ALF18 Posted June 3, 2017 Share Posted June 3, 2017 Hi folks! This will have to be a quick build. Luckily, with this kit, it should be quick. It is the old Revell P-40 kit. As shown in this screen grab from Scalemates, the moulds date from 50 years ago, when Canada turned 100, and about the time I built my very first model - not this one, though. This kit is a 1996 reissue with new decals, but still the old moulds. I'm pretty sure it's the same basis as the dual-P-40 build already done in this GB. Progress soon. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grandboof Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 Great to see another classic join Martin H Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted June 4, 2017 Author Share Posted June 4, 2017 Martin H, I realized after I started this that I recently built a cousin of this P-40E; it was a Spitfire. The reason I figured it out is it has similar hinged control surfaces and retractable landing gear options. For 50 years ago, these are quite remarkable kits. I bought this kit second-hand. It came with some extras, like the two tubes of Testors glue, some brushes, and a knife. The glue is long since dried out, but the other materials are quite usable. Everything was pristine, though, packaged up in its original bags. I quickly got to work painting some parts, and assembled the engine. I will not be displaying the engine with its removable panels. Being a pilot, I like aircraft that look serviceable, ready to fly, not ones that look like they need maintenance. A poor picture showing the front of the engine, with the only visible parts, what look like three oil coolers (or some other type of heat exchangers). The cockpit is quite simple. Painted with Tamiya green primer, and assembled. I will make some seat belts out of medical tape later. There are no guides for the angle that the instrument panel will sit; I applied glue, then dry-fit the cockpit against the fuselage to get the right angle. You can see here the "don't glue" symbols. They are to allow the rudder and tail wheel to move. I chose to glue them in a fixed position, because I don't plan to allow the gear to retract. Fuselage mated very nicely. Not too many large gaps, which is surprising for such an old kit. After the fuselage went together, the cockpit slid in nicely from the bottom. I had to push the instrument panel slightly to get it to sit in the right grooves, but it also fit fairly nicely. We're not talking modern Tamiya, but for the era it was an excellent kit. The main wheels came with a folding mechanism. Very ingenious. There is a sleeve to allow the struts to rotate, because they rotate and fold to retract (the main gear sit fully trailed when up, not to the side like a Spitfire or P-51). More soon. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grandboof Posted June 5, 2017 Share Posted June 5, 2017 Nice work Martin H Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted June 9, 2017 Author Share Posted June 9, 2017 On 2017-6-5 at 1:55 PM, Grandboof said: Nice work Martin H Thanks! I have been racing through this one. June is a busy month for me, given that I am cleaning up after winter, my son is moving apartments at the end of the month in Montreal, and we have had roof-top ventilators installed, are having our dead above-ground pool replaced, and I finally sold my VW Golf diesel back to VW and bought a new 2017 Corolla XSE. Phew. Now, for a bit of modelling progress (and excusing the lack of total effort to make this build perfect): Main assembly happening. For WW II subjects, I never glue the wings together before attaching them to the fuselage. I glue in the lower wing section like this: What's nice is the forward seam is hidden under the engine exhaust cowl flaps. The rear seam will need a bit of filler. I then glue the upper wings to the wing roots, reducing their gaps to the smallest size possible. As the glue sets, I put tweezers under the wings to hold them up a bit. Not a bad seam for 50 year-old moulds! After the wing root set firmly, I did up the outboard wing seams. More soon. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted June 9, 2017 Author Share Posted June 9, 2017 Wings are done, including the now-immobile ailerons. I checked carefully, and found out that the engine exhausts did not need to be in place prior to gluing the cowls in place. I will not have this engine on display. Starting to look like a P-40. Using Tamiya putty and nail polish remover, I filled some seams. A coat of Tamiya primer, and not too bad. I think WW II aircraft have some slightly visible panel lines, especially in this scale. I then assembled the slightly complicated fuel tank cradle. For painting, I used Tamiya medium blue for the underside, a custom mix with white. All Acrylic of course. After it dried, I free-handed the brown colour all over the top, and after it dried I did the green. No masking, just free-handing. The paint coverage is not quite perfect; this is intended for an aircraft that has weathered a bit in the Pacific sun. I also dry-brushed some darker colours along the fuselage side for smoke, and some small aluminum chips here and there. Ready for final assembly, then Future and decals. Thanks for stopping by. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 Great seam fixing!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted June 21, 2017 Author Share Posted June 21, 2017 On 2017-6-11 at 8:18 AM, phantom said: Great seam fixing!!! Thanks Shawn. I did some work on this one, but did not try to go beyond putting lipstick on a pig. Now, I have to admit that real life took over my time for the last 10 days. Our pool did not survive the winter; I had a new one installed, and then had to fix up the deck, which was a disaster. Work is still on-going. For that reason, I took fewer in-progress pics. The pitot boom looked like this on the sprue. No, it is NOT supposed to be curved like that. I had to straighten it out. Luckily, it did not break. Turned out OK. The kit decals were very fragile and flaking. In retrospect, I should have used a decal film on them first. Most did survive, but some didn't. Calling this one done. It's a good 3-footer. For a classic kit, it was OK. Thanks for following along, folks. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grandboof Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 Great work Like the nose art Martin H Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted June 22, 2017 Author Share Posted June 22, 2017 5 hours ago, Grandboof said: Great work Like the nose art Martin H Thanks! I like it too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 I remember you mentioning this build last weekend. Too bad we were so busy and I never got to see it! Given the limitations of and issues with this kit (ask me how I know!), I'd say you did a darn good job on it ALF. Nice work, brother. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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