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1/48 Amtech P-40E 'Tex Hill'


Chris FFZ

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This one is out of the box, with the small exception of a old Monogram pilot added!

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David Lee "Tex" Hill

AVG Flying Tiger Ace, 18+ Kills

By Stephen Sherman, Dec. 2002. Updated July 5, 2011.

David Lee Hill was born on 13 July 1915 in Kwangju, Korea, the son of Presbyterian missionaries, who moved to Texas when he was 6 years old. After finishing Austin College in 1938, Tex completed naval flight school and served in a torpedo squadron (VT-3) on USS Saratoga and in a dive-bomber squadron (VB-41) on USS Ranger.

American Volunteer Group

He was recruited in 1941 to serve in the Claire Chennaults American Volunteer Group (AVG).

He reported in July and served as flight leader and then squadron leader of the 2nd Squadron, flying the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk.

In his service with the Flying Tigers, he was credited with destroying 10.25 Japanese planes, one of the top aces of that famous unit.

His first victories came on January 3, 1942, when he downed two Ki-27 Nates over the Japanese airfield at Tak, Thailand. He claimed two more on the 23rd, and "made ace" on the 24th, when he shot down a bomber and a fighter over Rangoon. In March, he succeeded Jack Newkirk as Squadron Leader of the Second Squadron.

On May 7th, 1942, the Japanese Army began building a pontoon bridge across the Salween River, which would allow them to move troops and supplies into China. To stem this tide, 2nd Squadron Leader David Lee "Tex" Hill led a flight of four new P-40Es, bombing and strafing into the mile deep gorge. During the next four days, the AVG pilots flew continuous missions into the gorge, effectively neutralizing the Japanese forces. From that day on, the Japanese never advanced farther than the west bank of the Salween. Claire Chennault would later write of these critical missions, "The American Volunteer Group had staved off China's collapse on the Salween."

USAAF

After the deactivation of the Flying Tigers in July 1942, Hill was one of only five Flying Tigers to join its USAAF successor, the 23rd Fighter Group. He was promoted to major in the U.S. Army Air Corps, and activated the 75th Fighter Squadron and later to command the 23rd Fighter Group.

Before returning to the United States in late 1944, "Tex" Hill and his P-51 Mustang scratched another six Japanese aircraft. It is believed that he was the first to down a Zero with a P-51. Altogether, Hill destroyed 18.25 enemy aircraft.

On Thanksgiving Day 1943, he led a force of 12 B-25s, 10 P-38s, and 8 new P-51 Mustangs from Saichwan, China, on the first strike against Formosa. The Japanese had 100 bombers and 100 fighters located at Shimchiku Airfield, and the bombers were landing as "Tex" Hills force arrived. The enemy managed to get seven fighters airborne, but they were promptly shot down. Forty-two Japanese airplanes were destroyed and 12 more were probably destroyed in the attack. The American force returned home with no casualties.

During the closing months of World War II, Hill commanded the 412th Fighter Group, the first jet unit in the Army Air Forces. The group flew the Bell XP-59 and later the Lockheed P-80.

Post War

In July 1946, "Tex" Hill resigned his commission and left active duty. Shortly thereafter, he joined the Air National Guard and became the youngest brigadier general in the history of that service. He retired from the military in 1968. He passed away on Oct. 11, 2007.

Colonel Hill's honors include: Nationalist Chinese Order of the Cloud Banner, Chinese Victory Medal, British Distinguished Flying Cross, U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, 2 Air Medals, Silver Star, and Legion of Merit.

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Let's take a look at the kit and get started:

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The first thing is to paint the interior parts green, and I think i will add a pilot as I hate empty aircraft.

Edited by Chris FFZ
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Today's update;

No pilot figure is included so an old Mongram pilot is taken from the spares to be Tex Hill, and is painted up accordingly.

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The interior stuff is also painted, so construction will soon begin.

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Joined the fuselage and test fitted the cockpit to ensure lil tex fits correctly. Because of the shape of the front of The P-40 this has to be done carefully as at first the sides don't mate up correctly. A little flexing and its fine.

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Lil tex is happy in his new home, not the most detailed interior I ever did, but looks ok.

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There are holes near the amo ejector points for frag bomb racks, these are filled with squadron green putty (which I need to buy more of since mine is dried out).

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Finally the wings are joined and set aside to dry.

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Today's update;

The nose panels with exhauts are added.

