Hasegawa P-40N Warhawk 1/48

[Willem]

Hi everybody.

With my D-Day offering nearing completion I fancy a change of pace. Something a little simpler and definitely no RAF camo or invasion stripes.

I got hold of this kit second hand a few months ago.



And, because it was so reasonably priced I went and ordered a few extras.





I've checked through the box and everything seems present and correct.



I think this kit came out about 2005 so pretty good engraved details.













The tricky aspect of this kit will be the tail fillets. Hasegawa have a few different marks of the P-40 out.



This just means a bit of care will be needed to line everything up and some filling and re-scribing. Never mind.

The scheme will be a shark mouth aircraft from the CACW (Chinese Air Combat Wing) and should give me a bit of weathering practice.

I've set myself a time limit to get this built and done as the postie has just delivered a lovely 1/48 Zero and I want to get both done before September's GB starts.

Regular updates will commence shortly. Thanks for looking.

[Willem]

A quick update as India have just been bowled out cheaply at Old Trafford.

The build started with the cockpit interior. As I'd bought a detail set I thought the best thing to do would to start by sanding off the moulded on harness rail on the seat bulkhead and replace it with the photo etch item. Of course, this pinged off during cleaning up, was retrieved from the carpet after a fingertip search only to ping off once more. To preserve my sanity a replacement was knocked up using stretched sprue and two spare etch brackets.



After this experience I will be leaving the photo etch alone (I'll save it for another build) except for the harnesses.

The rest of the cockpit parts were pretty straight forward.



The cockpit sidewalls can be built into a tub but I decided to fix them to the fuselage halves to make painting easier.



I thought about gluing each half of the tail inserts to it's respective fuselage half but I found that there would be too much of a gap. So, bullet bitten, I went ahead and glued the two together. I may regret this later.



Talking of inserts- this is the rear of the cockpit for the N model. Redesigned to offer pilots better rear visibility. Beautiful rivet detail on the part but, yet again, a part that doesn't correspond with panel lines. More filling and rescribing on the horizon.



It's not exactly a tight fit either. This kit has more fillets than Bernard Matthews.



So this build is not proving quite so straightforward after all. Never mind A change is as good as a rest.

Hope to get the wings done and all the internals ready for priming by tonight.

[modelismo]

Hello Willem

I have this kit on my workbench too. However, it is on stand by for now, as I work on the Ventura. I will follow your build because the P-40 is one of my favorite aircraft.

JiP

[rodrant]

PE it' a killer Willem , and the carpet monster it's ally ...

Nice kit ! someday Would like to do the Flying tigers version ...but right now a lot of kits to do first , one at the time ...

Good luck on this build , prettu sure that will be a winner on your hands

Will follow this one that's for sure !

[Willem]

Cheers Fellas.

I agree with you about the P-40, classic war bird. I made an RAF desert version a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

Hope to do this justice.

More tomorrow.

[UKguyInUSA]

Hey, Will....a nice new build to follow!

It seems Hasegawa like to complicate their models with inserted parts as I found with the Typhoon build....3 separate fuselage inserts around the cockpit area that required sanding, smoothing and re-scribing. But, apart from those inserts, everything else when together really well and the panel line and rivet details were really nice too, like your P-40.

Anyway.....I'll be watching this one closely!

Good luck!

Cheers

Martin

[Joesdad]

Coming on nicely Will.. Don't talk to me about damn PE, is a love hate thing. Sometimes I think it's more about the am company's saying "look what we can make..." Panels and grills... Yes... Rudder pedals and switches.... Not really..

Nice job Will..

[Goose]

Good job so far.

I hope for you that the junction between rear and front fuselage will be all right. I think thaht i would have glued rear and front together and then glued the two halves together in a "classical" way.

I stay tuned on this thread as i've been on the Spitfire.

[Willem]

Hey, Will....a nice new build to follow!

It seems Hasegawa like to complicate their models with inserted parts as I found with the Typhoon build....3 separate fuselage inserts around the cockpit area that required sanding, smoothing and re-scribing. But, apart from those inserts, everything else when together really well and the panel line and rivet details were really nice too, like your P-40.

Anyway.....I'll be watching this one closely!

