Curtis P40 RAAF

[Robomog]

Hi all

Due to Christmas and then catching a (non-covid) cold  I'm a bit late to this one, if it hadn't been extended I doubt if I would have entered  but now the deadline is March here I am !

Had no idea what to do so no whiffs I'm afraid just boring old real world.

So, started with the idea of a P39 aerocobra but had the wrong mark in the stash, thought about a Sea Fury and had done most of the research before I twigged this was a RAN aircraft not RAAF(doh!),  dabbled with flying doctor aircraft but again not RAAF. More searching of stash and, at last ! , something I could use either a Spitfire mk 8 or a P40.

In the end I settled for this.........

by Robomog, on Flickr

It is the novo kit of the P40E which has decals for a RAAF aircraft, the boxing kangaroo nose art is what swung it (let's hope the novo decals work this time)

by Robomog, on Flickr

I remember building the Frog kit of this in my youth and basically nothing has changed, it has no pilot or seat, and assembled as is you will be able to see down the length of the fuselage through the chin intake.  The mould is showing its age there is some flash and one of the wheel doors has been short shot plus the tailwheel is a bit deformed. Some replacement/ constructed parts will be needed.

More when it happens.........

Mog
>^-.-^<

P.S.  oh and I forgot to mention the propeller is short of a blade so I have ordered in a resin replacement.

[GTX_Admin]

 

[Buzzbomb]

Love classic kits builds.
This is one of the classics

[KiwiZac]

Always happy to see a P-40!

[finsrin]

Saw P-40 fly at airshow back when.  Likely about same time as this kit.

[The Rat]

Had no idea what to do so no whiffs I'm afraid just boring old real world.

I remember building the Frog kit of this in my youth and basically nothing has changed, it has no pilot or seat, and assembled as is you will be able to see down the length of the fuselage through the chin intake.

So it is a whiff, because I'm pretty sure that the real ones weren't like that. 

[Robomog]

Ha ha ha

So on with the virtual whiff.................

I not usually one to over detail a 1/72 scale cockpit especially a small fighter as very little can be seen once the canopy is on,  however it should have something in there so I have found a suitable seat and fashioned a basic control panel. I have also constructed a baffle in the front fuselage.

by Robomog, on Flickr


The fuselage has been closed and the additions don't look to bad....

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr


Currently trying the wings for size and I have noticed something pretty important is missing.

by Robomog, on Flickr


Yep, I does not have any wheel wells...........what!

I have three choices,

1. Model it wheels up
2. Model it wheels down and use a decal to represent the wheel well
3. Ditto but bite bullet and cut out the wheel wells

Hmm........... the wing fit is pretty appalling too.

I've got a very bad feeling about this one  ...................


Thanks for looking......

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Robomog]

Hi all

I have made my decision and I have gone with option three.

Why ? 

Well most of my kits are wheels down so option 1 is out.

Option 2 would just look naff

So option 3 partly because I like a challenge of making a crap kit better and also  so I don't appear to be a lightweight, wuss or half-a-job-harry in front of my peers

Fortunately I had ordered some replacement resin wheels as the kit wheels are way too skinny and looking at pictures of the P40 the donut like treaded tyres are pretty much part of its look.

Started by using the a new wheel to mark out the pilot holes

by Robomog, on Flickr

Then drilled it out with my largest drill and carefully enlarged it with a rotary tool

by Robomog, on Flickr

Note the final location of the wheel well  straddles the wing join,  I have formulated a theory as to why the wheel Wells were omitted from the kit, but more of that later.....

Finally got the holes to their correct diameter

by Robomog, on Flickr

As you can see from the pictures the wing joint is appalling this is probably the second worst kit I have built since coming back to the hobby..... but I refuse to be beaten !   (For now  )

Thanks for looking.............

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Old Wombat]

Lay on, McDuff!

You can't do worse than Novo did.

[Robomog]

Thanks OW

You have a great way of putting things into perspective 

Mog
>^-.-^<

[GTX_Admin]

 

[Robomog]

Hi all's

Just a small update

The wheel wells are as completete as they are going to be and I've added some detail at the top

by Robomog, on Flickr

I have further discovered that the P40E has a retractable tailwheel none of which is catered for in the kit, the whole undercarriage seems to have been a bit of a Friday afternoon  afterthought.  Still, can't be as bad as a box scale Thunderstreak I brought back in th 70's, it consisted of just five parts two fuselage halves, one complete main wing that was slid through the fuselage, one complete tailplane ditto and a clear plastic canopy. It made for a very quick build !

Anyways the Kittyhawk is now in the paint booth


by Robomog, on Flickr

More when it happens

Mog
>^-.-^<

[apophenia]

Nice work on those wing joins and missing wheel wells! 

[Frank3k]

Great work on the wing joint and wheel well. I was going to suggest making it a fixed UC with spats.

[raafif]

  good job on a bad kit.  Love the jig.

[/url]

Did CAC make the P-40 in wood ala Mossie ?

