<AIR> Best AVG P-40 in 1/48??
Joe Savlan
Hello all,
I build primarily 1/72 WW2 a/c, but yesterday while at the hobby shop going
thru the decal bin saw a beautiful set of 1/48 decals that I had to pick
up. It was Aeromasters AVG Flying Tigers set, complete with a extensive
writeup on the group, the colors and techniques involved in the various
camo schemes, and several color profiles and color pics, all in a nice
binder. Now, since I hardly ever do 1/48, and I am aware that there was a
flood of 1/48 P40's in recent years, so I ask everyone for their consencus
- which is the best model to use to depict a AVG bird? Hobbycraft? AMT?
**Joe**
Visit my homepage at....
http://www.pipeline.com/~jsavlan/index.html
See my models on the web at...
http://www.pipeline.com/~jsavlan/models.html
KDur597268
>which is the best model to use to depict a AVG bird?
People will disagree, I'm sure, but for a "B" model, I still think that the ol'
Monogram is one of the best. They got it right, despite some (very nicely
done) raised panel lines. I did one, and had to scratch the entire cockpit,
but there may be a set for that kit now. Anyone?
Ken Durling (IAV8)
IPMS - NorCal
"Shut up and Sing!"
Randy Lutz
Hi Joe,
You are asking a question that may generate much controversy depending
on the way the responses go.
In any case, let the games begin. If it is your intention to build a
P-40B/C type Hawk, I would suggest the Hobby Craft Canada kit. While
not without its fair share of problems, I feel it can be made into a
nicer P-40 with less trouble than using the Monogram kit. The most
serious problem with the Hobby Craft kit is the overly large gap between
the cowl flaps and centreline bulge on the underside of the fuselage
that results when the wing is installed. The illusion of the large gap
can be corrected quite simply with the addition of a small amount of
sheet stryene where the bulge enters the cowl flap opening.
On the plus side the kit does display nice scribed panel lines, good fit
and a thin canopy. Drawbacks to the Monogram kit are raised panel
lines, fit which is not as good as Hobby Craft and the clear parts do
not fit near as well.
I have taken the liberty of copying into my response a review/building
article I wrote for Scale Modeler which should be coming out next month
on the Hobby Craft P-40. Albeit, it is not the AVG variant, but the
kits are basically the same. Hopefully, you can glean some useful
information from the article.
The "Pearl Harbor Defender" is one of three Hobbycraft Canada kits
in the Curtiss Hawk 81 series. Upon first inspection of the kit,
I was confused over the number of parts which did not appear on the
instruction sheet. After a little research it became evident that
Hobbycraft has utilised some of the sprues from their Curtiss Hawk
75 series of kits which contained common parts. As a result you
get an extra tail wheel, propeller, gun barrels and exhausts.
In keeping with the newer Hobbycraft releases, the P-40B has fine
recessed panel lines, thin clear parts, and flattened tires. The
cockpit detail, while not extensive, is more than acceptable out-
of-the-box and consists of eight parts. I did not notice any major
errors in the kit other than the area behind the cowl flaps. Some
publications have suggested that the leading edge of the wing sits
too high. That may account for some of the problem, but I am not
so sure that is the only problem. In addition, I feel that the
central bulge on the underside slopes upwards too much at the
front, resulting in an overly large gap between the cowl flaps and
bulge.
Aside from that error, it is only small things that need
correcting, such as adding the scribing on the tail planes and on
the main wing for the wing gun bay covers. Also the vertical
braces in the rear quarter windows are angled, whereas they should
be straight up and down, as well as drilling out the two fuel
access openings in the left rear window.
Regarding the decals, Hobbycraft provides a choice of 4 aircraft,
all of which are Olive Drab over Neutral Grey in keeping with the
Pearl Harbor theme and are a major improvement over their earlier
attempts and featured perfect registration.
Painting guidelines are keyed to Floquil, Humbrol and Testors Model
Master, but as is annoyingly common with Hobbycraft kits, no
internal painting details are provided. While this may not pose a
serious problem for those of us who have been building for a while,
I pity the poor novice or youngster who aspires to finish their
model as accurately as possible.
CONSTRUCTION
While Hobbycraft has done a reasonable job at reproducing the
cockpit details, I felt it could stand some improvement, and as a
result, I elected to add the KMC resin cockpit set, #48-6006. This
detail set provides a new seat with seatbelts, floor, rear
bulkhead, control column, rudder pedals, sidewalls, instrument
panel and headrest. All the interior components were finished in
Model Master Interior Green FS34151, given a dark wash and multiple
shades of light green dry-brushings. The KMC instrument panel has
nicely detailed, recessed dial faces that proved all but impossible
to paint properly. To remedy this problem, I drilled out each dial
and replaced them with the photo-negative dial faces from the
Eduard detail set. All this was done after the panel was painted
black and dry-brushed with light grey. The KMC lap belts were
finished in tan and the shoulder harness was painted off-white.