Good luck!

Cheers

Martin

Cheers Martin. I guess it makes it possible for them to release several versions so, in the end, I'm ok with it.

Coming on nicely Will.. Don't talk to me about damn PE, is a love hate thing. Sometimes I think it's more about the am company's saying "look what we can make..." Panels and grills... Yes... Rudder pedals and switches.... Not really..

Nice job Will..

Cheers Tim. Waiting for the next wonder tool to come out- the mini metal detector for carpet searches.

Good job so far.

I hope for you that the junction between rear and front fuselage will be all right. I think thaht i would have glued rear and front together and then glued the two halves together in a "classical" way.

I stay tuned on this thread as i've been on the Spitfire.

Thanks Goose. I nearly went down that route but dry-fitting showed that the joins would be pretty flimsy if that makes sense? Anyway, far too late to worry now.

[Willem]

I'm pretty good at ignoring deadlines, so a self-imposed deadline holds no fear.

Did a bit of priming and constructed the wings yesterday but then got distracted.

One thing that I was puzzling over was whether or not I had any paint in my stash that could be close to zinc chromate. Short answer no and attempts at mixing various shades resulted in muddy mess or suspicious algae.

Then I remembered art lessons at school with the lovely Mrs Miller (had a bit of a school boy crush on her) and went back to basics by combining yellow and blue to make green, duh.



Went a bit too heavy on the blue at first so used a whole bottle of yellow to bring it back. Now short on yellow but I've now got enough 'home brew' zinc chromate to paint a US fighter wing. I think I'll have to build quite a lot of US aircraft over the next few years.











It's close enough for me and I'm pretty chuffed. Good old Mrs Miller (I managed to get a B at O-level since you ask ).

It's a bit thin so several coats were applied. Letting it dry now then on with the cockpit painting.

Thanks for looking.

[Donkeywalloper]

Hi Will

Now you maybe asking what the hell am I doing on this Winged Side of ISM....?
Ask, ask away....just fancied a change
You support me enough with wise words on the Armoured side so I though I would have a "butchers" at your threads.
My, my, your quite the genius.
Really lovely work mate.
Maybe one day I will have a bash at one of these AA Targets
Great work and I will dip in and out on this build.

John

[Willem]

Haha. Welcome to the righteous path and thanks for the very kind words mate.

You need to build something with wings attached mate. Only fair as I'll be joining you in building a Tiger target for Coen.

Enjoy the weekend.

[rodrant]

Will, I bought recently a set of Mr Hobby for RAF and USAF cockpits , and to me your Zinc color matches perfectly the one in the set !

Good one on that !

[Donkeywalloper]

Haha. Welcome to the righteous path and thanks for the very kind words mate.

You need to build something with wings attached mate. Only fair as I'll be joining you in building a Tiger target for Coen.

Enjoy the weekend.

Not so sure about the righteous path mate .
Your right about the wingy thingy though.
May have a bash for old time sake.
John

[Willem]

Will, I bought recently a set of Mr Hobby for RAF and USAF cockpits , and to me your Zinc color matches perfectly the one in the set !

Good one on that !

Wow! Thanks Antonio.

Probably more luck than judgement but I'll definitely be mixing more of my own in the future.

[AchtungPanzer]

Nice model. Good start mate. Keep it up

[Willem]

Thanks AP. Very kind of you to stop by and leave a comment.

Greatly appreciated mate.



Here is where she stands now. Internals had the details painted in followed by a dry-brushing attempt and sealed in with a brush painted coat of clear. When the clear was dry everything got an oil wash and some judicious use of a silver pencil.



The wheel wells were given the same treatment.



Rear of cockpit and instrument panel. I didn't use the etch instrument panel as it would have been a pain to get it to fit properly without being too flimsily attached. So details were just dry-brushed in.



Belts were attached. I really hate the process but the results are worth it.





Cockpit, instrument panel and oil cooler assembly fitted to the starboard fuselage half. I had originally painted the oil cooler system in zinc chromate but, after some reading, decided to respray in US neutral grey.



Then it was all buttoned up. Just as everything clicked into place one of the shoulder harnesses pinged off into space prompting another finger-tip search and some coarse invective .







