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Fun Things To Do With A 1/72 Monogram P-36


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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:

 

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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:

 

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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:

 

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Please forgive the variations in pictures, as I am experimenting with the camera...

 

And, finally, all three together:

 

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See boys and girls, what fun you can have with a few boxes of P-36 on a rainy day?

 

Ed

 

 

 

 

 

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I love the monogram P-36! I buy them every time I come across them. But I'm ashamed to say mine never looked this good. It's always weird to see an XP-40, the plane the USAAC should have gotten. But Curtis management got involved and messed it all up.

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Hi Ed!!!

 

Congratulations for this magnificent trio!!! BTW I am being reading the New P40 In Action from Squadron Books and was thinking about the XP-40...they tell that used the tenth P-36A and was playing with this idea...fortunately your post appears just in time to give me an idea and maybe will look for another Monogram P-36 kit to try my hand one of these days...and also was thinking in following your steps and obviously the fixed undercarriage variant and other things too.

 

Thank you very much for sharing!!!

Cheers,

 

Luis Alfonso

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Thanks for the kind comments, folks!

 

Hi Corsairfoxfouruncle, the appear from time to time on E-bay. Give it a try!

 

As for the yellowed decals, you can take the old decals, put them in a sealed plastic bag taped inside a window to prevent moisture, and the sun light will correct the yellowing, usually in a few days' time. I always wondered whether putting the model under a UV or sunlight type lamp would do the same for decals (and yellowed white enamel) on a model.

 

If anyone wants to try the XP-40 conversion, I've probably got the old magazine article somewhere in the stash -- maybe I could post or e-mail it out. LS Models also make one these days. I've seen it listed, but never saw the actual kit. Other LS kits I have are resin, frequently with no positive locations marked for struts, etc.

 

Glad you all enjoyed these. Felt they were something a little different.

 

Ed

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I love your XP-40 conversion.  It's one of my favourite looking planes with the rear ventral radiator as per early flights - pity it didn't cool very well.  I had been thinking to backdate a P-40 but maybe your prototype route is better.

Cheers

Will

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Nice little collection.  The P-36 - P-40 family certainly lends itself to collecting, with a lot of interesting colour schemes etc.

 

Andrew

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Very nice set!

I do like Monogram P36! - I still consider it very good kit.

If you have another you can do XP 37! ;)

 

Let me show next example what else can be done with Monogram P36. Below is link to mine scratch conversion to 9 cylinder fixed u/c Royal Thai AF Hawk 75 N. I made it many years ago with hand painted decals....:

Regards

Jerzy-Wojtek

 

Edited by JWM
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