This
is a P-40 from the 98th Fighter Squadron, 337th Fighter
Group (3rd Air Force) at Sarasota Army Air Field, Florida.
Construction is based on actual wartime photos.
The
aircraft is a stock Hasegawa P-40E with a few additions.
-
Ultracast seat and block pattern tires
-
Ultracast
P-40 flared (“fishtail”) exhausts
-
Avionix
cockpit parts
-
Eduard
photo-etch P-40E set
I
have a few old B&W photos from my Dad when he was a crew chief on P-40s at
Sarasota AAF in 1943-1944. His unit was the 98th Fighter
Squadron, a replacement training unit that trained new fighter pilots for duty
overseas. The unit had P-40s up until early 1944, when they switched over
to P-51s. He was sent to P-51 mechanics school at North American in early
44. The photos show the P-40s with the red stripe around the national
insignia repainted in blue, so they were taken in late 43 or very early 44.
It is not clear from the photos which model of P-40 they were operating – only
that they were either E or K models. I built the model with all the
distinctive features I could make out from the photos (exhaust, tires, antenna).
The stock cockpit for this model was quite good – in fact I used several of
the kit parts vs. the aftermarket resin I bought since they seemed more accurate
and durable. I was less impressed with the complex rear fuselage and
turtleback assemblies. It seemed needlessly over-engineered and (for me)
required a lot of filling and sanding even with a fair amount of dry-fitting and
advanced planning.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Finishing
was a cornucopia of materials and techniques. I used Testor’s Dark OD
for the upper surfaces faded with Field Drab, along with a composite mixture of
medium green for the splotches. The undersurfaces were painted with
slightly faded Testor’s Neutral Gray. Then the upper surfaces were
painted with the medium green. These areas were masked over with BlueTac
to give a softer edge, then the rest of the upper half was sprayed with several
shades of faded OD. Then I took my first leap into Future topcoats
before weathering began. This was a mixture of artist’s oils and Vallejo
acrylics. Gun smoke
stains were also black artist oil
paint, which, by using a wide bristle brush,
can go on lighter than most other types of paints and works better for stains
and runs. I Futured the canopy as well, for the first time. A little
scary at first but everything worked out. The whole thing got a coat of
Dullcote when finished.
I
kludged (Air Force expression) the decals together from an old Microscale
(?) P-51 set
No. 48-138 (national insignia with painted
out red lines);
a Superscale P-40N
set No. 48-1024 (serial
numbers and stencil data);
and a Squadron sheet
of white US letters and numbers. Other than the nose numbers, there are no
other distinctive markings as this was a stateside training unit and not
predisposed to “nose art” or other decorations. Aircraft from a
particular training base had a single letter, followed by a individual airplane
number on the nose below the exhaust and forward of the wing.
The
diorama of Sarasota AAF, circa 1943 was based on the wartime photo. It
includes the well-made Tamiya “Follow Me” Jeep as well as excellent Tamiya
pilot figures from the USN Deck Crew set. The Jeep kit has a bonus which
is the canvas top. Other figures are converted from Diorama
Studio and Hasegawa, with a few old Monogram ground crewmen thrown in as an
homage to the Shep Paine dioramas of my youth. Hardly anyone does models
of stateside or training aircraft, so this is one unusual P-40 to be found
without the “shark mouth!”
Brian Duddy
Click on
images below to see larger images
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