Fuselage halves fit well though there is a bit of a dimple in the air intake trunking on the top of the cowling. This is down to me being over zealous with the sanding sticks. The cockpit rear is dry-fitted for now.

Going to have to get the filler out next to fix my own ham-fisted errors then try to get the inserts all lined up (more filling) and rescribe the inevitable lost panel lines. This project is teaching me there is no such thing as a quick and easy build, at least not in my case.

Enjoying it though Thanks for taking a look.

[Donkeywalloper]

Oooooh very nice Sir, very nice indeed.
John

[Willem]

Oooooh very nice Sir, very nice indeed.
John

Cheers John.

[wally]

Nice wear and tear in the cockpit. I think the cockpit detail looks stunning. Looking forward to see your next progress especially that I have P-40E from Hasegawa in the same scale in my stash. Keep up good work.
Cheers

[Willem]

Hi Wally.

Thanks for the kind words mate. I'll look forward to following your P-40E build when it happens as I always enjoy your work.

[Fresser]

Will, nice built. Very well done.
Cheers

[Willem]

Will, nice built. Very well done.
Cheers

Hey Fresser. Thanks for having a look and leaving a comment. Got a killer scheme lined up for this bird.

[Willem]

Right, so this build was intended to be a quick, easy project and also as a canvas for some practice in painting and weathering as well as a killer decal scheme that I'd found.........

That's going well then.

Here are some really interesting photos depicting sanding and filling and sanding and filling and sanding..... you get the idea.



The fit of the tail insert was about as tight as a wizard's sleeve so I had to resort to some of the thick Revell glue to get it to bond. Getting everything lined up was lots of fun but eventually I had what could only be described as 'the best of a bad job'.



A coarse sander was needed to get rid of steps and to re-profile the whole back end, running fingertips along as I went to make sure the steps were disappearing along with most of the panel lines. (Yeah Goose, you were right).





Then the filler came out and was plastered into the join.







This was left to harden off overnight and then sanded smooth.





The rear cockpit was glued in place and, once dry, the join received more putty to blend it in.





More filling and sanding under way on the nose....



.....and the chin.



I'm hoping that this is the main 'hump' of the build though I've got some re-scribing to do. Joy.

I still think this is a nice kit, just a poor choice (and execution) on my part for a quick build.

Apologies if your eyelids feel a bit heavy and thanks for looking.

[UKguyInUSA]

Wow, Will, I was out of the game for 4 days...Thursday through Sunday due to a tummy virus my wife and I were unfortunate to have contracted. So, I'm playing catch up with posts since yesterday and just come onto your build thread. Looks like you've come a long way and the cockpit looked awesome, but, shame about the fits and filler issues you're engaged in. It's probably the worst of the build and after this the rest will flow, along with the paint!

Looking good mate!

Cheers
Martin

[Nige201980]

Mate I feel your pain I had similar problems with the italeri kit of the P-40. But I'm sure you will beat it mate. Great work on the cockpit.

[Willem]

Thanks Martin and thanks Nigel. Yeah, all this filling and sanding is a bit of a buzz killer- not to mention the prospect of re-scribing which I'm not looking forward to.

Still, everyday is a school day.

Thanks for looking chaps.

[Willem]

A short update just to say that this build is still going. I got a bit frustrated with the filling and sanding and with my awful efforts at re scribing so I left it alone for a while.

When I came back I fitted the wings and the guns (more inserts that have no bearing to a panel line) and this is where she stands as of now.





You can just about see a P-40N in amongst all the filler.

Canopy parts have been dipped and are drying under a ventilated box lid so they should go on tonight.

I've no doubt that the first coat of primer will throw up a few areas to correct but hopefully this is back on track now. It's not a bad kit but it's definitely not a quick build (for me anyway).

Must say that I'm looking forward to having a go at a weather-worn and sun-faded olive drab paint job.

[Goose]

Well done mate!

[UKguyInUSA]

Looking great so far will, despite the filer issues. I like the sound of the weathered and sun-bleached Olive Drab! Looking forward to seeing how you do all that with this bird

Cheers
Martin

[Willem]

Thanks guys.

