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Revell 1/32 P-40E "Old Exterminator"


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I was in fifth grade when I got Bob Scott's God Is My Co-Pilot from the Scholastic Book Club and I resisted the urge to buy models with my allowance until I saved up enough for this kit:

T2e_C16_F_z_QE9s3sq_Jcw_BSHKUUr1l_Q_60_5

 

 Spinning prop, opening canopy with pilot figure, retractable landing gear, moveable control surfaces-everything a 10 year old boy needs in a model aeroplane. I remember having it done in a day-no paint, plenty of glue, etc. Don't recall what happened to it but it still wears the crown of the coolest model I ever had when I was a kid.

 

 So let's fast forward to 2006 when I got it in my head to revisit that kit and thanks to ebay, they were still pretty easily had. I was living with the GF in a 1BR apartment full of dogs and while most of my kits lived in a storage unit waiting for me to pick it as the build du jour, this one went under the bed for my relatively immediate attention.

 

 Which is where Little Dog found it:

JPEG_003110.jpg

 

 

 And yes, he survived it. In fact, he came with me when I finally got out of there and he's been a good & faithful little buddy ever since. Oddly, he doesn't chew stuff up any more...

 

 The damage was rather limited to the box and the large lower wing panel. To save the build I picked up this boxing on ebay to use the lower wing panel-pretty sure it was only around $10 or so:

s-l1600.jpg

 

 And you'll never guess why it was so cheap; the lower wing was broken. It's brittle plastic and since I got it both fuselage halves have had their noses broken off as well.

 

 So I picked up yet another one on the cheap:

 

s-l1600a.jpg

 

 I'm pretty sure this one was so cheap because it was molded in pink, for some odd reason (I'm sure it was an attempt at a desert P-40 but it didn't make it look better). Now I have an intact lower wing panel but the irritation over all the trouble had soured me on the build for a while.

 

 But with Hasegawa's release of their 1/32 P-40E a glut of aftermarket parts showed up and I started collecting those. What we have on hand in the pic below is the following: Three different releases of the Revell 1/32 P-40E, CMK gun bays & wheel wells, Eduard external detail set, Avionix cockpit, SAC landing gear, SSIs decal sheet for Robert Scott's Old Exterminator and the engine sprue from Trumpeter's P-40B; while probably not 100% correct for the E variant, makes for a much better detailed engine than the Revell kit:
 

 

 

DSC02448.jpg

 

 There are also some cockpit bits from my Trumpy P-40B build some years ago but I doubt I'll use any of it.

 

 So let's see if I can make one out of this pile. It's been taking up space far too long and I have the added bonus of having plenty of spare parts. I'll lean heavily on the original gray parts and rob anything I need from the other kits.

 

 Ken

 

 

Edited by WymanV
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 And just for fun, my Trumpy build done as James Howard's ride while he was still with the AVG, with the Cutting Edge corrected cockpit (BIG difference):

DSCN6887.jpg

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Sweet! I built the "1941" movie boxing of this kit many moons ago. I thought it was actually a pretty decent build...at the time. I may need to hunt for another copy as the P-40 is one of my favorite planes. Good memories. Nice AVG build too btw :thumbsup:! How can you not like a P-40 with a shark mouth!!!

Regards,

Don

 

EDIT: Spelling.

Edited by Don
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3 hours ago, WymanV said:

I was in fifth grade when I got Bob Scott's God Is My Co-Pilot from the Scholastic Book Club and I resisted the urge to buy models with my allowance until I saved up enough for this kit:

T2e_C16_F_z_QE9s3sq_Jcw_BSHKUUr1l_Q_60_5

 

 

GREATEST BOXTOP EVER

 

IMHO

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  • 3 weeks later...

(not tellin')

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I wasn't actually going to let on yet but the Mustang is nearly done and there's always a TBD-1 on the bench anyway, so I did start a little something on this build (as you may have noticed in the B-26 thread). I started with the engine. My reasoning was to see if there's a significant difference between the P-40B and P-40E engines. And I learned two things.

