ERTL P-40F Curiosities

[Kevin Carroll]

N Walch wrote:

<snipped>

> I have only seen the box art for the new P-40F kit. I think I have
> discovered the built in errors that ERTL always seems to include into
> their kits, just to keep you on your toes.
> All of the pictures that I have seen of the
> short-tailed P-40F are with the round exhausts.

> You buy the P-40F and the P-40K. Then you
> use the fishtail exhausts for the P-40K and the round ones for the
> P-40F. The next step is to hope that Aeromaster has a decal sheet
> with a short tail P-40F.

> Has anyone actually looked inside the box of this kit? A review would
> be nice. Are there any other decals with this kit. How about the
> P-40K?
>
> Thanks.

Mr. Walch:

I agree..AMT can be maddening! If they had molded this kit as a
long-tail, it would have yielded almost as many "F" options *plus* a ton
of "Ls" with the greatest of ease.

That being said, they do make pretty nice stuff for the money, and you
will be pleased to know that in this kit they include the round, tubular
exhausts as well as the long missing and sought fishtails.

There is a second set of markings in the kit which I think are
correct: An "F" with the 57th FG, serial #113921.

Try Aeromaster 48-219 "Desert Hawks, Part 2" for more short-tailed
P-40Fs.

Kevin

[N Walch]

I have only seen the box art for the new P-40F kit. I think I have
discovered the built in errors that ERTL always seems to include into
their kits, just to keep you on your toes.

The markings are for a P-40F-20. Which should be a long tailed
machine with fishtail exhausts. The kit is a short tailed P-40F with
fishtailed exhausts. All of the pictures that I have seen of the

short-tailed P-40F are with the round exhausts.

So this is what you do. You buy the P-40F and the P-40K. Then you

use the fishtail exhausts for the P-40K and the round ones for the
P-40F. The next step is to hope that Aeromaster has a decal sheet
with a short tail P-40F.

If you wanted a longtailed P-40F (or L) you use the Mauve P-40M and
the KMC conversion kit.

[RMBell]

>Has anyone actually looked inside the box of this kit? A review would
>be nice. Are there any other decals with this kit. How about the
>P-40K?
>
>Thanks.

If they had the long tail addition I would have been happier but at least they
included two sets of exhausts this time (wonder how long it takes to get
replacement parts from AMT, hmmm...) and two side cowl pieces as well as two
instrument panels (?)

The only error I have seen so far is the carburetor intake for the Merlin; it
has two openings instead of one. It's a fairly simple scratch/fix but I'd
rather not have to do it. There are some sink lines where the tail should be
removed for lengthening (if they had supplied the long tail)

The kit can be built as a P-40 F 1-5 and should build into a nice model.

Be nice to your kids; they'll choose your nursing home.

Milton
Austin TX

[SKarver]

Milton, aka rmb...@aol.com (RMBell)
Fri, Jan 2, 1998 10:18 EST

answered N Walch's quizzical query

>>Has anyone actually looked inside the box of this kit?

by posting:

>If they had the long tail addition I would have been happier

It would appear likely that at some point AMT must have intended to issue the
long-tail as part of their series, as the fuselage has the same inside cut mark
as in the -K kit.

> but at least they
>included two sets of exhausts this time

yes, finally the fish-tails that are needed for most any Warhawk from the
long-tail F's on (an additional evidence that AMT intended to supply that
variant, too?)

>(wonder how long it takes to get
>replacement parts from AMT, hmmm...)

Of course, I had the same thought, but on calling Dyersville, was informed that
AMT/ERTL has *discontinued* its parts replacement service--it's either a whole
kit swap or nada!

>and two side cowl pieces

meaning, of course, the two different types in use, one with the exhaust trough
(mainly seen with the tubular exhausts from E's onward--and like the
fish-tails, a new molding), and the other without

>as well as two
>instrument panels (?)

yes, again meaning 2 different panels. One's the one they've been supply from
the N, the other is, I think, appropriate for the L and actually, perhaps,
other, earlier variants.

>The only error I have seen so far is the carburetor intake for the Merlin; it
>has two openings instead of one. It's a fairly simple scratch/fix but I'd
>rather not have to do it.

Yes this center intake, which goes nearly to the lip of the chin scoop is
missing, but I do believe the two grilled faces of the radiator cans are
correct--as seen in a maintenance photo in FAOW (don't have in front of me @
the moment).

The one other error that remains, is the seat. It would have been nice if,
along with the new exhauts & cowling pieces, AMT had "admitted" that earlier
P-40 series had the round-backed seat, not the squared off one of the
N's--scrounge around your spares, brothers.

>The kit can be built as a P-40 F 1-5 and should build into a nice >model.

Agreed, and markings would include some short-tail Operation Torch aircraft.
Regards,
Stef

[jmcl...@gbtech.net]

njsw...@pacifier.com (N Walch) wrote:

> The markings are for a P-40F-20. Which should be a long tailed
> machine with fishtail exhausts. The kit is a short tailed P-40F with
> fishtailed exhausts. All of the pictures that I have seen of the
> short-tailed P-40F are with the round exhausts.
>
> So this is what you do. You buy the P-40F and the P-40K. Then you
> use the fishtail exhausts for the P-40K and the round ones for the
> P-40F. The next step is to hope that Aeromaster has a decal sheet
> with a short tail P-40F.
>
> If you wanted a longtailed P-40F (or L) you use the Mauve P-40M and
> the KMC conversion kit.
>

> Has anyone actually looked inside the box of this kit? A review would
> be nice. Are there any other decals with this kit. How about the
> P-40K?

I'm working on mine now. Here's what you do: get the long tail from the
P-40K. That's what I did and it fits beautifully. All the interesting
markings are for long-tailed Fs and Ks anyway. I like this kit. Fit is
good but you will have to put a spacer inside the wing roots of the
fuselage halves to block them out to the right width. Here are a few
other things I'm fixing: The under-nose insert has some questionable
detail. I deleted some of it and added a round intake with a butterfly
valve. There is a good picture of this detail in the Squadron In Action
book. The underside cowl flaps are not quite right. There should be four
with a fixed panel seperating the left two from the right two. The area
aft of the cowl flaps is incorrect, too. I haven't figured out what to
do here yet. There is a pretty good picture of this area in the Squadron
P-40 Walk-Around book. The prop is a little small in diameter. Haven't
fixed it yet. The wheel wells need walls on the inboard sides. I made
them from .040 and included the curved panel for tire clearance (picture
in the Walk-Around). Also had to remove some of the plastic under the
fuselage wing fillets to clear the the new wheel well walls. Sounds like
a lot of fixing but I'm really enjoying this kit (Yes, Mrs. Lincoln, but
except for that how did you like the play?). Mine will probably end up
as an L. I'll remove the outer wing guns. I know the question of which
guns to remove was asked a while back and I think the response was the
inner guns. Well, there is a photo in the In Action that pretty clearly
shows the outers have been deleted. Could be a mistake -- a field-modded
F instead of a K. I'm not going to worry too much about it. To complete
the review -- there are no other decals in the box. Yes, the ones in the
box are for a long-tail. I also have the Mauve P-40M and the conversion
nose -- very nice detail. I will use them to build a British Mk.II in
desert markings. Yes, the Brits did use them in combat. -- there are
photos of them in the Aircam book. Hope this helps.

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