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1/48th AMT P-40L Warhawk, 325th FG `Chequertail Clan' USAAF.


tonyot

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Hiya Folks,

                 Many of you will know that I have a soft spot for the P-40 and especially the Merlin engined variants,...... and here is my latest,.... a P-40L-5-CU named `Lighthouse Lou' of the 325th FG in Tunisia during 1943. The name came from the pilot, Capt. Joseph A. Bloomer apparently having a liking for strafing lighthouses in enemy territory!I had originally built this model with standard blue and white stars as per most photos that I could find of the unit,..... as the single reference photo I had only showed the nose,.....BUT,..... just as I thought that I had finished I found another photo showing the fuselage roundels to have a yellow surround and as others from the same time period had the red borders and bars added to the wing stars,... I added these too! 

 

The photo which just shows the yellow outline to the star;

1-lighthouse-lou-lgardner-180226-5a9366b

And another general pic showing similar aircraft with yellow surrounds to the markings,... the Dark Green and Dark Earth machine that is nearest is interesting too;

Curtiss-P-40-L-Warhawk-325-FG319-FS-W91-

 

The model was an experiment with newer paints than my preferred Aeromaster/Polly Scale paints which are now running out,..... so the finish isn`t brilliant as it was sanded and painted again a number of times,..... the eventual mixture was from Hataka with Humbrol enamel Dark Earth. Due to this it has been on and off the shelf of doom a number of times and almost didn`t get finished.  I`ve just noticed that the masking tape used for some last minute rectification has lifted one of the frame lines from the rear glazing,.....ah well! This glazing was missing from the kit and I made some replacements from clear food packaging! I also used a set of wheels from the spares box,...... it was one of those models that I ws just glad to get over the finish line and it probably should have a set of resin wheels with suitable tread on them,..... aha well! 

 

How it looked with the blue and white stars;

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And the finished model;

 

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DSCF8734-NEW.jpg

 

Cheers

         Tony

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1 minute ago, bigbadbadge said:

Another cracker Tony, great work fella and looks greatvin tge chequer tail scheme.  I am still ploughing through my shelf of doom models too. 

How did the new paints go on ? Were they easy to brush on?

Chris

Cheers Chris,........ no the paints were not that great to be fair,.... and the Hataka ones from the RAF In Africa paint set are optimised for brush work too, so it says,...... very wishy washy,.... especially the Middle Stone,.... and needed lots of sanding inbetween coats,.... which is probably why I lost interest. 

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4 minutes ago, Viking said:

Another winner Tony! I'm always amazed at your brush painting skills. Atre the tail checks painted too?

 

Cheers

 

John

Thanks John,..... no the chequers are decals from the old AmTech kit applied to a yellow painted base,...... although I had to touch up one or two.  

Cheers

           Tony

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5 minutes ago, binbrook87 said:

What a stunner! Cracking paintwork as always 👍

Thanks mate.

 

2 minutes ago, SAT69 said:

Beautiful build with excellent weathering and staining. That's one to be proud of.

Cheers mate,..... I wasn`t sure of this one to be fair.  

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Brilliant, Tony -

 

Great brush painting here - I also brush paint but I use the Revell Aqua colour range of acrylic paints.

 

Regards

 

Dave

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9 hours ago, Cellarfrog said:

fantastic. Thanks for sharing, excellent build.

Thanks mate.

 

6 hours ago, Epeeman said:

Brilliant, Tony -

 

Great brush painting here - I also brush paint but I use the Revell Aqua colour range of acrylic paints.

 

Regards

 

Dave

Cheers Dave,..... I tried Revell Aqua but found them too thick,...... I take it that you water them down? If so,.... what do you thin them with please mate,..... I might give them another  try?

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51 minutes ago, Greg Law said:

Well worth the effort to finish it.

Perfect timing to with the news that the P-40N Gloria is being rescued from a rusty shed in New Zealand. 

Thanks Greg,.... funny you should mention Gloria Lyons,..... I have an old Mauve P-40N that I`ve dug out to renovate and it wears those markings,...... I`m going to try to keep the nose panels during the refurb and replace the roundels etc. I`ve just watched a good NZ TV report about the recovery,...... didn`t realise John had a Hudson too! 