Following the instructions, the propeller was next to be assembled.
Hobbycraft splits the spinner in two with the joint running down
the middle of the prop openings. This is incorrect, as the seam
should be in front of the blade cutouts. To remedy this, glue the
spinner halves together without the blades, sand the joint and
scribe a new line just slightly ahead of the glue joint.
Afterwards, the spinner was airbrushed gloss white and the prop
blades were finished with Metalizer Non-buffing aluminium on the
front and black on the rear faces. Note that there are no yellow
tips. The instructions suggest adding the yellow tips, but based
on an excellent photograph on page 22 in the "P-40 Warhawk in World
War II Color" publication by Jeff Ethell, it is evident that they
were not applied to natural metal props.
When it came time to assemble the wings, I wanted my P-40 to be a
little different from most others. Thanks to the "good folks" at
Eduard Precision Parts, I was able to incorporate a nice set of
photo-etched landing flaps from set number 48-195. Installation of
these units is virtually trouble-free, and they fit perfectly. The
only things you might wish to add to the flap assemblies are the
actuating rods and aileron cables which run spanwise. Prior to
assembling the top and bottom halves of the wing, the shell
ejection ports were hollowed out from the inside and the landing
light drilled out in preparation for an M.V. Products lens which
was added after all the final painting was completed. The
completed wing was fastened to the fuselage, and it was at this
point that I had to remove a small amount of plastic from the left
wing fillet. If not done, the resulting dihedral will be too flat
and uneven from one side to the other.
The windscreen was glued in place, the seam filled with CA glue and
then sanded and polished to blend it into the fuselage. To install
the rear quarter windows, a slightly different approach was
selected. They were first glued in using a thin bead of white glue
as the main adhesive. Once dry, they were coated with
cyanoacrylate (CA) glue and then sanded and polished to blend them
into the rear turtledeck. Initially I had tried, on three separate
occasions to glue the windows in place, using only minute amounts
of CA, but in each case the inside of the windows fogged. Once the
clear parts were installed, a set of E-Z Masks were used to mask
the windows prior to painting. I found it necessary to trim the E-
Z Masks which were to be applied to the rear quarter windows, as
they are produced to the exact dimensions as the clear part,
instead of being slightly undersize to allow for the window
framing.
A prominent feature on P-40s were the cowl flaps, which were
usually open when the aircraft was on the ground. Hobbycraft's
attempt at reproducing the cowl flaps is a little less than
desirable, but again thanks to the Eduard set, a more refined set
of open flaps can be added to the model. To augment these flaps,
I added the two main actuating rods to the centre cowl flaps and
the four smaller rods which link the centre flaps with the outboard
flaps. For those modellers who would like to have a nicer set of
closed cowl flaps, pick up Eduard set # 48-213 for the P-40K. The
flaps on this set are identical to the flaps on the P-40B set, but
they are supplied in both open and closed configurations. One
drawback to using the open photo-etched cowl flaps is the
impression of an exaggerated gap which results between the flaps
and the wing bulge. This all goes back to my earlier comment about
the angle of wing incidence/undersize fuselage bulge. To remedy
this, I added some sheet styrene to the fuselage to correct the
overall appearance in this area.
The landing gear struts were detailed with pieces from the Eduard
photo-etched set and then they were painted Testors Metalizer
Steel, and then given a dark wash. The tires were first painted
Testors Rubber, then black was airbrushed on the tread portion, and
this was followed by various shades of grey dry-brushing.
It was time to paint the camouflage for this Hawaiian P-40B, and
next to a bucket of white paint, there is nothing more boring than
the U.S. Army Air Corps Olive Drab over Neutral Grey. In an
attempt to add some life to the Olive Drab, I first airbrushed the
fabric control surfaces with Xtra-color X113 Faded Olive Drab. The
control surfaces were then masked off, leaving the metal trim-tabs
exposed. This was followed by a mixture of X112 Olive Drab ANA613
and X113 Faded Olive Drab which was sprayed on the lower sides of
the fuselage. After this, another mixture, but lighter than the
previous was airbrushed on the mid-point of the fuselage sides and
the leading edges of the wings. Finally, a lighter yet mixture,
but not as light as X113 Faded Olive Drab was applied to all the
surfaces viewed directly from above. Lastly, some small areas on
the vertical fin and rudder were sprayed with X112 to represent
areas that were touched-up on the original. This was all based on
the only photograph of this aircraft I was able to locate, which
can be found on page 28, in the Ian Allen publication "P-40 Hawks
at War". Now the easy part! The under surfaces were finished in
Xtra-color X133 Neutral Grey FS16270.
The decals were next to be applied, and I have to say that the
quality of the Hobbycraft Canada decals was excellent. They went
on with no silvering, the whites are opaque and they responded well
to small amounts of Solvaset. The only drawback to the kit decals
was the lack of stencilling. I added the most prominent of the
stencils, which was the "First Aid Inside Door" from an old
Superscale sheet.