The wings are joined to the fuselage, and won't line up properly unless you have the correct angle for the wing, called dihedral.

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A little touchup is needed on the wheel well area, no big deal.

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Even when done there is quite a gap, and this is first puttied over and then sanded to make a nice clean joint.

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Hi,

Just found this build! Saw one of these at a LHS once and passed on the oppurtunity to buy it....

Strange they do a signature series and don't include the pilot?! ;)

Your 'Tex' looks good, what/whose pilot figure is he?[Just re-read the post to find he's an old Monogram sweat! Sorry!]

Your build is coming along nicely, good work on the wing joins, can't wait to see more.

Edited by Parabat
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Hi,

Just found this build! Saw one of these at a LHS once and passed on the oppurtunity to buy it....

Strange they do a signature series and don't include the pilot?! ;)

Your 'Tex' looks good, what/whose pilot figure is he?[Just re-read the post to find he's an old Monogram sweat! Sorry!]

Your build is coming along nicely, good work on the wing joins, can't wait to see more.

Thanks.

I'm not exactly sure what kit from monogram that pilot came from, he's out of my spares box, which has a bunch of pilots from kits i did over the years, that guy being from 40+ years ago!

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Tried a new experiment with this build.

I often see people preshade when using an airbrush and wondered if I could get that effect with a brush. I felt black paint might be too harsh so I used a permenent marker to make preshade marks underneath to try my idea:

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Next I watered down the acrylic lt gray a little on my brush (this is all by feel) and began to apply it over the preshade, and it came up with this, I think decent results:

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Satisfied with the efect below, i tried it on the upper wings but the OD is too dark for an imprint.

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I am very concerned that using tamiya Acrylics will caue a problem with testor's gloss cote, they chemically react in unpredictable ways, so I decided to seal the plane with vallejo matt varnish and give it a very careful black wash. This took all day but had good results.

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I have now spayed it with Gloss cote, and am hoping it dries without problems, fingers crossed.

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Thanks, the idea is still forming in my head, but its a start.

Happily there were only minor issues with the cote and The decals have been applied and sealed.

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These decals were extremly thin and they should be hit with some gloss cote as they will sliver and disolve otherwise.

In the home strech now, landing gear, bomb, canopy and a few bits and this guy will be finished.

Vallejo flat finish applied, canopy painted and attached, bomb and landing gear installed.

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just a few small details, paint touchups and some weathering and this guy is done!

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A warning om permanent markers for preshading though. It supposedly tends to start bleeding trough the paint in time. Abetter alternative would probably be paint pens. I have acouple from Tamiya that are great for touching up and other small jobs.

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A warning om permanent markers for preshading though. It supposedly tends to start bleeding trough the paint in time. Abetter alternative would probably be paint pens. I have acouple from Tamiya that are great for touching up and other small jobs.

Permenant marker ink will eat through any paint and varnish laid on top of it which is why such pens aren't used for 'pre-shading'... Actually, in 40-odd years of modelmaking the only use I've found for them is labelling packages!

The paint-pen idea will work but as it lays down a sharply defined line I doubt it'll give the effect you're looking for by pre-shading, which is a subtle, graduated 'shading' along appropriate panel detail which is why its called pre-'shading', not pre-striping...

Edited by TheModeller
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Permenant marker ink will eat through any paint and varnish laid on top of it which is why such pens aren't used for 'pre-shading'... Actually, in 40-odd years of modelmaking the only use I've found for them is labelling packages!

The paint-pen idea will work but as it lays down a sharply defined line I doubt it'll give the effect you're looking for by pre-shading, which is a subtle, graduated 'shading' along appropriate panel detail which is why its called pre-'shading', not pre-striping...

Depends a bit on your technique. For years I tried to do the "let the pre-shade shine trough your thin coat of paint". Never got it to work. Today I paint quite solid lines of black, dark grey or dark brown, and then start to fill in the spaces (panels) between, trying to get as close to the panel line as possible, without touching it. The result is about the same, since the panel line gets almost covered with thin paint and overspray. Difference is that I use thicker paint.

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Flippin' heck, you don't muck about!

Looking good, hope the marker pen doesn't come through as the guys have prophesied... Otherwise, a great plane to have in your collection!

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Flippin' heck, you don't muck about!

Looking good, hope the marker pen doesn't come through as the guys have prophesied... Otherwise, a great plane to have in your collection!

Thanks, I'm unconcerned about it.

