The French Connection, P-40F Warhawk G.C. II/5 Tunisia 1943

[modelling minion]

Continuing my trio of builds of Curtiss' finest next on the list alphabetically comes a 1/48 AMT P-40F, to be finished as an aircraft operated by the Free French in North Africa. 

The AMT kit is getting a bit long in the tooth now but is still a nicely detailed model if a little sparse in the cockpit by modern standards but considering the cockpit parts are almost a scale foot thick there's a very good chance this one will have it's lid closed so I think the addition of a set of seatbelts will be all that is required for this build. This kit is one of a set I got off Ebay about 10 years ago and didn't come in a box but did come still sealed in a plastic bag and complete with a very nice set of decals (which will go straight into the spares box!) and a set of photocopied instructions.

The kit;

 

Instructions and kit decals;

 

These aircraft were delivered in the standard RAF desert scheme of Dark Earth/Middle Stone/Azure Blue with their original owners markings over painted in either a very fresh batch of paint or a different colour and looked like the example in the picture below;

 

More on the USAAF K in another thread.

 

I have a very nice set of decals for this project by Berna;

 

 

Not sure if I will use the rudder stripe decals as they don't usually fit very well so will probably just paint them.

 

Another subject I have wanted to build in a long time and am very much looking forward to starting.

 

Thanks for looking in and as always any comments and criticism are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

 

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[Dansk]

This is gonna look super cool craig what a great choice. good luck with this build.

Definitely agree: paint the tail insignia, much easier than faffing with the decal. 👍

 

[modelling minion]

1 hour ago, Dansk said:

This is gonna look super cool craig what a great choice. good luck with this build.

Definitely agree: paint the tail insignia, much easier than faffing with the decal. 👍

 

Thanks mate, as I said its an aircraft I have wanted to build for a long time and I'm glad to have the opportunity to do so.

 

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[TEMPESTMK5]

Good morning Craig 

Very good choice of subject I wish you a very enjoyable build ...

 

Best regards 

Patrice  

[modelling minion]

1 hour ago, TEMPESTMK5 said:

Good morning Craig 

Very good choice of subject I wish you a very enjoyable build ...

 

Best regards 

Patrice  

Good morning Patrice and thank you very much my friend, I hope you enjoy the build.

 

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[Muchmirth]

Looks like it will be a cracker too!

Paul

[modelling minion]

1 hour ago, Muchmirth said:

Looks like it will be a cracker too!

Paul

Thanks Paul, I hope you think so at the end!😁

 

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[TEMPESTMK5]

Good afternoon Craig 

 If you search on the internet "curtiss p 40 groupe de chasse lafayette" you will find very interested infos  

Best regards 

Patrice 

[modelling minion]

3 hours ago, TEMPESTMK5 said:

Good afternoon Craig 

 If you search on the internet "curtiss p 40 groupe de chasse lafayette" you will find very interested infos  

Best regards 

Patrice 

Thank you Patrice, I have found some very useful pictures.

Very much appreciated my friend.

Best regards.

Craig.

 

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[Dansk]

Where's your build Patrice? @TEMPESTMK5

We need another french themed desert gb from you. how about a mirage 2000 for example? 

(sorry for thread hijack craig)

 

 

[TEMPESTMK5]

17 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Thank you Patrice, I have found some very useful pictures.

Very much appreciated my friend.

Best regards.

Craig.

 

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Good morning Craig

I am very pleased tho know that you have found useful pictures

Best regards

Patrice

[TEMPESTMK5]

10 hours ago, Dansk said:

Where's your build Patrice? @TEMPESTMK5

We need another french themed desert gb from you. how about a mirage 2000 for example? 

(sorry for thread hijack craig)

 

 

Good morning Paul

 I plan to build the Arma Hobby Hurricane IID for this Gb but I want to finish my current build the Armahobby P39Q Airacobra ...

Best regards

Patrice

[Dansk]

1 hour ago, TEMPESTMK5 said:

Good morning Paul

 I plan to build the Arma Hobby Hurricane IID for this Gb but I want to finish my current build the Armahobby P39Q Airacobra ...

Best regards

Patrice

nice choice mon ami. tres bon. 👌

[stevej60]

Great choice Craig and very rare to see a French machine too.

[modelling minion]

26 minutes ago, stevej60 said:

Great choice Craig and very rare to see a French machine too.

Cheers Steve, I thought it would be good to show one of the less well known but very important operators of the P-40 in the desert.

 

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[modelling minion]

Much like the K my F has also been started, and they are at a very similar point.

The fuselage for the F has been simpler in that the tail doesn't need replacing like the K and the moulded joint was pretty good, just needed a little gentle sanding and all was well. Like the K the panel around the exhausts needs to be fitted and just like the K it was a very good fit indeed;

 

I used the same picture in my K thread but the results are identical and the picture is actually of the F. And just like the K I now have two complete fuselage halves to work with;

 

I also did the wings and drilled out the wing guns;

 

And the exhausts were drilled out too, seen here with an Airfix one that got the same treatment;

 

You may have noticed that I used some of the same pictures in my K thread as some of the parts are identical but rest assured that where there will be differences later on in the builds I will take pictures of the different kits.

 

Next will be to start painting the cockpits.

 

Thats it for today so thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

 

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[Dansk]

That's a great start mate. your attention to detail now with the drilled exhausts etc will certainly enhance the end result.

[modelling minion]

24 minutes ago, Dansk said:

That's a great start mate. your attention to detail now with the drilled exhausts etc will certainly enhance the end result.

Thanks mate, it does make a difference to the look of them, better than just flat plastic.

 

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[franky boy]

Tidy work on your builds Craig. 
 

The AMT kit looks pretty good for its age. 
 

James

[modelling minion]

1 hour ago, franky boy said:

Tidy work on your builds Craig. 
 

The AMT kit looks pretty good for its age. 
 

James

Thanks mate, yes for kit of its age it is nicely detailed and so far fits together very well.

 

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[81-er]

Nice start on this one too

 

James

[modelling minion]

27 minutes ago, 81-er said:

Nice start on this one too

 

James

Thanks mate.

 

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[PlaStix]

Hi Craig. Hope you are well. Looks like you are off to a good start on what should be an interesting build. Looking forward to following your progress.

Kind regards,

Stix

[modelling minion]

11 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Hi Craig. Hope you are well. Looks like you are off to a good start on what should be an interesting build. Looking forward to following your progress.

Kind regards,

Stix

Hi Stix, thanks for the kind words mate, I'm hoping to have an update later today with a bit of progress.

 

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[modelling minion]

A bit later than promised but here is an update on how this this one is going.

I apologise in advance if you're following this one and my AMT K as I will be using the same pictures for the cockpit as they are identical in the two kits, when it comes to the main assembly then you will see differences.

 

The cockpit for these isn't bad OOTB but is a long way from what we would expect Eduard's new kits to look like when they come out, the only addition I have made is to use some generic Eduard seatbelts, especially as the cockpit canopies will be closed. So this is what the cockpit looks like;

 

 

The kit instrument panels have been painted up;

 

Next job will be closing up the fuselage halves, the cockpit assembly is fitted from below afterwards. The mouldings on the F are quite crisp and clean so shouldn't give too much trouble, the K on the other hand is a bit of a rough moulding so we shall see what happens.

 

Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

 

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