Steve N

Only external difference I'm aware of are the exhaust stacks..the P-400 had 12 little ones on each side. SN

I'm by no means one of the "experten," but I'd go with RLM 66 in the cockpit, and RLM 02 for the wheel wells and landing gear stuts, flaps and flap wells, and maybe 02 in the fuselage aft of the cockpit (somebody may correct me on that, though.) Steve

I stumbled across a real coup today. I went in to pick up an airbrush needle (out of stock <_< ) and a couple tins of Humbrol (color has been discontinued ) The trip was salvaged when I decided to check out the kit aisle. Seems they'd bought somebody's collection..I got a 1/72 Fujimi Gekko for 13 bucks (normally goes for 35) and a Fujimi Claude for six! :D SN

I don't have the Academy kit, but from what I've seen the canopy looks too tall and the spinner is to large in diameter. I've got a pile of the old Hasegawa kits..they're very nice, with engraved panel lines, and fit well..although they have no interior to speak of. As mentioned, there really isn't a good mainstream option for a P-40B/C in 1/72 (I still can't figure out why.) Frog made a passable one back in the 60s, but it was fairly basic. Academy did one in the early 90s, but it's thoroughly forgettable..basically a warmed-over Frog with engraved panel lines and a really awful canopy.

Actually, the B-377 / C-97 / B-50 had a much taller tail (a believe to compensate for increased torque from from the bigger engines.) You'd have to cut it down a bit and reshape it a bit for a B-29. Steve

I just dug through my acrylic paint drawer and found the bottle..it's indeed Tamiya X-6 Gloss Orange (dullcoated, obviously.) As I recall, j-aircraft had a formula for IJAAF Trainer Orange, but it was X-6 with a tiny bit of other colors added. I didn't think the difference would be that noticable, and I was feeling lazy, so I just went "out of the bottle." I did lighten it a bit for the control surfaces, since the fabric tended to fade more quickly. Thanks for the compliments, BTW. I used a vac canopy from a Falcon set, and good old IPMS Hinomarus. The Kanji character came from the kit d

Sorry, the first time I posted it the photo was way too big..you must have checked the post while I was editing it. Should work fine now. SN

I understand the color used by the army was more orange, and the navy more yellow (or maybe the other way around..anyway, they were different.) I'd check out the j-aircraft website for specifics. Here's a Fujimi Ki-55 I built last year. I painted it with Tamiya gloss orange straight from the bottle. Cheers! Steve

I hope they do a "diet portion" version..in 1/72 that is! SN

Glad to hear the project is still going strong. I can't wait to see "Doc" back in the air! I've seen "FiFi" fly many times, and the sound of four R-3350's revving up is just incredible! Steve