Fernando N's Tiger Model Curtiss P-40 Warhawk

[Fernando N]

Hi everyone,

With a project moving from manufacture to painting, there was space on the bench for my next Toon.
First the obligatory sprue shots and contents of box:


A couple of parts were loose in the bag, luckily no broken or scratched parts.
One canopy to modify:

And one version to build:

Found the cockpit interior a bit sparse and looking for pics online I found a virtual tour of a P-40 Warhawk in USAF Museum (thanks):
http://www.nmusafvirtualtour.com/cockpits/WWII_tour/WWII-22.html
Immediately started modifying the office, removing most of the canopy attachment points and adding bits for extra detail, good to have decent supply of various Evergreen strip rod and sheet:


Yes that is a fingerprint in the CA fog....

All that extra material and tools for scratch building makes a bit of a mess during bench hours:

Maybe tomorrow a coat of interior green before detail painting and adding the seat belts.

Thanks for looking in.
Fernando

 

[papa 695]

Great start Fernando

 

[Fernando N]

Evening all,

Thanks Ian.

Had an extra day this weekend for moggelling and such, so didn’t waste much of it to complete the interior of this one.
After a couple coats of sprayed on Interior Green, the details were painted following the same USAF reference and given a Dark Brown wash and some pencil scratches for wear and tear:


Painted the IP one this one and tried out something new for me, a drop of Microscale Kirstal Klear on the dials to have the appearance of glass lenses, looks better in real :

Seat belts were made from thin strips of masking tape and 0.3mm brass wire:

Now have to look for some pics of the gunsight so I can cobble that one together before closing the fuselage.

Thanks for looking in.
Fernando

 

[Deleted member 5819]

Hi Fernando, great work on the office and seating area, might have to steal that idea of using kristal klear on dials.
Pete.

 

[papa 695]

Cracking work on the cockpit fernando

 

[Wouter]

Hi Fernando, great work indeed chap!

 

[Ian M]

Nice detailing in the office.
The kristal klear for the glasses. I have found that it helps sometimes to give it a second go to remove the concave formed as it dries. Try it on a test piece and see what you think.

 

[Fernando N]

Hi all,

Pete, Ian, Wouter and Ian M thanks guys.
Ian M, a second go was a good idea indeed, leaving a very little bulge on top also helps to get a flat surface when it has dried.

A small update for now, with the last things done to the instrument panel and a scratch built reflector-sight added, the interior was assembled:

After closing the fuselage, work started on the wing.
Glued the ailerons on instead of leaving them movable and replaced the moulded barrels with 0.8mm brass tube, good chance to test my mini mitre box with the JLC saw:

Wings on and the prop just test fitted for now:

I’ll be taking a little break on this one for now as the start of the Starter-set challenge has my mojo for the time being…

Thanks for looking in.
Fernando

 

[Jim R]

Hi fernando
Missed this up 'til now - sorry. What a cracking job of the cockpit. Just shows what skill can make of these 'toy' kits.
Jim

 

[Deleted member 5819]

Hi Fernando great looking office space, love the the upgraded gun barrels, l think it is worth the time and effort on the little details it really makes them pop.
Keep up the excellent work.
Pete.

 

[JR]

Another one who missed the start !
What improvements Fernando, certainly made something of the office. Those wire buckles on the harness. great scratchery
John.

 

[rtfoe]

Great office work Fernando. Gun barrels are wicked. Looking forward to seeing how you tackle the large locating pins of the canopy. I want to try and pose my Corsair canopy open. Can't match your scratchery but will add bits and pieces of gyzmology.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Fernando N]

Evening all, sorry for the late reply…

Jim, no prob and thanks, just having fun in the non-scale.
Pete, thanks will try to keep the standard high…
John, no prob and thank you, these give a palette to experiment on without worrying if it looks right.
Richard, thanks and locating pins are gone and the canopy got a bit modified, more below.

With the in between project finished it was time to get back to this one and having a week off means enough time to moggel on.

Having grinded, carved, sanded and polished the locating pins of the canopy out before, the result wasn’t that clear even after a re-polish and clear coat.
So decided to cut it up for an open version (thanks to Richard for the idea) gives a better look in the office when finished:

Drop tank got smaller stabilisers than the lugs from the kits moulded on ones:

Also removed the reinforcement blocks behind each prop blade:

Added a couple of wires in each wheel well and a brake line on the struts:


Ring sight and bead were also added to the topside:

Antenna had to move for the open canopy:

Masked all off and it was painting time, dusted the hissy stick off and gave it a basecoat of VJ grey primer followed by VJ Black for the pre-shade lines:

VJ 71.296 USAAF Light Grey for the undersides and VJ 71.294 US Forrest Green for the upper parts:


Disregarded the kits suggestions for the colours as I used these on a Hawk before with good result.
Now just to touch up a couple of spots and then move on to the detail painting.

Thanks for looking in.
Fernando

 

[Steven000]

That's looking very nice Fernando
Cheers,
Steven

 

[Fernando N]

Evening,

Steven, thanks.

With an extra week off during last Easter, I’d managed to make a lot of progress on this little one, just didn’t get around to post it…

Detail painting was pretty straight forward, most were the wheel wells and landing gear(which I failed to capture here):

Then moved on to the decals, most were a good fit and only needed a coat or two of MicroSol to blend in.
The fuselage stripe didn’t fit at all due to the curves of the surface, so that was masked and painted on with Revell 36 Red, which looked pretty close to the red of the decal.
The shark mouth decals also missed a bit, so the front part was library extended:

Next was wash time with A.MIG 1005 for the top and A.MIG 1601 for the bottom, a touch of aluminium for chipping and some soot marks from Tammie’s make-up box B, followed by two coats of VJ matt varnish and left to dry.
When it was dried, it was unmasking time with a touch up here and there, installed the windshield aft glazing and blended those in with a wash.

Put the canopy on, a 0.3mm Ushi wire for the aerial glued on, clear green and red for the nav lights and it’s finished:



Only later on I noticed one of the roundels is slightly out of line…oh well nothing to do about it now.

Pretty neat kit even in its basic form, fits better than the previous KI-84 from Tiger and a great palette to experiment on in the scratch building department.

Thanks for looking in, will add more pics in the completed section and on to the next one.
Fernando

 

[RM6239]

Fernando
Great result mate.

cheers
Ross

 

[Wouter]

I missed a couple of updates somehow. Nice bit of extra detailing, it sure payed of. Very nice finish mate, well done!

 

[Deleted member 4539]

.Excellent modelling Fernando.

 

[rtfoe]

Great build Fernando, can't see the out of lined roundel. Neat weathering too. Am ashamed that my Sea Hawk has taken precedents over my Corsair build. Will be resuming today.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Fernando N]

Ross, Wouter, Ralph and Richard, thanks guys much appreciated.
Wouter, don’t mention it, I miss blogs and updates all the time, being busy all the time and the great activity here doesn’t help either.
Richard, these angles hide that little error, more visible from a top down pic.
Know the feeling of moving builds around the bench, my D-9 has fallen by the wayside the last months but that wingy critter has made a comeback on the bench, pics to follow…