Jump to content

P-40B Warhawk, Airfix 1/72

ernestf

By ernestf
in Work in Progress - Aircraft

 Share

Recommended Posts

ernestf Established Member

ernestf

Posted
Posted

Hope to be a relatively easy and quick build for this Airfix 1/72 P-40B kit. No optional parts or PE to add, just OOB.

Watch a number of online video and build log, it should really be the case.

spacer.png

 

2x sprue with clear parts and decals. 

spacer.png

 

First of all, give the sprue a soap bath, toothbrush treatment and let it dry.

spacer.png

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ernestf Established Member

ernestf

Posted
  • Author
Posted

cut parts for cockpit, fuselage and wings and the stabilizers. Clean the nubs and ejection mold lines.

Test fit to confirm that it is a small and precise kit indeed, only with a little gap in forward area where the wings meet the fuselage on the bottom, upper wing roots and cowling / air intake. Nothing major, and in fact, with a bit of cleaning up of mold flash where parts are conneting, most of the seams can be well managed.

spacer.pngspacer.png

spacer.png

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ernestf Established Member

ernestf

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

Prepare the cockpit and main gear wells, a coat of GSI black #1500 primer, followed by green - I found this green from my inventory, it is actually meant for Gundam (GSI UG series) but seems to be quite match with the box suggested color.

spacer.png

 

Cockpit floor is black primer, followed by Gaia 1001 silver, and a light coat of the same green.

spacer.png

 

Next is to add some color to the buttons, Tamiya enamel black, white, yellow and red. Also tried to use masking tape to make the harness.

spacer.png

 

After glued the tape in position, I mixed a bit of yellow, black and white and brush it on the belt, and use black and silver to highlight in different area of the belt. I did not add any metal part or wire this time.

 

Dry brush silver and a wash with AK weathering liquid. 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

First of my WWII project, it is fun so far !

Thanks for reading. 

Edited by ernestf
  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ernestf Established Member

ernestf

Posted
  • Author
Posted
42 minutes ago, 2996 Victor said:

Great work on the interior, the detail painting is very effective, as are the tape harnesses. How did you make the buckles?

 

Cheers,

Mark

Thanks Mark again. I did not make or add the buckles. It is covered by some silver dots only. 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
TonyOD Very Obsessed Member

TonyOD

Posted
Posted

Will follow this with interest. I built the same kit for the Under A Tenner GB a while back, it was very quick and easy but you’re making a much better job of it than me!

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ernestf Established Member

ernestf

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
11 minutes ago, TonyOD said:

Will follow this with interest. I built the same kit for the Under A Tenner GB a while back, it was very quick and easy but you’re making a much better job of it than me!

 

11 minutes ago, John said:

Congratulations are in order - I've yet to build one of these without breaking the control column 😱

 

Following with interest.

 

John

 

Thanks Tony and John for the kind words. It is fun indeed ! I am way too late to try WWII kit, and way too late to try Airfix especially their new tooling planes. And yes, I almost killed the control column when cleaning the ejection mold line with pen knife.

Edited by ernestf
  • Like 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ernestf Established Member

ernestf

Posted
  • Author
Posted

While the weather is good here, applied a thin coat of flat clear inside the office and closed the fuselage, also installed the cowling and air-intake. Seams are minimal, thanks to the good engineering.

Test fit the wing connection to fuselage, no big issue but an obvious gap on the right wing root. Will deal with it after initial sanding the airframe. 

spacer.png

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ernestf Established Member

ernestf

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

Applied Green Stuff putty to fill the gaps on wing root, while using GSI liquid putty for the rest of seams. After sanding, scribed / sharpened panel lines with a 0.1mm chisel.

spacer.png

 

A layer of #1500 primer to check surface

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

And unfortunately, I have lost one of the wheel cap while preparing the rest of the small parts.

spacer.png

Edited by ernestf
  • Like 1
  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
ernestf Established Member

ernestf

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Test fit the landing gears and canopy - seems all fitting quite well.

spacer.png

 

The canopy masking - it took me a while to think if I am going to mask it myself or go for Eduard or other brand pre-cut mask, which come with a cost plus expensive shipping to Singapore - end up it will be more expensive than the kit. Hence, this encourage me to do it and safe the $. 

