General consensus on available 1/72 P-40 kits?

[Terry McGrady]

Hi  The RAF actually used 20 P40 D models  AK571-590 Along with  All the direct purchase Kittyhawks in the AK and AL serial range were Kittyhawk MK1 .

 

[alt-92]

For those interested, AZ/KP now have several 1/72 P-40Es as 'new'.  Likely a short-run edition. Cheap as chips  - €8.40.

Oddly enough, all their P-36/H-75 kits have disappeared from the site. 

[Terry McGrady]

19 minutes ago, alt-92 said:

For those interested, AZ/KP now have several 1/72 P-40Es as 'new'.  Likely a short-run edition. Cheap as chips  - €8.40.

Oddly enough, all their P-36/H-75 kits have disappeared from the site. 

More likely reboxingswith New box art and different decals  One that struck me was the Typhoon McGoon boxing 'The Aircft was a K1/5 not and E By the time the white tail markings were an ID symbol - August 1943 ,the E models had mostly disappeared from the 49th FG .I've also Photos of Typhoon McGoon  painted Olive drab before Aug 1943 without the white tail .

Edited July 17, 2021 by Terry McGrady
spelling mistakes

[Terry McGrady]

2 hours ago, alt-92 said:

For those interested, AZ/KP now have several 1/72 P-40Es as 'new'.  Likely a short-run edition. Cheap as chips  - €8.40.

Oddly enough, all their P-36/H-75 kits have disappeared from the site. 

Yea I noticed that Just reboxings with some glaring Markings errors Typhoon Mc Goom was a P40 K1/5 NOt an E model I've Photgraphs of ing . No Clear disruptive pattern camo can be seen The time frame on rear box art for the A/c is incorrect too The white tail not becoming a ID marking untill Aug 43 

 the time 

Edited July 17, 2021 by Terry McGrady
duplicate post

[Chuck1945]

2 hours ago, 72modeler said:

...

 

That being said, I think the new-tool Special Hobby kits are the best overall, but are  more expensive than the Hasegawa kits, which can still be had very cheaply. SH  are about to release the M, and have done the E/F/K/N already. Kind of a trivial detail, but the N's replaced the 30" diameter mainwheels with 27" diameter  ones early on in the production run to save weight- SBS make resin ones. 

 

 

In practice, especially in the CBI, the excruciatingly long supply chain resulted in the 27" wheels often being replaced with more available 30" ones.

[Terry McGrady]

34 minutes ago, Chuck1945 said:

In practice, especially in the CBI, the excruciatingly long supply chain resulted in the 27" wheels often being replaced with more available 30" ones.

Yes the RAF experienced trouble with the alloy wheel cracking on Kittyhawk MKIV  as they were sometimes operating with a 2000 lbs bomb load so replaced the 27 inch wheels with 30inch steel ones

[fishplanebeer]

Having made the kit fairly recently I can heartedly recommend the Special Hobby P40E/Kittyhawk 1a in terms of accuracy, detail and quality of the mouldings. A real pleasure to build and the decals are good too.

 

Regards

Colin.

[fishplanebeer]

I think the market provides a really good selection of P40's especially given the recent AZ releases as well, just wish the same could be said for the Do217E I'm building which had to be the old and very dated (and inaccurate) Italeri kit as its still the only one out there.

 

Regards

Colin.

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

There were officially only 22 P-40D, all stayed with the USAAF, production ended in June 1941, Kittyhawk I began in August 1941,  Serials AK571 to 999 and AL100 to 230 made up the 560 Kittyhawk I, with references stating the first 20 had 4 wing guns, the rest 6, not sure if that makes AK571 to 90 the equivalent of the P-40D

USAAF P-40 production ends October 1940, P-40B begins February 1941 and effectively ends in March when P-40C begins which ends in May when P-40D begins which ends in June when P-40E begins and effectively ends in January 1942 when P-40F begins.

RAF Tomahawk I production ends in October 1940 when IIA begins which ends in November when IIB begins which ends in July 1941, Kittyhawk I begins in August 1941 and ends in December 1941 when Kittyhawk IA/P-40E-1 begins.

 

The P-40N-5 introduced the 27 inch wheels, the P-40N-40 went back to 30 inch wheels.  So 400 N-1 and 220 N-40 had the 30 inch wheels as built, the other 4,599 N models had the 27 inch wheels.

[Terry McGrady]

3 hours ago, fishplanebeer said:

Having made the kit fairly recently I can heartedly recommend the Special Hobby P40E/Kittyhawk 1a in terms of accuracy, detail and quality of the mouldings. A real pleasure to build and the decals are good too.

 

Regards

Colin.

Yes they are  Now the SH P40M has been released Mine arrived this morning So now SH produce Every MK apart from the P40D 

 

Cheers

Terry

[Giorgio N]

If the "new" AZ kits are the same they sold under the Legato brand, I'll leave them on the shop shelves.. my memories of these kits are soft details and lot of flash, making some parts very hard to clean to an acceptable level

Edited July 18, 2021 by Giorgio N

[alt-92]

5 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

If the "new" AZ kits are the same they sold under the Legato brand, I'll leave them on the shop shelves..

Came across some pictures yesterday, and I'd have to agree  not much better than the Mistercraft ex-Heller one.

