AIR: AMT/ERTL P-40F first impressions
Jim Bates
I got the new AMT/ERTL P-40F the other day and here are a few
impressions/comments:
BOX: Ok, here we are told that the P-40F is the "Final combat version
of the fighter made famous by the Flying Tigers" and that the kit
includes "Hightly detailed Pratt & Whitney R-28000-22W engines," also
the P-40F is listed with an Allison C-1710...things don't look good so
far...but we do get a nice box top painting.
OK SO ON TO THE KIT ITSELF: Standard AMT/ERTL P-40 kit but guess
what...no cutting. The fuselage is molded in one piece with the new
Merlin nose and the short tail. Unlike both the P-40N and P-40K there
is no surgery needed...they finally got it right! Also there are the
new side panels for the cowling and cowl flaps. The new parts look
correct for a P-40F to me though I'm not sure if the cowl flaps. Other
new parts include a new set of fishtale exausts (finally.) Now here is
my first question...is the P-40F similar to the P-40E in that both types
of exhausts were fitted? From looking at photos it seems
likely...anyone know for sure? Also included is a second (new)
instrument panel which the instructions say is not for use, but this is
the panel shown in the painting guide. Anyone know what varient it is
for...should it me used on the Merlin engine varients? It would make
sense that the Merlin P-40s would have a different setup. Other parts
are from the standards including the under wing bombs which I believe
aren't correct for the P-40F. Quite a bit of flash on all the parts but
not as bad as my P-40K, which is one of the worst molded kits I have
seen recently.
DECALS: For s/n 119988 "Gwenn" flown by Lt. Richard Lander from the
315th FS 324 FG in a three tone North Africa desert scheme, and an two
tone desert schemed aircraft s/n 113921 "Grim Rip" which is listed as
being from 65th squ. 57TH FG, 211 Group RAF. What? Anyway, the decals
look to be well printed though a little glossy.
OVERALL: Looks good to me, and I kind of like this series of P-40s. I
was upset that AMT/ERTL raised the price of the kits while the molding
quality went to hell, but I got mine for about $15 and it is a good
value at that price. You can make an early P-40L by removing a MG from
each wing. Now can we just get a long tail P-40F/F and most importantly
a P-40E! And by the way where are my highly detailed Pratt & Whitney
R-2800s?
Jim Bates
MAPS Air Museum -- where we have a 1/1 P-40N
Akron-Canton, Ohio
http://www.angelfire.com/oh/mapsairmuseum
Albatrosdv
Unfortunately, you CANNOT make a P-40L from this kit, because P-40Ls, as well
as about 90 percent of the P-40Fs - INCLUDING the USAAF version here - were all
LONG TAILS. (And I believe the P-40F never got to the RAF, so much for the
accuracy of their research on markings)
Quite frankly, the only value of this kit in the form they gave it to us is as
a conversion to a P-40E by taking off the nose and replacing it. And it's much
easier (and cheaper) to buy an Arii P-40E and put a True Details cockpit in it.
AMT/ERTL blew it. Big time. They should stick to cars.
Tom Cleaver
Albat...@aol.com
RWilkes698
So, if I get one of these beasties can I mash it togther with the P-40K and get
a "L"? or would it be easier to by the conversion?
And will the Aeromaster "F/L" conversion work on an an AMT kit? And we was
wondering, which gun got removed on the "L's",
inboard, outboard, middle??
TIA
Rick Wilkes
Jim Bates
Albatrosdv wrote:
>
> Unfortunately, you CANNOT make a P-40L from this kit, because P-40Ls, >as well as about 90 percent of the P-40Fs - INCLUDING the USAAF version >here - were all LONG TAILS. (And I believe the P-40F never got to the >RAF, so much for the accuracy of their research on markings)
>
Tom,
I don't think so. My understanding is that the P-40L were shot tails
until the L-5 block. So most P-40Ls were long tailed, but not all.
Same goes for the P-40F. The long tail wasn't introduced until the
P-40F-5. So the kit is good for the early P-40F/L. As far as the
markings included, I don't know if they were short or long tailed, and I
still have no idea what is with the second aircraft, which is listed as
RAF, but is wearing U.S. stars...and the squadron listed is not RAF.
The RAF received about 200 P-40F/Ls that were known as the Kittyhawk
II...and I have no idea if there were short or long tailed.