 First, yes there is a difference. Having blown off the research I found the B engine is a direct drive and the E engine is geared. Straight OOB, the B engine won't do:

DSC02475.jpg

 

 

 

 While the Revell Allison isn't entirely accurate, the Trumpeter one is entirely wrong for this build. And with the block from the Trumpeter kit being so much smaller, I couldn't even hack it up and build it back up as a later Allison either. At best, I may be able to use some of the Trumpeter plumbing details on the Revell engine. Maybe.

 

 The second thing I learned (and the second disappointment) is the gray styrene from the Flying Tigers release is chock full o' flash. I had to do a pretty significant amount of hacking and grinding just to get the engine parts together. With that an issue and the OD styrene from the other AVG kit being very brittle I decided this build is going to be based on the pink (Smithsonian release) styrene, and I'll use the OD styrene to cut bits off of like access doors for the ammo bays and maybe the fuselage access door as well.

 

 And maybe in the future I'll just slap the gray styrene together in a day just like I did way back when.

 

 Ken

Edited by WymanV
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

 Cleaning up the parts and picking out the ones to use on this build and I found a bit of damage on the upper right wing panel:

DSC02523.jpg

 

 

 Good thing I have 3 kits to work with here. The wing from the OD kit will do fine:

DSC02524.jpg

 

 

 I suspect it'll have a calico look to it before it's painted. I know it's more tan than pink, but a pink P-40 is more intriguing 😉

 

 Note also the back of the engine. It only vaguely resembles the rear of an Allison  V-1710-39 as fitted to the P-40E. I wanted to do some detailing to the engine-like maybe even some plug wires-but it's so far off that it would look better without.

 

 So, it's painted and washed a bit:

DSC02531.jpg

 

 

 Model Master Medium Gray FS 35237 is about the closest I have in the paint stash to the bluish gray the real one was painted. That burnt metal oval is a bit of hi temp metal that seals the engine to the cover panel and I'll assume keeps the heat going out through the vents instead of flowing through the engine compartment.

 

 Also washed the resin cockpit parts. The set is for the Hasegawa kit so I had some concerns about it fitting the Revell kit. I taped the fuselage halves together as well as the sidewalls, floor and back of the resin tub to dry fit. Yes it's tight. I'm hoping it'll be looser without the masking tape in the way as it'll get rather ugly if I go through the trouble to paint & assemble the cockpit only to find it won't fit. Note also the kit's firewall in the pic compared to the detail on the resin parts. I'll do a bit of scratchbuilding here.

Edited by WymanV
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  • 4 weeks later...

 One of the things that need to be dealt with on this kit are the trenches the working canopy snap into. They're quite incorrect for the real one of course so they have to go away. And go away without destroying that fine Revell 1/32 rivet detail. One of my goals with this build is to avoid damaging as much of it as I can.

 

 I started by sanding the insides down flush (the gutter also interferes with the resin cockpit sidewall fit too). Once that was gone I filled the gap with strip styrene:

DSC02535.jpg

 

 

 Then I masked off around the edges and filled the rest of the trench:

 

DSC02550.jpg

 

 

 Hopefully the tape will protect the detailing when I sand it down.

 

 You'll also note the paint WIP on the resin cockpit bits in the background...

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 One of the bits that came on the Trumpeter engine sprue was the plate on the front of the fuselage. It got stuck in my craw to make this thing work on this kit so I had at it. I roughed out the opening with a sanding drum on the Dremel and finished it out with a rolled up piece of 180 grit. It's smaller than it should be either because it's off a P-40B or because Trumpeter... But while most of it will disappear under the spinner it does make it pop a little more than the bland Revell casting:

 

DSC02553.jpg

 

 

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 And I did the same thing with the firewall. A few of the bits on that Trumpeter sprue looked like they would do the job so I used a pic of Rudy Frasca's plane and busied up the kit part. Not accurate of course but it looks better than the rather bland original:

DSC02554.jpg

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

 The progress here so far:

DSC02597.jpg

 

 

 I tried to make up some structure in the nose with Evergreen styrene strips but every piece I fitted in there broke into at least 3 pieces before I had them glued in. Frustration kicked in so I didn't do much of it. The other engine mount was just sprayed when I took the pic and is too wet for this.

 

DSC02609.jpg

 

 The Eduard photo etch set for the Hasegawa kit has the round grills for the radiators/coolers which livened up the Revell part. Also picking out the details on the firewall. My plan here is to mount the engine to the firewall and see how much plumbing & wiring I can fit.

