Jump to content

Best 1:48 P-40?


Recommended Posts

The current consensus seems to be that the Airfix Hawk 81 (P-40B/C) is the best early version and the Hasegawa kits are the best for everything else, with the possible exceptions of the F and L.  I'm not sure that anyone other than AMT (or whoever got the molds) ever tooled the Merlin nose other than resin conversions. 

 

There are probably some people who will argue that, though.

Link to post
Share on other sites

for the most part I agree with Joe above.

the new Airfix P-40B/C (Tomahawk) is certainly the kit we have been waiting for for 50 years.

the old Monogram kit (1969) is accurate in size,shape and external details but it's cockpit and landing gear bays are not up to today's standards.

the wing-to-fuselage join was a thin piece of plastic butt-joined to the fuselage ; I can't tell you haw many have broken over the years.

 

I have three copies of the Haegawa P-40E (Warhawk/Kittyhawk) and that is certainly the finest E model I have built

it even comes with a DF loop and the camera under the wing!

that shows how well they researched the P-40 including some rarely used items.

 

I do not have a Hasegawa M or N (Kittyhawk MK III and MK IV) to compare with the Mauve/Eduard kit but the Mauve kit is good enough for most people.

it has fewer pieces and an easier assembly than the Hasegawa P-40E ;but also does not have as detailed a cockpit or landing gear bays.

one advantage in the eduard re-boxing of the Mauve kit is a wider variety of decals (as opposed to just 2 in the Mauve release) and they are thinner than

the ones by Mauve  ,that were thick like Tamiya or Hasegawa decals.

have a nice day !

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 5 weeks later...

The only marginally correct later variants are the AMT: They are the only ones correct in windshield proportion, rear fuselage and canopy cross section, and, most important of all, very close in undernose radiator proportions, including their profile curvature and section. Early AMT boxings have excellent fit, and are worth seeking out, as the later ones can be awful around the nose pieces...

 

  Mauve has wrong undernose rad shape/proportions, wrong rear fuselage spine/canopy section (too sharp by a huge amount) but is otherwise nice-looking, if not actually good, with wingroot fairing tops correctly depicted as a straight line (wrongly curved on AMT), a major and prominent feature of the type...

 

  All of the late versions have godawful, absurdly skinny tapering prop blades (worst on Mauve, a bit closer on Hasegawa?), perhaps replaceable by Eduard late P-39 blades?

 

  The Hasegawa has a windscreen 50% wider than correct (yet will accept neatly an AMT windscreen!), and tailplanes with hugely prominent (and wrong) details that thicken their trailing edges to a 2X4 appearance (to put it mildly)... It also has some of the worst-designed inserts in modeldom, these spoiling minute details wherever they appear, especially up front where you can see them, in all their intricate horror...

 

  Robertson

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I like the AMT/Ertl kits, they're a bit underated.  I think a lot of guys turn up their noses at them simply because they aren't Hasegawa/Mauve.

 

They're nice kits, go together reasonably well. I personally think they fit better than the Hasegawa kits. With all the P-40 decals I have, and the affordability of the Ertl kits, I've got a ton of those, they fill in nicely on the shelf.

 

Some issues had some quality control problems, but those are easy to spot if you can inspect the kits before buying.

Edited by Charlie D.
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...