Vintage fighters P-40 Kittyhawk
By Martin Planes
It's been a while since I last made an offering to LSP but you know how it is with life as well as family commitments and that other thing that gets in the way...oh yes, work!
Some of you may remember that I build only in 1/24 scale these days and having shown my Bf 109, Mustang, Hurricane, Spitfire and Stuka by Airfix and the Trumpeter Fw 190D I was itching for a new project. I was delighted when I got my hands on Vintage fighters P-40 but not so knocked out when I looked in the box! Hats off to a new company for taking the brave step to offer the market a model never attempted in that scale but it really is lacking in detail and mould finesse on rivets and the panel lines are far too deep.
Enough has been written by others to comment on the 'Jelly-baby' pilot figure and that dreadful drop tank that looks like its caught a bad case of aluminium warts!
Anyway enough of the criticism already and now to the positive bits.
The model fits well and although at this stage I have only just got the fuselage together I was pleased with the overal finish and the engine is a little beauty all on its own.
At this point I would like to personally thank Robin of Cammett models who came to my rescue. A disaster had struck during construction of the engine and I lost one of the oil cooling grills from the pressed metal set probably eaten up by the invisible small parts monster that lurks under every modellers work bench from time to time! Not knowing what to do I contacted Robin with my tale of woe and disappointment asking if he could find me a spare one which I was happy to pay for as it really does look impressive once installed in the chin.
He was extremely understanding and generous and just said, "Oh don't worry I'm sure Ive got a spare set knocking around I'll send you one".
What a gent, thanks Robin.
Some of the sharper eyed modelers amongst you may think that the 'interior green' looks a bit dark. Yep, deliberate.
It was just a whim I had after having the chance to check out the P-40 at Duxford flying legends show with the cowlings off. it just looked right compared to the very light shade of interior greens offered these days by paint manufacturers so I used German field green and light dry brushed it.
The engine is painted black and washed in various dark shades of Grey and the exhaust is a mixture of Boat hull red, tan and leather.
The seat belts were made out of Tamiya masking tape and the buckles and clips were from Waldron. I use nothing but Lifecolor paints these days because they cover beautifully with brush or air-brush and they have a more realistic lighter tone to them.
I have not attempted to add any additional detail apart from the belts because I like to try and make a model work with what Im given rather than throw more money and effort at something. I can usualy produce an end result I am pleased with.
For me life's too short to worry about whether the rudder is an 1/8th of a mm too thick!
However, as mentioned earlier the mouldings on this model are so extreme that even I am contemplating filling and sanding!
I will forward part two soon showing the completed model.
Happy modeling.
© Martin Planes 2008
This article was published on Wednesday, July 20 2011; Last modified on Saturday, May 14 2016