 

DSC02608.jpg

 

DSC02605.jpg

 

 

 The cockpit is getting there. It didn't come with foot pedals-you're supposed to use the Hasegawa part, so I think I'll be scratchbuilding those. Same with the gun sight. The Revell kit came with a pretty rudimentary representation of a gunsight so if I don't find an aftermarket one I'll rework the kit part. I still have to make this fit in a fuselage that is too narrow for it as is.

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

 Got a gun sight and rudder pedals for that cockpit so it's finished out. Next trick will be making it fit 🙄

 

 Meanwhile it's time for the wings to get a little attention with CMK's resin gun bay bits. Starting out by cutting out the doors in the top wing, without destroying the kit surface details. Here's the first one in progress, cutting it well within the hinge/panel lines:

DSC02630.jpg

 

 

 With the door cut out and cleaned up the CMK part is dry fitted-it's a bit long but I expected fit issues from a resin set for the Hasegawa kit going into the Revell kit:

DSC02631.jpg

 

 

If I need to I'll shorten it on the left end but I'm hoping I can tuck it in there.

 

 The nice thing about the CMK set is the lower doors. Revell missed an obvious one by not molding that clearance bulge in the wing but CMK covered it:

DSC02632.jpg

 

 

 

 

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So of course, that didn't go well... 😒

 

DSC02638.jpg

 

 

 That brittle OD plastic cracked from the corner of the access door to the wing join. I glued it up as you can see but the damage is crystal clear through the rivet detail on top.

 

 So my idea of building a second kit with the gray styrene comes to an end:

 

 

DSC02639.jpg

 

 

This one cut with ease. The broken pink wing will give up the access door. 

 

 Which may be just as well. Looking at the stash, I'm not so sure I need to build 2 of these.
 

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 Opening the bottom hatches went a lot better. Here's the right one rough cut with the dremel and a cut-off wheel, the one on the left is sanded out to the panel lines:

DSC02641.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

 Got the gun bay bits as well as the canvas lined wheel wells sanded down to fit the wing. Again, the CMK bits are made for the Hasegawa kit but making them fit this Revell kit wasn't a problem. Got the parts painted with a bit of an oil wash so once all this dries out I can pick out the details, mount the guns and get them in the wing:

DSC02669.jpg

 

 

 The ammo access doors are usually opened to the back of the wing from pics I've found-they're still a bit oversized and need some framework done on the bottoms but all the hinge details survived sanding them down and since they'll be open, being oversized won't be an issue. I'll also make up a bit of sheet styrene to fill the opening in the front of the wheel well where the gear leg fits in. Not a big deal-it's just a flat panel with a couple lines of rivets down the centerline.

 

 My goal here is to get the wing assembled first. Then I can use that to fit the cockpit. Being too wide as it is, jamming it in the fuselage from the bottom raises the potential of spreading the fuselage out which in turn will wipe out the dihedral when I fit the wing. Having it assembled will allow me to dry fit while I sand the cockpit to fit.

Edited by WymanV
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And a disappointment rears it's ugly head...

 

 The wing bits so far:

 

DSC02670a.jpg

 

 

 The painted bits still on the resin block behind the gun bays are the rear mounts for the guns, as seen in this pic of a restored one:

Gun-Bay-1.jpg

 

 I was looking forward to fitting these as they're a nice touch and make it obvious how the guns are held in place in the plane, but the resin gun bays as they were cast don't have the mounts for these 😒 Here are the instructions showing them drawn in the part:

DSC02676.jpg

 

 

 And the part as fitted in the wing, completely void of this part of the casting:

DSC02675.jpg

 

 

 You can see how tight the fit is with the gun breeches and there's absolutely nothing back there to mount them to. What isn't obvious in this pic is how far the guns hang below the wings as they are. I could build up around the edges so they sit higher in the wing but then I lose my clearance inside the wing... You'll also see I blanked out the openings in the wheel well for the operating gear door hinges.

 

 I'll use the bays anyway and see if I can't find a way to make it work after it's painted. If I try something now I take a chance of pulling it all apart when I unmask.

Edited by WymanV
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