After the decals had set, I applied a dark wash to all panel lines
and followed this up with some chipping using a mixture of Testors
Silver, Windsor and Newton Raw Umber oil paint and turpentine.
Next a few coats of Testors Dullcoat were airbrushed over the model
to provide a flat finish and give some tooth for the pastels to
adhere. All the panel lines on the underside were accentuated with
a grey chalk pastel, darker than the underside Neutral Grey. Black
pastel was sparingly applied to the wings immediately behind the
gun barrels and shell ejection ports. A very dark grey was added
to the underside of the fuselage behind the radiator outlet and the
wheels were first dusted with medium grey and then a light tan
colour. The upper surface is where you can really try your hand at
weathering with pastels as Olive Drab was notorious for fading,
bleaching, or just changing colours. I wanted to give the
appearance of an aircraft exposed to the sun, but not weathered to
the extent of an aircraft that has seen years of service.
First, the panel lines running perpendicular to the line of flight
were given a light olive pastel, applied behind the lines and drawn
back with a wide sable brush. All panel lines which run in the
same direction as the fuselage were picked out with a dark grey.
The key with the dark grey pastel is to use it in moderation. The
intent is to have the panel lines more noticeable, but at the same
time, you do not want them to stand out like a two-lane blacktop
running through the desert. Then an olive coloured pastel, which
is lighter than the upper surface paint, was scrubbed into the
surface of the model in a circular fashion, doing each panel one at
a time, trying to avoid the panel lines. A soft, muted effect is
what you are striving for, and not something that resembles your
grandmother's patchwork quilt. This was followed by a lighter yet
shade of olive scrubbed into selected areas of high wear or sun
exposure. Once finished the overall effect is very convincing, but
at first glance, is barely discernable.
The last steps involved painting the navigation lights, installing
the landing light, adding the antenna wires and placing the sliding
section of the canopy on the fuselage. Extreme care must be taken
when handling the sliding canopy, as it is very thin and has a
small moulding defect which is all but invisible to the eye but
will cause the canopy to split if too much pressure is applied.
Actually, I broke my original sliding part and had to obtain a
replacement from Hobbycraft Canada.
I know a lot of people prefer to build the old Monogram P-40B, but
for me, the Hobbycraft kit is the way to go. While it does suffer
from the cowl flap/bulge problem, it also sports scribed panel
lines, a better interior, and does not have the proliferation of
rivets found on the Monogram kit. Once finished, it sure looks
like an early P-40 and can hold its own against the Monogram kit.
Randy Lutz
IPMS Canada
OB
Great review Randy! Any chance you can post a pic to ABMS for all to see
the finished product?
BenL 10
>Hello all,
>I build primarily 1/72 WW2 a/c, but yesterday while at the hobby shop going
>thru the decal bin saw a beautiful set of 1/48 decals that I had to pick
>up. It was Aeromasters AVG Flying Tigers set, complete with a extensive
>writeup on the group, the colors and techniques involved in the various
>camo schemes, and several color profiles and color pics, all in a nice
>binder. Now, since I hardly ever do 1/48, and I am aware that there was a
>flood of 1/48 P40's in recent years, so I ask everyone for their consencus
>- which is the best model to use to depict a AVG bird? Hobbycraft? AMT?
>**Joe**
Joe,
The information on the AVG set for P-40 No. 13 is wrong. No. 13 was assigned
to Jim Cross and not Bob Little. Little was assigned No. 33. This is just for
your information because you know how picky modelers get!
Ben
ben...@aol.com (Ben Levario)
Joe Savlan
Thanks to everyone who replied, Randy in particular for the great kit
review. It looks like I will go with the Hobbycraft kit. I am not looking
for a contest winner, just a nice looking shelf kit. The Hobbycraft kit
has the recessed lines, which I find makes weathering easier.
**Joe**
--
Visit my homepage at....
http://www.pipeline.com/~jsavlan/index.html
See my models on the web at...
http://www.pipeline.com/~jsavlan/models.html
Randy Lutz <Randy...@pwgsc.gc.ca> wrote in article
<352151...@pwgsc.gc.ca>...
> Joe Savlan wrote:
> >
>>Now, since I hardly ever do 1/48, and I am aware that there >>was a
> > flood of 1/48 P40's in recent years, so I ask everyone for their
consencus
> > - which is the best model to use to depict a AVG bird? Hobbycraft?
AMT?
>>>BIG SNIP<<<
Larry
Sorry fellows but I missed the thread. What about that Hasegawa 1/48th
scale "B" with AVG markings? Is that the Hobbycraft or is it an old Hase or
something altogether new?
Larry
Steve L. New
The Hasegawa P-40 B is the Monogram kit, sold in Japan by Hasegawa.
--
Steve L. New
ne...@ix.netcom.com
Just an armadillo on the shoulder of the information superhighway.
Larry <larr...@hotmail.com> wrote in article
<6g6mum$k...@nnrp3.farm.idt.net>...