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.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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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
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