1/48 Arii P-40E Warhawk

[yak face]

Cockpit looks great matt, airframe doesnt seem too bad, nothing a smudge of filler wont sort. I didnt realise this kit has a seperate engine too, are you going to have the panels off and display it? cheers tony

 

[Brickie]

I'm contemplating making a little dio if I can get hold of some 1/48 Soviet ground crew. ICM do a box, I think, so maybe after Christmas.

 

[yak face]

Yes they do a couple of different sets, sometoimes you can get them included in a boxing with an aircraft for not much more money. cheers tony

 

[Brickie]

I think their Spit Mk VIII has them in, but I've no real interest in building a Spit Mk VIII ...

However, I need to do a bit of an order from a model shop in Poland who can supply proper Polish Khaki, and they carry the ICM ground crew figures pretty cheaply, so I might tag them onto the order to make the postage worthwhile. And maybe some nice winged lancers while I'm there.

 

[Brickie]

Anyway, finally got round to putting the seatbelts on this evening. Memo to self: Do this before closing fuselage in future. >.<

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[treyzx10r]

Office is lookin' sharp Brickie

 

[Brickie]

Thanks - not bad for a first go with Photo-Etch anyway!

bunged the wings on last night as well, so I'm about ready to start the filling and sanding.

 

[Brickie]

I'm still at PSR stage at the moment, so not a lot to report except that Citadel's new Liquid Green Stuff is the biz...

 

[Brickie]

Managed to get a bit more done last night - added undercarriage struts and painted interior green into the wheel wells and the inside of the fairings before these get glued on.

The wheel wells are entirely devoid of detail and I thought about scratching at least some ribs, but I figure it's going to go on a base and not be looked at from underneath particularly so I didn't really bother.

I'm now considering what camo colours to do. The instructions that came with the decal set show dark green/dark earth with lighter-coloured bits where the RAF markings have been painted out, so I need to find a decent Dark Earth brown without having to do a lot of mixing.

 

[Brickie]

Jobs to do before I can start painting:

- add cockpit canopy and mask it (I'm posing it open but will tape the mid-section into place so it gets the same paint treatment)

- add PE gunsight and handle on the tailfin

- add undercarriage fairing and tail-wheel stalk.

- take some photos and upload them

 

[James Q]

Looking good so far the PE has made alot of difference for the cock pit looks very nice.

 

[Brickie]

I changed my mind about adding the cockpit and PE - the PE will get knocked off too easily, and it turns out the cockpit isn't poseable open, so I'm deciding whether to attempt to cut it or just pose it closed...

In the meantime, I've bunged on the base coat of camo, and I'm just trying to decide the best way to shade/weather it. Ideas, anyone?

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[treyzx10r]

Matt its lookin' good. As far as weathering I usually give mine a wash and follow up with pastels . There are a lot of good threads on the site about techniques for this, use the search function and you'll be neck deep in ideas.cheers Trey

 

[Brickie]

OK, here's the camo job. After the base coat it's had Citadel Brown Wash and Citadel Green Wash as appropriate, then ground pastels, then Klear, then oops, I forgot to do the bit where they painted out the RAF markings, so those got added in Hu:29 and Hu:86. The underside had a wash of thinned Tamiya Smoke.

We're all ready for decals, I think...

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[treyzx10r]

Matt its coming along nicely!

 

[Brickie]

Main decals are on, I'm just putting off the incredibly fiddly looking stencils!

One thing I have noticed about AM decals is that they are really fragile. I managed to shred two red stars and my originally-planned code number by soaking them in water that had cooled a bit too much. As it is, the upper-wing red stars are a bit see-through and there's a marked difference in colour where the underlying camo changes. I may have to get the red paint out and go over them.

 

[Brickie]

Meanwhile, work has begun on the display base - more details to follow...

 

[Brickie]

Here's the latest: decals are on, including most of the stencils - I gave up after a while as I realised that mostly they were entirely invisible. Also visible, the display base which I'm quite chuffed with so far but still needs work.

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[papa 695]

Hi Matt some nice work there, and the base sets it off really well

 

[Brickie]

And we're done, bar the figures who are still on the way from Poland, and a radio aerial once I get hold of some elastic rigging thread.

Here's the hero shot:

and some more...

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