[Old Wombat]

Nice work, 'Mog!

[GTX_Admin]

Did CAC make the P-40 in wood ala Mossie ?

Cheeky!

[Buzzbomb]

Going along nicely

[Robomog]

Thanks for the comment guys !

Frank3k  -  doh !   Didn't think of spats,  it would have Been such an easy whiff  Bdb would be ashamed of me 

Raafif. -  hmm a wooden P40 that would be an interesting whiff, and what a back story !  The rig is actually my "Hurricane rig" but works for the Kittyhawk as well.

Thanks again 

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Robomog]

Hi all

The Kittyhawk is slowly going through the paint shop, i have completed the camoflage upper and Azure underneath but  have fallen foul of one of the downsides of using acrylics, despite carefull handleing a number of scrach marks appeared on the final finish.

To tone this out i applied a coat of Alt. Clear which worked, but then i discovered that the new shiny finish showed up all the inperfections of the paint, the Revell paint i had used was not new and had turned a bit gloopy,  a common trait with Revell paint . 

Hopefully i can negate this effect with a coat of matt varnish, time will tell.

Next job to fit the canopy and wheels followed by the decals.

More pics soon.........

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Robomog]

Hi all

Progress pic as promised

by Robomog, on Flickr

The major painting is done and has a coat of Alt. Cleer for protection.  You can see some of the imperfections I was banging on about in the last post.

All the glazing is on and for once the fit was not too bad, just a little bit of Clearfix worked into the join and a paint touch up.

I've decided to do the decals next then the undercarriage and final parts

More when it happens..........

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Frank3k]

Nice camo pattern!

[Robomog]

Thanks Frank

The decals are now done,  but even that was a bit of a trial.  I've had previous experience of Novo decals disintegrating so I was a bit wary,

Initially I thought to replace the battered and scratched roundels from the spares box and use the letters and nose art from the original sheet, reality stepped in at this point, the roundels went on a treat but the first fuselage letter that went into the water simply powdered when I tried to move it. These were replaced by letters from an Xtradecal sheet.

The one thing I had to save from the Novo sheet was the boxing kangaroo, I had taken a scan of the sheet just in case but I threw down a challenge to myself to rescue this one vital decal.

I treated the fin flashes ( as sort of test pieces) and the kangaroo with a couple of coats of Decal Film and let them dry.

Processing the fin flashes first I found the Decal film had worked in that it kept the decals in one piece, but they were very fragile and one broke while it was being positioned. The kangaroo decal also broke up but I managed to salvage enough of it to complete the nose art with a bit of careful colour matching and touching up with paint and a very fine brush.

On the final push now, I'm just praying the matt coat doesn't screw up

Thanks for looking...........

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Old Wombat]

 

[Robomog]

Thank OW

I really should have listened to my sensible head instead i tried to tone down the finish with some Tamiya matt varnish but this had a bad reaction with the Alt. Cleer  and the whole lot started going bobbly and white  aaaargh !

I had run test peices on a discarded wing and they were fine so i really don't know what happened here.

Fortunately i started with the underside so the top remains undamaged and i managed to remove most of the damage with copious amouts of water, however, some of the Azure paint also lifted and i lost both the roundels.

A bit of a setback but i think its all fixable, the finished article is going to have factory fresh shiny finish or pehaps at some point they highly polished the airframe to squeeze a few more miles an hour out of the airframe 

Time will tell...........

More when it happens ..........

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Old Wombat]

Ooh! That's a bit of a bugger!

[Robomog]

Yea i'm going "don't understand it never happened before" , then it hit me,  I usually spray the matt varnish not brush it on.

I think maybe the Tamiya varnish is a bit too 'hot' for the Alt. Cleer.  Valuable lesson learned 


Mog
>^-.-^<

[Buzzbomb]

Thats a bit of a shame. Pretty sure you will get it back to where you want it

[Robomog]

Thanks buzz, ive got it back to a reasonable base to start repairs

Watch this space...................

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Robomog]

Hi all

Well I've finally finished this turkey, it's fought me most of the way but ln the end it hasn't come out too bad, just very shiny 

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

by Robomog, on Flickr

But I'll let you decide

All comments and criticisms gratefully accepted, as always.

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Great recovery!  Looks like it just came out of the paint shop. 

[Old Wombat]

Great recovery!  Looks like it just came out of the paint shop. 

My thoughts exactly!

[Frank3k]

It came out more than OK - it's great! I love how you can see the call sign reflecting off the wings. It looks ready for the airshow.

[The Big Gimper]

Great recovery!  Looks like it just came out of the paint shop. 

+1. I like "show room" finishes.

[finsrin]

Such a paint scheme, looking fine top and bottom.      Just right spinner color too.

[Robomog]

Thanks for the kind comment guys, may do a few more "factory finishes" in the future 

Mog
>^-.-^<

[GTX_Admin]

"Factory Finish" or "Museum Finish"?

[Robomog]

Yes !   

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Buzzbomb]