1/48 Eduard P-40N Warhawk

by Ryan Ahern

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The P-40 is one of my favorite fighters. It is a classic design that just doesn’t look right without a sharkmouth or some other appropriate nose art. I have modeled the B (AVG Sharkmouth), E (Aleutian Bengal Tiger), and now N (Napier Field Parrothead) designations and I think it is safe to say my P-40 collection looks like a prime time lineup for the National Geographic Channel.

This is "Yellow 17" from Napier Field , AL circa 1943. A P-40N "Parrothead" Warhawk built from the 1/48 scale Eduard (old Mauve) P-40N ProfiPACK kit and Cutting Edge Modelworks AM decals from Meteor Productions (product # CED48209). The ProfiPACK kit provided many AM options, all of which I leveraged accordingly throughout this build. The instructions for detailing the cockpit with provided PE parts were excellent. I had some fit problems with the completed resin cockpit and wheel wells since the instructions for the resin parts weren’t as detailed as those for the PE parts. I finally realized the root cause of the problem existed somewhere between my chair and the model itself. DOH! The cockpit base was molded from a the thick resin block that still required a good amount of sanding to really get things to fit accurately once I got the configuration of the wheel wells right. Remaining fit problems were minimal and resolved with Squadron White Putty, acetone, and sanding with wet 400 and 1500 grit sand paper, followed by buffing with polishing cloths of 4000 and 6000 grit to remove the scratch marks from the 400 and 1500 grit sand paper.  

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This plane is airbrushed with the usual OD over NG scheme using Model Master Acryl paints. Green splotches on the wings and tail were masked and airbrushed with Model Master Acryl Medium Green FS34102. I’ve never been big on weathering unless I put the plane in a diorama. “A clean shelf deserves a clean plane”, to derive a quote from a fellow modeler in our forums here at ARC. That being said, I just couldn’t bring myself to malign the beautiful nose art beyond some simple Tamiya Smoke and thinned Flat White for the exhaust. Note the picture on the right above showing just how weathered these birds were at Napier Field.

Ryan

Photos and text © by Ryan Ahern