[Madalo]

What are the opinions on the Hobby Boss kits of the B, E and M version? They seem to be pretty good!

[Rabbit Leader]

Crickey, how did this thread get unearthed again? I don’t even remember asking the question all those years ago! Good discussion all the same. 
Cheers.. Dave 

[fishplanebeer]

I know nothing about the 'new' AZ kits and had assumed they were part of their raft of new releases as in brand new moulds, so if they are just a re-box of the Legato kits then not worth considering given the quality and reasonable cost of the SH kits which are superb.

 

I won't be building another P40 for a while but if/when I do it will a SH kit.

 

Regards

Colin.

[72modeler]

21 hours ago, fishplanebeer said:

just wish the same could be said for the Do217E I'm building which had to be the old and very dated (and inaccurate) Italeri kit as its still the only one out there.

 

Regards

Cross your fingers, Colin, and hope that ICM gets around to doing them; if their Do-17/215's are any indication, they would be the class in the scale!

Mike

[IanC]

4 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Crickey, how did this thread get unearthed again? I don’t even remember asking the question all those years ago!

 

Thread archaeology. Backfilled digs unearthed again and new information revealed. 🙂

[Jackson Duvalier]

5 hours ago, Madalo said:

What are the opinions on the Hobby Boss kits of the B, E and M version? They seem to be pretty good!

 

Brazilian modeller Rato Marczak built a splendid little crashed P-40B from the Hobby Boss kit.  He did a good bit of work to upgrade it to his standards (detailed cockpit, corrected flaws, refined external details), which you may or may feel necessary.  

 

Hobby Boss kits go together easily; whether they are "good models" tends to be both hit-and-miss depending on the kit in question and the subjective biases of the modeller.  

 

My subjective biases led me to use Airfix plastic for my P-40CU, P-40B and P-40C models.  

 

The HB P-40E and M kits I know nothing about.

[fishplanebeer]

The build by Rato is quite superb, at first I thought it was 48th scale but it's actually 72nd!

 

Makes my effort at the P40E look decidedly amateur, but maybe one day.......

 

Regards

Colin.

[Hook]

On 7/17/2021 at 4:47 PM, 72modeler said:

 the cockpit is simplified and not correct, (Easy to either rob cockpit parts from a better kit, detail set, or scratchbuild.)

Another nice thing about the Special Hobby P-40 series is that they are an excelllent source of leftover bits to spruce up other / lesser kits - multiple seats, fuel tanks, props, canopies and instrument panels! 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre 

[fishplanebeer]

The only negative (I think) about the SH P40's is that the bomb they come with is the American 500lb version and therefore not correct for a British P40, however not being a purist I still used it anyway on my 112 squadron P40E. However as Andre says there are lots of spare parts included so plenty of options for future builds.

 

Perhaps one point to bear in mind is that the prop is quite delicate and it's not too difficult (for me anyway) to break off a prop blade so a wee bit of care is needed to avoid my mistake. On the plus side the open canopy option has a great fitting hood and is the best I've come across to date as it looks very accurate and avoids looking like it's just been dropped onto the model as is the case with many such open hoods in other kits.

 

 

Regards

Colin.

 

[72modeler]

5 hours ago, fishplanebeer said:

The build by Rato is quite superb

You got that right- and the Hobbyboss kit, to boot! That's one nice Tomahawk!

Mike

[Hornet133]

RAF P-40Es used American bombs regularly. Photo of 1000th bomb dropped by 3 Sqn RAAF in July 1942 from CV-P. Painted White colour.

 

 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Hornet133

[Giorgio N]

The Hobbyboss E and M seem to be based on the Academy kits, so seem to share the same shapes. In addition they are simplified kits compared to the competition... that is not necessarily a bad thing if the modeller likes this kind of kits. The problem is that the Academy kits can be found at prices only slightly higher than the HB ones, so I wonder if the latter are today decent value for money or not....

[72modeler]

11 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

I wonder if the latter are today decent value for money or not....

I guess it  might depend on how many other P-40 kits a modeler might already have. Over the years, I think I have bought every 1/72 version of the P-40 from every kit manufacturer. That being said, I think the SH P-40's are the most accurate and the best value for the money, as their detail parts are very nice, and unless a modeler wants to super detail one, a set of etched harnesses is abut all they need. Due to the  number of kits I have, as well as the number of vacform canopies and detail sets I also have collected, I could easily come up with the parts I need to improve  my Hasegawa or Academy kits. Somebody just starting out, who might not have a variety of P-40 kits or a a big spares inventory, might be better served with the SH kits, as they don't require a cockpit  or detail set, or a more accurate canopy. That being said,  there are many modelers more skilled than I who have not been seduced by the Dark Side of the Modeling Force who relish taking a less than perfect kit and making it into a masterpiece. 

 

I remember building so many Frog, Airfix , Heller, and KP kits that ended up being more putty and plasticard than  styrene- they were fun to build, I learned new skills and improved the ones I already had, but like many others, I now find myself whining if a panel line is out of place or the relief tube is the wrong color on the painting guide! From reading your comments over the years, it sounds like you came from  the same beginnings and thrashed the same vintage kits!

Mike