First time ever for me to do a WWII fighter and somewhat a 1/72 with such a small canopy. It feels more troublesome than my 1/144 F-22A canopy masking !!

OK - use the max power of my eyes, with help of magnifying glasses, here it is WIP

spacer.png

 

After 30 mins, seems it is done. 

spacer.png

 

Now a question to all subject matter expert :

In some pictures from internet of P-40B, I found that the windshield has the outer frame only and no supporting frame, and there is another glass structure (sorry, dont know how to call it, HUD in old days ????? ) inside the cockpit which has a frame. So from the outside it look like the windshield has supporting frame but actually it does not. 

Am I mixing up something here ? 

Why the question - I am thinking if I should mask the windshield as is (see from last pic), or I should cut away two strips each side ... 

 

Any suggestion / comments please ?

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites
John_W Very Obsessed Member

John_W

Posted
Posted

The windshield is a smooth curve, no external panel lines. 

Other debates, what colour is the fuselage behind the rear canopy, and were shoulder straps fitted to US aircraft? 

You will get several conflicting answers and references for those questions...

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ernestf Established Member

ernestf

Posted
  • Author
Posted
41 minutes ago, John_W said:

The windshield is a smooth curve, no external panel lines. 

Other debates, what colour is the fuselage behind the rear canopy, and were shoulder straps fitted to US aircraft? 

You will get several conflicting answers and references for those questions...

Thanks a lot John for advice.

Here is my take on the P-40B canopy after some research on internet on the real thing and also the larger scale models (1/24 to 1/48).

spacer.pngspacer.png


So no external panel line / frame on windshield.

 

Per the color of the fuselage right after the canopy - I guess you were referring to the area covered by the glasses. I saw some modelling examples with the same color of the airframe, and some other with a lighter tone. I am currently using the same lighter green color as I used for the cockpit for that area.

 

On shoulder straps - are you referring to the "walking path" on the wings ?

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites
KeithR Newbie

KeithR

Posted
Posted

I built this kit a while back and it didn't go as smoothly as yours. Your canopy masking looks much better than mine.

I left the outer windshield un-framed and scratched an inner windshield. It doesn't look too bad from a distance and adds a bit of detail even though it's not terribly accurate. Here is a link to my build.  Link here. There is also a link to the RFI in that thread.

Cheers,

Keith.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ngantek Very Obsessed Member

Ngantek

Posted
Posted

Nice sharp work on the canopy frame. Wish mine turned out like that.

 

The interior frame is, I suspect, a slab of bullet proof glass. I suspect Keith's approach is the best one, by cutting a rectangle out of, maybe, a slightly rigid bit of clear plastic (I've used the 'premium, thicker' A4 clear binder sheafs in the past), with a painted side would look really nice.

 

Andy

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ernestf Established Member

ernestf

Posted
  • Author
Posted
11 minutes ago, KeithR said:

I built this kit a while back and it didn't go as smoothly as yours. Your canopy masking looks much better than mine.

I left the outer windshield un-framed and scratched an inner windshield. It doesn't look too bad from a distance and adds a bit of detail even though it's not terribly accurate. Here is a link to my build.  Link here. There is also a link to the RFI in that thread.

Cheers,

Keith.

Thanks a lot Keith !!

i am Impressed by your build and modification, also inspired by your added inner glass frame too. I really want to make one too - it is tiny, let see if I can make it in next few weeks.

Just checked the online manual of Airfix 1/48 p-40b, that little glass frame is included !

 

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ernestf Established Member

ernestf

Posted
  • Author
Posted
2 minutes ago, Ngantek said:

Nice sharp work on the canopy frame. Wish mine turned out like that.

 

The interior frame is, I suspect, a slab of bullet proof glass. I suspect Keith's approach is the best one, by cutting a rectangle out of, maybe, a slightly rigid bit of clear plastic (I've used the 'premium, thicker' A4 clear binder sheafs in the past), with a painted side would look really nice.

 

Andy

Thanks Andy. I would try for sure to make one inner frame.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...