 

14 minutes ago, 72modeler said:

Mighty fine brush painting, Tony- as usua;! Love the scheme and the markings; you did a wonderful job on the AMT kit. 

Mike

Thanks Mike,..... I hate the flimsy nose panels on the kit, they are a nightmare to get right!

 

12 minutes ago, Hawkers Finest said:

Very nice indeed.

Regards

Hawkers finest

Thanks very much mate. 

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11 hours ago, tonyot said:

Thanks mate.

 

Cheers Dave,..... I tried Revell Aqua but found them too thick,...... I take it that you water them down? If so,.... what do you thin them with please mate,..... I might give them another  try?

Hi Tony -

 

Yes, the paint is meant to be thick because you have to thin it down before use.   I really rate this paint for brush painting as it goes.  I simply use tap water to thin - I aim to get it so that is like milk thickness.

 

Regards

 

Dave

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1 hour ago, Epeeman said:

Hi Tony -

 

Yes, the paint is meant to be thick because you have to thin it down before use.   I really rate this paint for brush painting as it goes.  I simply use tap water to thin - I aim to get it so that is like milk thickness.

 

Regards

 

Dave

Brilliant,... thanks Dave I shall give it a try. 

 

4 hours ago, RMCS said:

Awsome 

Thanks bud. 

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Nicely done, Tony, and great job on the painting in general and those checkertails in particular.  I too have a soft spot for the P-40F/L and also those AMT/AMtech/etc. kits, having built loads of them over the years (working on two more as I write this).  I'm hoping that Eduard will release the Merlin-engine variants as part of its rumored new-tooled P-40 series, and sent them some unpublished photos of one airplane with great markings as an incentive...I have many more if Eduard is interested.

 

One minor correction: the pilot of "Lighthouse Louie" was the 325th FG's CO, Lt. Col. Gordon Austin.  I met him about 15 years ago and had a chance to chat about his time with the unit.  Joe Bloomer's P-40L was named "Trixie."

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

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On 9/18/2020 at 3:45 PM, Mark Joyce said:

Nicely done, Tony, and great job on the painting in general and those checkertails in particular.  I too have a soft spot for the P-40F/L and also those AMT/AMtech/etc. kits, having built loads of them over the years (working on two more as I write this).  I'm hoping that Eduard will release the Merlin-engine variants as part of its rumored new-tooled P-40 series, and sent them some unpublished photos of one airplane with great markings as an incentive...I have many more if Eduard is interested.

 

One minor correction: the pilot of "Lighthouse Louie" was the 325th FG's CO, Lt. Col. Gordon Austin.  I met him about 15 years ago and had a chance to chat about his time with the unit.  Joe Bloomer's P-40L was named "Trixie."

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

Thanks Mark and cheers for the update re the pilot,..... my apologies,..... duff info! I researched this one years ago, then the model went on the shelf of doom and I couldn`t find the reference stuff that I had put together when I came back to the model,..... so I did some quick `surfing' with obvious results!! 

 

16 hours ago, Roberto said:

Great scheme, well done!

Thanks Roberto.

 

12 hours ago, russ c said:

Great job on that old kit Tony, really nice work

Thanks Russ. 

 

12 hours ago, Ron Pearcy said:

Excellent, a joy to see.

Cheers Ron.

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On 9/15/2020 at 6:58 PM, tonyot said:

Cheers Chris,........ no the paints were not that great to be fair,.... and the Hataka ones from the RAF In Africa paint set are optimised for brush work too, so it says,...... very wishy washy,.... especially the Middle Stone,.... and needed lots of sanding inbetween coats,.... which is probably why I lost interest. 

Lovely build mate, those decals on the tail don't look easy to apply but you've done a great job.

 

I've had issues spraying the Hataka mid stone strangely enough. The azure went on lovely, but the MS appeared to be quite grainy causing issues with the airbrush. I cleaned it out a few times in the ultrasonic bath without success.

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