> Quite frankly, the only value of this kit in the form they gave it to >us is as a conversion to a P-40E by taking off the nose and replacing >it. And it's much easier (and cheaper) to buy an Arii P-40E and put a >True Details cockpit in it.
>
It is an accurate short tail P-40F. Most may have been long tailed but
it is good for something. Hey, I've got a photo of the short tail P-40F
in front of me. So its not worthless...just not as useful as it could
have been if they included both the short and long tail!
And by the way, doesn't the ARII P-40E have the wrong wing shape?
Jim Bates
MAPS Air Museum
Akron-Canton, Ohio
http://www.angelfire.com/oh/mapsairmuseum
Jim Bates
Sorry about the guns. It was the inboard pair that were removed on the
P-40L.
My understanding is that you can make an accurate early short tail P-40L
straight from the box if you remove the inboard pair of guns. However,
most P-40Ls had the long tails. To build one of them you could use the
long tail that was hacked off the AMT P-40K to replace the short tail in
the P-40F kit.
William H. Shuey
Jim Bates wrote:
>
> I got the new AMT/ERTL P-40F the other day and here are a few
> impressions/comments:
>
>
> DECALS: For s/n 119988 "Gwenn" flown by Lt. Richard Lander from the
> 315th FS 324 FG in a three tone North Africa desert scheme, and an two
> tone desert schemed aircraft s/n 113921 "Grim Rip" which is listed as
> being from 65th squ. 57TH FG, 211 Group RAF. What?
> MAPS Air Museum -- where we have a 1/1 P-40N
> Akron-Canton, Ohio
> http://www.angelfire.com/oh/mapsairmuseum
FWIW: The guy at the computer doing the box art obviously was no
historian. The 57th Fighter Group of the U.S.A.A.F. (P-40F's) arrived
in Ejypt around September of 1942 and was paired with an R.A.F. group to
gain combat experience. As for Merlin engined P-40s in the R.A.F., there
was a photograph of a Squadron line-up of them in the old Arco-Aircam
softback on the P-40 in foreign service-I think it might have been a
South African Squadron. I loaned my copy to someone a long time ago and
I haven't seen it since. Maybe someone out there who wasn't so foolish
as to loan his copy away could look it up and furnish you the
information.
When the North African campaign got rolling in Nov.42', they
established a big depot in Ejypt and all p-40 A/C for the Eastern
end of the North African front were sent there and all allied squadrons
in Ejypt drew new/replacement aircraft from the common pool as needed.
They simply painted insignia, put in radio equipment and maybe a
gunsight at the pool according to the nation it was issued to and that
is why you see some apparent "cross dressing" amoung P-40s in North
Africa.
Some later long tails issued to the 33rd fighter group in French
North Africa, which were supplied direct from the U.S.A.,had standard
U.S.A.A.F. Olive drab/neutral grey with just some patches of Desert Sand
applied similiar to R.A.F practice, and there may have been some with
full R.A.F. colors-ain't history research FUN! They had no consideration
for us poor modellers at all! Too damn busy trying to beat Rommell to
keep decent records.
Bill Shuey
Albatrosdv
Guys, if you want to make an accurate P-40F/L, buy the Mauve P-40M, get the
Hi-Tech P-40F conversion from Aeromaster, and a True-Details cockpit. It
definitely works.
I get really angry at companies like AMT, the way they do things like this -
all that money and they do it WRONG!. But then you should see me when I have
my photographer/aviation historian hat on and I talk to idiots such as the guy
who owns the ONLY flyable A-36, and he painted it like "Flying Undertaker"
because "I thought that looked cool." ARRGGGGHHH!!!!!!!! Living proof there
is no connection between the bank account and the brain. Half a mil for the
airplane and he couldn't spend $5 for the proper research.
Proof of the good kit if you want to buy enough aftermarket stuff is in the
pudding. Come see my P-40L at THE AERONUT.
Richard A. Chambers
I missed the original post about this kit so this may have already been
noted - the AMT P-40F kit "out-of-the-box" represents the early F with the
short tail. If you want the later F ( which I think most were ) then you'll
have the get the longer tail from some place! BTW - if you have the AMT
1/48 P-40K you can use the removed tail from that kit as it's the long tail!
Rich Chambers
please remove "*" to reply
Dan Winfield
Re: Air: AMT/Ertl P-40F first impressions......
My first impression was...............jeezzz another P-40.
"My good blade carves the casques
of men
My strong lance thrusteth sure;
My strenght is as the strenght
of ten
because my heart is pure."
