P-40-CU, 54th Pursuit Group 1942 - Airfix 1/72

[RainierHooker]

Hello all, after a months-long hiatus over the busy spring and summer months, I've returned to evenings at the model bench. Just like my last reintroduction to the hobby, with that hiatus being a nearly two-decade one, I started back into the fray with what has become an old friend: Airfix's recent line of P-40s in 1/72 scale. Heres the result of my first weekend back...

 

 

In terms of breadth of use and users the Curtiss P-40 was probably one of the most important aircraft to come out of American industry. Used by a staggering number of air forces in a staggering number of roles the fighter could be found in many shapes and schemes that still capture the mind of historians and modelers nearly a century after the type's introduction. Fighter, bomber, trainer, racer, American, British, Chinese, French, Russian, Indonesian, Turkish…

P-40-CU "54P97" was a very early production aircraft that, at barely two years old, was looking somewhat worn when it was photographed by a USAAF photographer in early 1942. Assigned to the 54th Pursuit Group, this aircraft had just transferred from Hamilton Field in California to Paine Field just north of Seattle, Washington. The 54th at the time was assigned to coastal defense duties but was soon to transition to the P-39 and deploy to Alaska to defend the Aleutians. In anticipation of this transfer, "97" was emblazoned with a shark's mouth just before it was to be "donated" to the Chinese Air Force's "American Volunteer Group", better known as the Flying Tigers.

This model is my fourth time building Airfix's recent 1/72 kit offered variously as a P-40B, Tomahawk, or Hawk 81-A2. With minor detail changes, this kit can be made to represent a great many different early P-40 types. As "54P97" was an early production P-40-CU (CU wasn't a specific sub model, but the government identifier for the Curtiss factory in Buffalo, New York), this required changing the wing armament to single .30-caliber guns and filling and re-scribing some panel lines on the wings. In the period photograph of the aircraft, she is shown with both wing and cowl guns removed, so I simply drilled holes for the ports and left them empty. The model was completed with photo etched seatbelts and gunsights, and aftermarket decals from AML. The kit was otherwise built out of the box and painted with Vallejo Air paints.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2022 by RainierHooker
grammar

[RainierHooker]

And a few more pictures along with the original photo that provided inspiration for the scheme:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fred piket]

brilliant! I'm jealous at your skills

[AndrewCJ50]

Nicely done, I like the masked shadow underneath the port wing.  Perhaps somebody had put the star under the wrong wing?  I note your control surfaces are also a different shade of OD

 

Andrew

[RainierHooker]

36 minutes ago, AndrewCJ50 said:

Nicely done, I like the masked shadow underneath the port wing.  Perhaps somebody had put the star under the wrong wing?  I note your control surfaces are also a different shade of OD

 

Andrew

This period was somewhat transitional for insignia on US Army aircraft. They had recently changed from one roundel under/on-top-of each wing to only one among other changes. This was exacerbated by the fact that Curtiss used slightly non-standard colors, which is especially apparent in the grays. So when crews went to change insignia, they were presented with a mis match unless the repainted a whole panel.

[Samuraiwarrior]

That is a nice P-40 you have done there. Always have a soft spot for the sharkmouth markings.

Thanks for the history and explanation of your build and interpretation of the subject..