1/48th AMT P-40L Warhawk, 86th FS/ 79th FG, USAAF, Italy 1944

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,

                 I have a soft spot for the P-40 and especially the Merlin engined P-40F & L,...... so when I saw photos of this aircraft, named `Skipper' and flown by Lt. EE. Parson`s of the 86th Fighter Squadron, 79th Fighter Group which was based in Italy 1944 and recovered from the location  where it had ditched off the Italian coast,.... I just had to model it and I have finally I got around to it!.

The model is the AMT kit, straight from the box and it was brush painted, with decals coming mostly from the Sky Decals sheet.

I also did the same aircraft in 1/72nd scale some time ago! 

 

Here is the real aircraft, during and after recovery,.....photos from the web;

And restored;

 

And here is the model;

 

 

 

EDIT,...... I found this written about the aircraft here;http://airplane.over-blog.com/article-5440092.html

 

The P-40L Ser.No.42-10857, belonged to 86th FS, 79th FG.

Coded "X49" and bearing the nickname "Skipper" on port side

(maybe "Irvine" faintly readable on starboard), it was the

personal mount of Lt. Edward E. Parsons (whose name can be

clearly seen on the fuselage too). It wasn't flown by him

however, on January 31, 1944. On board there was instead 2/Lt.

Michael Mauritz who, during an armed recce mission over Anzio

beachhead, apparently suffered engine troubles (no signs of

enemy bullets has been found on the plane). The engine seized

and the pilot was compelled to effect a perfect ditching very

near to the shore-line, most probably right on the water-edge.

Last time he was seen he was on the shore and was trying to

hide in a bush with German troops heading towards him.

He was listed as Missing in Action (presumably Prisoner of War).

 

The plane was most probably washed away from the shore by the tides and

brought a few hundred feet from the shore.

During the years the P-40 was slowly covered by the sand that acted as a sort

of "protection" to the fuselage and wings.

          

Edited March 21, 2020 by tonyot

[RMCS]

Fantastic 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Very well done on your “F” Tony. 

[Shorty84]

Hi Tony,

 

your Warhawk came out great  Recently I picked up the same kit and intend to build it as one of the machines deployed from USS Ranger for Operation Torch.

 

Cheers

Markus

[tonyot]

1 hour ago, RMCS said:

Fantastic 

Thanks mate.

 

1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Very well done on your “F” Tony. 

Cheers CCFU,.... glad you like it.

 

3 minutes ago, Shorty84 said:

Hi Tony,

 

your Warhawk came out great  Recently I picked up the same kit and intend to build it as one of the machines deployed from USS Ranger for Operation Torch.

 

Cheers

Markus

Cheers Markus,..... good luck with your`s mate. 

[binbrook87]

That's really very nice indeed. Looks great in those markings... and BRUSH painted!! Wow. 👌

[tonyot]

1 hour ago, binbrook87 said:

That's really very nice indeed. Looks great in those markings... and BRUSH painted!! Wow. 👌

Thanks mate...... it was the markings that interested me.  

[bigbadbadge]

Crikey that is a cracking model fella. Great paintwork. The decalling is wonderful, I like the crew names script . The initial photos are great, imagine modelling the restored machine. 

Great work as usual Tony

All the best

Chris

[tonyot]

26 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Crikey that is a cracking model fella. Great paintwork. The decalling is wonderful, I like the crew names script . The initial photos are great, imagine modelling the restored machine. 

Great work as usual Tony

All the best

Chris

Cheers Chris,...... yeah I never thought about modelling the aircraft as it looks now,...... that would look amazing!  

[John Masters]

Super!  

[tonyot]

1 minute ago, John D.C. Masters said:

Super!  

Thanks!

 

[Rob K.]

Like the marking and colour scheme 👍

[Troy Smith]

16 hours ago, tonyot said:

And restored;

preserved, rather than 'restored' fortunately. 

 (I'm thinking of the restoration disaster of the P-40 in from the Egyptian desert) 

 

Great model as well!

[Steve27752]

Very nice............However the starboard tail fin marking, should be Red closest to the leading edge.

[Mig88]

Simply great!! Well finished!

 

Miguel

[tonyot]

3 hours ago, Steve27752 said:

Very nice............However the starboard tail fin marking, should be Red closest to the leading edge.

Thanks Steve,...... I know that it `should be',..... but the real aircraft had it the wrong way around! It was one of the points that I picked up during my research,.....it actually wrankled with me putting it on the wrong way around,.... but that i how it was!

Here is another model from the net by another modeller who had done his research too;

 

Cheers,

         Tony

[tonyot]

8 hours ago, Rob K. said:

Like the marking and colour scheme 👍

Cheers Rob,.. yeah that`s what drew me to the subject.

 

8 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

preserved, rather than 'restored' fortunately. 

 (I'm thinking of the restoration disaster of the P-40 in from the Egyptian desert) 

 

Great model as well!

Cheers Troy,..... well OK we`ll call it `conserved' as it has had some work done on it snce it was recovered from the sea! Yeah the Kittyhawk from the desert is a disaster story in every sense of the word.

 

2 hours ago, Mig88 said:

Simply great!! Well finished!

 

Miguel

Thanks Miguel,...... glad you like it. 

[The Spadgent]

Beautiful finish. I have the trumpeter 1/32 P40 I picked up for a steal at Ian Allen in Birmingham before it closed its doors for good last year. Hopefully If I can get it built anywhere near your lofty standards I’ll be a happy bunny. Brilliant work. Was there no WIP for this one? 
 

Johnny.