Sir Galahad
uuummm uuuumm
uuuummmm
MRLB Dan=B9
LICIN
Another P-40? I think we need another new BF-109G (snicker).
How about a quarter scale P-40Q. That would be sweet, or a 1/48 F2G Corsair.
Max
Jennings Heilig
Yep, another P-40. One that people have begged for for years. The F
(with a Merlin engine) would be a tough conversion. I'm very glad that
AMT/Ertl did it (along with their others) before they (stupidly) got out
of the airplane business..
Jennings
PS: Yes, we *did* need another Bf109G. We finally (thanks to Hasegawa)
have a reasonably accurate Bf109G-6 of which there were over 12,000
built. Hadn't happened until this year..
Chun325
>From: li...@aol.com (LICIN)
>Date: Sun, Dec 21, 1997 03:59 EST
>How about a quarter scale P-40Q. That would be sweet, or a 1/48 F2G Corsair.
The F2G Corsair is high on my list of to-build projects. Anyone have a 1/48th
scale War Eagle vacuform conversion they'd like to sell at a reasonable price?
HAPPY MODELING, and BASICS FIRST !
Bradley D Chun - IPMS #33945
"Invisible souls exit through suppressed 9mm and .308 cal holes"
"I build vacuform kits, therefore I am"
SILICON VALLEY SCALE MODELERS
IPMS/FREMONT HORNETS
gratis writer, RepliPhile
Dawn
Jennings Heilig wrote:
>
> LICIN wrote:
> >
> > Another P-40? I think we need another new BF-109G (snicker).
>
> Yep, another P-40. One that people have begged for for years. The F
> (with a Merlin engine) would be a tough conversion. I'm very glad that
> AMT/Ertl did it (along with their others) before they (stupidly) got out
> of the airplane business..
>
> Jennings
>
> PS: Yes, we *did* need another Bf109G. We finally (thanks to Hasegawa)
> have a reasonably accurate Bf109G-6 of which there were over 12,000
> built. Hadn't happened until this year..
Chun325
To my fellow modelers,
Did anyone else notice this on the side of the box?
It said that the kit comes w/ a detailed Pratt & Whitney R-2800 on one side,
and on the other side, it mentions the Merlin.
Just wondering,
HAPPY MODELING, and BASICS FIRST !
Bradley D Chun - IPMS #33945
"Invisible souls exit through suppressed 9mm and .308 cal holes"
"I build vacuform kits, therefore I am"
SILICON VALLEY SCALE MODELERS
IPMS/FREMONT HORNETS
gratis-writer, RepliPhile
Andy or Bob
> To my fellow modelers,
>
> Did anyone else notice this on the side of the box?
>
> It said that the kit comes w/ a detailed Pratt & Whitney R-2800 on one side,
> and on the other side, it mentions the Merlin.
>
Aw, give 'em a break- anyone can make a mistake. After all, it was only
recently revealed that the standard engine for the late P-40F was in
fact the DB-605. Just save the surplus R-2800 to jazz up your next FM-2
conversion!
Bob
Rick DeNatale
In article <19971223160...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
chu...@aol.com (Chun325) wrote:
>To my fellow modelers,
>
>Did anyone else notice this on the side of the box?
>
>It said that the kit comes w/ a detailed Pratt & Whitney R-2800 on one side,
>and on the other side, it mentions the Merlin.
Well, actually the one I looked at said that it came with two R-2800s on
one side and on the other side it said that the P-40 used an Allison
engine.
--
Rick DeNatale
still looking for a cool signature
dena...@mindspring.com
http://www.mindspring.com/~denatale/
William H. Shuey
Chun325 wrote:
>
> To my fellow modelers,
>
> Did anyone else notice this on the side of the box?
>
> It said that the kit comes w/ a detailed Pratt & Whitney R-2800 on one side,
> and on the other side, it mentions the Merlin.
>
> HAPPY MODELING, and BASICS FIRST !
> Bradley D Chun - IPMS #33945
> "Invisible souls exit through suppressed 9mm and .308 cal holes"
> "I build vacuform kits, therefore I am"
> SILICON VALLEY SCALE MODELERS
> IPMS/FREMONT HORNETS
> gratis-writer, RepliPhile
No Problem! The Boss at AMT probably let his 10 year old do the box art
on his computer as a cost savings-and what do you expect for candy
money?
Bill Shuey