after my recent Huey build I immediately went out and started........ a new WIP. Oh dear. Anyway here it is. I'm continuing my Aussie theme and building Academy's P-40N. After being terribly ham fisted and heavy handed with the Huey I'm going to try for a little more .....well....."restraint" this time around I'm underway so here's some photos.... Chocks away! This is the version I'm doing Sorry that photo was a bit hopeless IP came up well just with some black and then a white dry brush highlight. I'm going to "dab" a little gloss clear onto the dials for fun but I'm sure they'll never be visible when assembled! And this is the rest of the bits and pieces before starting main assembly Might pick a few highlights out before it get's buttoned up....again just for fun. Thanks for looking Here we go again! Cheers Bruce

Hi peeps, here are my first two completions for 2016; Airfix's B5N2 "Kate" and the Academy P-40N, both 1/72. The Kate is strictly Out-Of-the-Box, down to the colour recommendations Airfix cited with Nick Millman's help. The only aftermarket used was Peewit canopy masks: The P-40 has been the subject of a few extras, however. The exhausts, spinner and prop blades have been replaced with Quickboost items and I managed to graft (after some fun and games!!) the Squadron vacform canopy intended for the Hasegawa P-40N on to it. This was also my first go at masking a canopy the tedious ( ) way for the aft and sliding sections. The windshield was done using an Eduard mask intended for the Hasegawa P-40E altered P-40N pattern. I have to give thanks to Occa, LDSModeller, Nick Millman, Pete Mossong and everyone else for the help they gave when I made my initial POST relating to NZ3254 back in February: Thanks guys! Comments welcome! Mike.

P-40N Kittyhawks 75 Sqn RAAF 1/72 & 1/48 Red Roo Models This sheet from Red Roo enable three different aircraft from 75 Sqn RAAF to be built. Conclusion This is a great sheet for The P-40N in late war RAAF colours. Recommended. 1/48 1/72 Review sample courtesy of

With my build already being quite advanced, I'm too late to join in the GB 'for real', but I thought I would contribute a WiP thread (with permission) anyway. Here is "Squirlbate", a P-40N flown by Captain Richard J. Vodra of the8th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Group during the New Guinea campaign. Captain Vodra was credited with two victories during the campaign and later went on to become successful writer and inventor. The name of his mount and the spelling thereof apparently represent his fondness for wordplay, whilst the chequered tail represents a riposte to an enemy pilot, also flying a chequered 'plane who had previously badly shot him up. The kit is the venerable old 1/72 Hasegawa offering, and the decals are by Aeromaster courtesy of Paul J. I was drawn to it by the interesting colour scheme, which Aeromaster and at least one other source posit as dark green, middle stone and azure blue. Build is out of the box, paints are Humbrol acrylics. I started off painting the cockpit and innards Humbrol 226 Interior Green and putting together the fuselage halves and cockpit assembly (above). I then moved on to the wings, which needed a little clamping:

Just finished is my 1/72 P-40N ex. Hasegawa, built OOB except for seat belts and the antenna wire. As many know, this is quite an old kit, but I think it built up quite well. I especially enjoyed using my Grex TG on the paint job. Enjoy! - Adam