[Bedders]

Great job Tony, and wonderful photos of the recovered real aircraft. I too have soft spot for the P-40 but havent built one yet. This is one to bookmark for when the time comes.

 

Justin

[Tiger331]

Great Job, Tony !

 

I have always wanted to do this particular aircraft in 1:48 scale and I have always been puzzled why Hasegawa did not offer a re-tooled version in their P-40 family. 

 

For those who may be interested, the original resides in a marvelous museum to the South of Rome which would be well worth a visit once the COVID-19 crisis has passed. The Museo Storico Piana delle Orme is a bit of an oddity in some ways. Evidently it was founded by a gentlemen who made a fortune renting out tanks and AFVs for use in many of the war films made in the 1960s and 1970s but who was also heavily involved in agriculture. Since the museum sits in an area with a rich history of agriculture (it was known as the Garden of Italy and the site of a massive relocation of the Italian population from poorer parts of the North during Mussolini's rule to boost agricultural productivity in preparation for the Colonial Wars and WWII during the 1930s) it possesess a huge collection of agricultural equipment in one row of sheds with an equally large collection of Tanks, AFVs and other military vehicles in an opposite row of sheds. One of its unique features (in both the Agricultural and Military Sections) is a series of full size 'dioramas' charting the history of both the Agricultural experiment and the various Colonial Wars (Eritrea, Ethiopia etc) and WWII campaigns that the Italians were involved in. The P-40F diorama is in the section dedicated to the Allied Landings that took place in the local area (Anzio etc). The museum has a couple of more contemporary aviation exhibits including the obligatory F-104 Starfighter and a C-119 Flying Boxcar but is definitely aimed more at the Tank/AFV enthusiast. The majority of vehicles are tightly packed in, given the sheer number on display but they still offer a wealth of reference material for modellers. The museum is located just south of the town of Latina which is, itself, roughly 1-1 1/2 hours drive south of Rome.

 

Anyway, congratulations on your build (especially picking up on the error with the fin flash which can clearly be seen on one of your reference photos).

 

Well Done, Sir !

 

Mark 

 

 

 

       

[tonyot]

11 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Beautiful finish. I have the trumpeter 1/32 P40 I picked up for a steal at Ian Allen in Birmingham before it closed its doors for good last year. Hopefully If I can get it built anywhere near your lofty standards I’ll be a happy bunny. Brilliant work. Was there no WIP for this one? 
 

Johnny.

Lucky lad,....I paid an arm and a leg for my Trumpy P-40F! Pity they didn`t do a long fuselage variant as it would have opened up some nice decal options. 

Lofty standards,.....I don`t think so Johnny,.... but nice of you to say so!

Sorry there was no WIP,..... I have been building this one for years on and off,....... I don`t think I had a digital camera when I started LOL! I`m already building another,....should be a Checkertail Clan one.

 

All the best

                   Tony.

[tonyot]

7 hours ago, Bedders said:

Great job Tony, and wonderful photos of the recovered real aircraft. I too have soft spot for the P-40 but havent built one yet. This is one to bookmark for when the time comes.

 

Justin

Thanks Justin,...... nice of you to say so,...... I have had this subject bookmarked myself since they recovered the real thing,...... but then I do like P-40`s. 

[tonyot]

5 hours ago, Tiger331 said:

Great Job, Tony !

 

I have always wanted to do this particular aircraft in 1:48 scale and I have always been puzzled why Hasegawa did not offer a re-tooled version in their P-40 family. 

 

For those who may be interested, the original resides in a marvelous museum to the South of Rome which would be well worth a visit once the COVID-19 crisis has passed. The Museo Storico Piana delle Orme is a bit of an oddity in some ways. Evidently it was founded by a gentlemen who made a fortune renting out tanks and AFVs for use in many of the war films made in the 1960s and 1970s but who was also heavily involved in agriculture. Since the museum sits in an area with a rich history of agriculture (it was known as the Garden of Italy and the site of a massive relocation of the Italian population from poorer parts of the North during Mussolini's rule to boost agricultural productivity in preparation for the Colonial Wars and WWII during the 1930s) it possesess a huge collection of agricultural equipment in one row of sheds with an equally large collection of Tanks, AFVs and other military vehicles in an opposite row of sheds. One of its unique features (in both the Agricultural and Military Sections) is a series of full size 'dioramas' charting the history of both the Agricultural experiment and the various Colonial Wars (Eritrea, Ethiopia etc) and WWII campaigns that the Italians were involved in. The P-40F diorama is in the section dedicated to the Allied Landings that took place in the local area (Anzio etc). The museum has a couple of more contemporary aviation exhibits including the obligatory F-104 Starfighter and a C-119 Flying Boxcar but is definitely aimed more at the Tank/AFV enthusiast. The majority of vehicles are tightly packed in, given the sheer number on display but they still offer a wealth of reference material for modellers. The museum is located just south of the town of Latina which is, itself, roughly 1-1 1/2 hours drive south of Rome.

 

Anyway, congratulations on your build (especially picking up on the error with the fin flash which can clearly be seen on one of your reference photos).

 

Well Done, Sir !

 

Mark 

 

 

 

       

Hiya Mark,..... yeah surprising how Hasegawa never went for the P-40F or L,.... a bit of a shame really. Glad you like the model and spotted the deliberate mistake re the fin flash,...... and thank you so much for the info about the museum,.......I love Italy and I will definitely make a point about visiting in the future. I had often wondered what else was displayed alongside the P-40,..... well thanks to you I now know!

All the best

                  Tony

[F-32]

Love it, that is super cool work!

[tonyot]

58 minutes ago, F-32 said:

Love it, that is super cool work!

Thanks mate, glad you like it.