Vintage Fighter Series 1/24th P-40B
By Paul Taylor
Here are some photographs of my 1:24 scale Curtis P-40 as supplied to the American Volunteer Group from RAF stock.
The American Volunteer Group (AVG) known as the "Flying Tigers" was formed to assist the Chinese Nationalist Government by General Claire L Chennault in June 1941 to fight the Japanese. The AVG was made up of three squadrons, the 1st Pursuit Squadron (PS) was known as the "Adam & Eve", the 2nd known as the "Pander Bears" and the 3rd known as the "Hells Angels".
The aircraft I made is number 68 from the 3rd PS piloted by Charles Older.
This kit has a few basic inaccuracy's but I found them relatively easy to rectify; these being mainly around the cockpit area and the wings.
The cockpit depth was far too shallow, the floor of the cockpit is actually the top of the wing on the real aircraft so I rebuilt the interior and lowered the floor. I also had to lower the pilots seat in turn!
The wings are rather on the thick side, so I cut out approximately 4mm at the wing root then tapered the wings out to their tips.
I used etched brass flaps supplied by Cammett; these went together very well and I was pleased with the result. Cammett also supplied the propeller (cast pewter) which came with the detailed resin Alison engine. Construction of the engine was relatively easy which comprised of seven resin parts and six pewter parts.
In conclusion this kit has had a few knocks since it came out but I must say I thoroughly enjoyed pulling it all together and I would commend it most highly to all of the LSP fraternity!
© Paul Taylor 2008
This article was published on Friday, September 27 2013; Last modified on Saturday, May 14 2016