If it was going to 'run' or not blend, that would have happened days ago, so quite frankly those guys are a bit off the mark, if well meaning.

I sugest they invest in better markers or paints if they have a problem like that, I can report that a sharpie combined with Model master acrylic and vallejo matt finish did not run, blend, or cause any sort of trouble.

Perhaps their difficulties with this technique stem from enamal piants, which i have not tried with this yet, and probaly won't.

And I also love that p-40, she came out pretty well! ;)

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It can take weeks, months or even years for the results to show, its caused by a gradual migration of the alcholol based ink carrier through alchohol based paints and varnishes such as most acrylics, but hey, its your model...

I'll just point you here: http://www.ratomodeling.com/articles/pre_shading1/ the article explains the issue clearly enough, for my part I'd never advise anyone to use any kind of marker pen for 'pre-shading', not if you want the paint job to last.

Edited by TheModeller
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It can take weeks, months or even years for the results to show, its caused by a gradual migration of the alcholol based ink carrier through alchohol based paints and varnishes such as most acrylics, but hey, its your model...

I'll just point you here: http://www.ratomodeling.com/articles/pre_shading1/ the article explains the issue clearly enough, for my part I'd never advise anyone to use any kind of marker pen for 'pre-shading', not if you want the paint job to last.

From the article you linked:

'For the records, he used automotive primer, Testor Model Master enamel paints and Future as a gloss coat'

He used enamels, which have a different chemical base, as well as furniture polish, i used Arcylics execlusivly.

So, we will see.

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From the article you linked:

'For the records, he used automotive primer, Testor Model Master enamel paints and Future as a gloss coat'

He used enamels, which have a different chemical base, as well as furniture polish, i used Arcylics execlusivly.

So, we will see.

Like I said, its your model, there are however plenty of other examples at HS, ARC, the FSM forum and other places warning about the use of marker pens with both enamels and acrylics.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q...ading&meta=

Pollyscale acrylics are mentioned specifically, Testors matt coat gets mentioned as well as enamel finishes, its very hit and miss using them for this kind of thing, it may have worked for you with the combination of paints you used, but thats not to say other people copying your technique will have the same luck, just as well to point out documented examples of potential pitfalls lest someone stuff up thier paint job.

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Like I said, its your model, there are however plenty of other examples at HS, ARC, the FSM forum and other places warning about the use of marker pens with both enamels and acrylics.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q...ading&meta=

Pollyscale acrylics are mentioned specifically, Testors matt coat gets mentioned as well as enamel finishes, its very hit and miss using them for this kind of thing, it may have worked for you with the combination of paints you used, but thats not to say other people copying your technique will have the same luck, just as well to point out documented examples of potential pitfalls lest someone stuff up thier paint job.

You can copy any technique and have it mess up a paint job, include weathering with specialized paints and colors.

This is the first time i tried this, maybe it will leak but i doubt it, the reason being i have been a painter for years and do things with a brush, not an airbrush. I didn't thin or waterdown the gray severly to get it to spray on, it was brushed on through a series of cotes done one at a time and allowed to dry before the next is done.

Again, seeing it finished as it is, i seriously doubt there will be any problem with it.

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Well I like it. I have the Mauve P-40N in the stash and threaten to build it one day. Its without a box and no decals so I dont think Id be botching up some 'collectors special.'

I have never thought of doing the lines with marker. Ive seen them painted on with a hairy stick, but not like that.

It certainly does give it a different look.

Always room for one more 'K-Hawk. Thanks!

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I've seen pre-shading done by brush using paint before, lightly applied near panel lines, and then painted over with the main colour. As I alluded in my PM, I had some red permanent marker bleed through several layers of Mr Surfacer before now on some scratch building I was doing, so ended up sanding it back and reapplying the primer. I think the paint option might be more chemically stable... unless you've found a marker that's stable of course :)

I missed your build - how does the Amtech P-40 go together? I've got one lurking round somewhere. :hmmm:

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Its a very nice kit actually, the only fit issue was the wing roots which needed a little putty.

Odly enough, I think that the 'marker' issue won't be an issue, for ease of referrence I posted i used a 'sharpie' as short hand for permanent marker, where as in reality it was a non name brand cheap perm marker. This oddly enough may be exactly why it has not blead at all, the cheaper marker's ink may not be the same forumula as the name brand's!

Still, I want to run some long term tests with sheet plastic, markers and paint to see if it always bleeds, sometimes bleeds and what have you. As with all new things there will be bugs.

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