Hasegawa 1/48 P-40N

[regulus]

Finished this one the night before the IPMS US Nationals - brought it to Anaheim, but did not compete with it, as it was actually a paint master for a customer who was taking delivery at the show. It's the Hasegawa kit, with Scalemaster 48-1025 decals, over Tamiya paints. To my eye, the Tamiya Olive Drab is way too dark.

It was certainly nice to complete a model without a lot of reference roadblocks, nor the requirement to "fix" everything just so. That said, it's a very nice kit overall, despite the weird LG doors, and the requirement to fit the rear fuselage/tail onto the fwd fuselage, to accommodate Hasegawa's multi-variant mold design.

I have a similar one started that's based on the Mauve kit, that I'm trying to build into the aircraft my father flew with the 80th. Can neither find a photo of his unique buck-toothed skull and an aircraft serial.

Lee

[Johnny Red]

Finished this one the night before the IPMS US Nationals - brought it to Anaheim, but did not compete with it, as it was actually a paint master for a customer who was taking delivery at the show. It's the Hasegawa kit, with Scalemaster 48-1025 decals, over Tamiya paints. To my eye, the Tamiya Olive Drab is way too dark.

It was certainly nice to complete a model without a lot of reference roadblocks, nor the requirement to "fix" everything just so. That said, it's a very nice kit overall, despite the weird LG doors, and the requirement to fit the rear fuselage/tail onto the fwd fuselage, to accommodate Hasegawa's multi-variant mold design.

I have a similar one started that's based on the Mauve kit, that I'm trying to build into the aircraft my father flew with the 80th. Can neither find a photo of his unique buck-toothed skull and an aircraft serial.

Lee

Hi Regulus

That's a great P-40, have you got any more photos of it, I've just finished a P-39 and want to do a P-40 do recommend this one, I was looking at Eduards P-40N profipack and by chance it has (I no now) 80th markings

Can you tell me something about this Unit please, because I've come across it from when I was a kid am sure I built a Airfix 1/72 scale one, and I don't want to sound like a nerd but I've flown one on IL2, and can you tell me something about the skull.

[regulus]

Hi Regulus

That's a great P-40, have you got any more photos of it, I've just finished a P-39 and want to do a P-40 do recommend this one, I was looking at Eduards P-40N profipack and by chance it has (I no now) 80th markings

Can you tell me something about this Unit please, because I've come across it from when I was a kid am sure I built a Airfix 1/72 scale one, and I don't want to sound like a nerd but I've flown one on IL2, and can you tell me something about the skull.

The P-40N's of the 89th Fighter Squadron, 80th Fighter Group were decorated with unique skulls across their noses. No two were alike. The 80th FG flew from bases in India during the CBI campaign, and included 88th, 89th, 90th, and 459th Squadrons. The most famous of these was Lt. Phil Adair's "Lulu Belle" with the fanged skull. They also operated one bare-metal P-40N that was polished with jeweler's rouge to a high sheen - the purpose of this aircraft was to attempt to intercept a high-altitude Japanese recon aircraft that regularly flew over their bases at Assam and Nagulhli.

The two best references are the Squadron #26 in Action, and the Osprey "P-40 Warhawk Aces of the CBI" by Carl Moleswoth.

Lee

[Johnny Red]

The P-40N's of the 89th Fighter Squadron, 80th Fighter Group were decorated with unique skulls across their noses. No two were alike. The 80th FG flew from bases in India during the CBI campaign, and included 88th, 89th, 90th, and 459th Squadrons. The most famous of these was Lt. Phil Adair's "Lulu Belle" with the fanged skull. They also operated one bare-metal P-40N that was polished with jeweler's rouge to a high sheen - the purpose of this aircraft was to attempt to intercept a high-altitude Japanese recon aircraft that regularly flew over their bases at Assam and Nagulhli.

The two best references are the Squadron #26 in Action, and the Osprey "P-40 Warhawk Aces of the CBI" by Carl Moleswoth.

Lee

Thanks Regulus I'll get that Oprey book.

Cheers

[MikeC]

... To my eye, the Tamiya Olive Drab is way too dark....

Lee

Nice P-40 Lee, but you're right, Tamiya O/D is way too dark - it's the O/D used on armour. I did a 51st FG P-51 with the same colour, but wth. Lovely model you've done.

[Mentalguru]

One has to be a little careful when talking about "olive drab."

Indeed, this P-40 does appear a little dark, (quite a lot) and most (all?) us aircraft headed West would have been painted in a lighter shade as would appear in photographs. However- early P-47's and P-51's destinaied for Europe were painted in DARK olive drab, and this is MUCH darker than most aircraft delivered by US factories later in the war. Couple with the fact these aircraft were also highly waxed made for an extremely dark looing aircraft in some photos. Im not sure how accurate Tamiya colours are, certainly olive drab could be likened to the leaves on a tree as they both fade and change colour. Another big problem with olive drab finishes on aircraft, is that when a modeller DOES produce a really excellent olive drab finish- they quite often slap fresh new looking decals on it too

[dylan the rabbit]

Thanks Regulus I'll get that Oprey book.

Cheers

Johnny Redburn. Class avatar mate.

[Bobs_Buckles]

Johnny,

While your here, I sent your buckles off to you on Saturday . They should be with you today or tomorrow.

Cheers.

Bob

[Johnny Red]

Johnny,

While your here, I sent your buckles off to you on Saturday . They should be with you today or tomorrow.

Cheers.

Bob

Hi BoB, sent a thank you Email, thanks again

[regulus]

One has to be a little careful when talking about "olive drab."

Indeed, this P-40 does appear a little dark, (quite a lot) and most (all?) us aircraft headed West would have been painted in a lighter shade as would appear in photographs. However- early P-47's and P-51's destinaied for Europe were painted in DARK olive drab, and this is MUCH darker than most aircraft delivered by US factories later in the war. Couple with the fact these aircraft were also highly waxed made for an extremely dark looing aircraft in some photos. Im not sure how accurate Tamiya colours are, certainly olive drab could be likened to the leaves on a tree as they both fade and change colour. Another big problem with olive drab finishes on aircraft, is that when a modeller DOES produce a really excellent olive drab finish- they quite often slap fresh new looking decals on it too

I'm a few hours away from finishing the Mauve P-40N that I'd started over 3 years ago. At the time, I used the Aeromaster (Floquil) enamel "U.S. Olive Drab 41 ANA 613" that has a much lighter tone than the Tamiya OD. These were really nice to spray, with very fine pigments. Once I finish the second aircraft, I'll provide a comparitive photo of both. Then it's back to all things proper: FAA target tugs.

Lee

[GrahamEM]

That paint finish looks classy as f*** .......nice