Managed to get some paint on recently.







The canopy was masked and the frames were sprayed using home brew zinc chromate. After this was dry I sprayed the frames black to give the interior colour a bit more body.













The airframe was given a coat of Alclad grey primer. To my surprise it seems I've managed to get away with the major problem areas i.e. the tail fillet and cockpit rear insert. There is a bit of remedial work needed on the wing gun inserts, particularly on the underside but I'm hoping a touch of Mr Surfacer will sort this out.

I really like the Alclad primers, they dry pretty rapidly and seem to cover (in my case) a multitude of errors. The only downside is the nasty niff it gives off.

[Willem]

Priming process- patchwork P-40.

Apologies, I like alliterations.

This is a technique that I saw Gary Bottoms using on his youtube channel, the excellent 'Makingmodelsagain'. I can recommend his videos as they are always funny and his results are fantastic. Having said that, if it turns out to be a dog's breakfast, it's all his fault.

The grey primer was polished back and Alclad white primer applied in patches and also rubbed down. Then a coat of thinned Vallejo yellow was sprayed on in patches. This was a bit too thin perhaps but does (I think) look a bit like US zinc chromate primer, this layer will be polished back a bit once it is completely dry.











There is still a little bit of work needed on a couple of patches but that's where I am at the moment.

I'm in two minds whether or not to add a few pre-shaded panel lines. Don't know- if anybody has any thoughts feel free to share them.

[Nige201980]

Looking good mate I'm really looking forward to seeing this with paint on has it's a technique I would like to try so thanks for taking the time to show us how it's done.

[mincemeat]

The cockpit looks fantastic! I'm quite intrigued by your method of preshading with white and zinc chromate. I can't wait to see the top coats go on.

[Willem]

Thanks for the comments guys. Not sure about the effect yet, can be seen with the naked eye but doesn't photograph too well, especially under a gloss coat.

Got a bit done over the last few days but not too many pics were taken and apologies for the light quality in the first three. Pictures were taken under artificial lighting.

Basic colours were misted on. Paints used were 71.044 light grey green for the upper surfaces, 71.047 USA grey for the lower, and 71.022 cam. green for the camo edges on the wings and tail surfaces (all Vallejo).







Forgot to mention that model has been given two coats of Alclad gloss.

Onto the decals, Techmod 48054. I'm doing the option for 'White 663' of Capt. Wang Kuang Fu, Chinese Air Combat Wing, 7th Fighter squadron, 3rd Fighter Group based at Laohow, China, January 1945.

Main decals are on and stencils left to do. These decals are putting up a fight and the shark mouth in particular, though it was always going to be tough to get everything to conform. One of the fuselage codes disintegrated and both shark mouths shattered. Photos were taken after several coats of decal softener (more to go) and you can see some of it drying.















I don't know what the (Mandarin?) characters on the nose say. If anybody can read them please share.
Could it be 'Order more Micro-Sol?
Thanks for looking.

[mincemeat]

I don't know what the (Mandarin?) characters on the nose say. If anybody can read them please share.
Could it be 'Order more Micro-Sol?

Well "Order more Micro-Sol" may be more accurate. I asked my friend what the characters meant and apparently they are incomplete. He said: "I believe what they wanted to print there is 太公金匮。 It is a 3000 years old military book written by a famous military and political leader 太公， pronounced like tai-gong, which are the first characters printed on the airplane."

If you would like to read more about him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiang_Ziya
His book is called Six Teachings. You can read it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Secret_Teachings

He also mentioned that he sees incomplete Chinese characters quite often. The tattoo business is quite prevalent with these mistakes. Looks like models are apparently no different. So now I suppose you are in some sort of quandary. If you are a purist that needs to have every aspect of your model historical accurate you'll need to address it. Otherwise, if you won't say anything, no one else has to know!

[Willem]

AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh..... nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! ^&*%$(*&

*Throws model out of window, maiming innocent passer-by*.

As I said, 'so much for a quick and easy build'.

[Willem]

Now off to check my tattoo........

The guy said it meant 'shining wit'.

[mincemeat]

Sorry for the bad news, there. My friend is Chinese and grew up in China....so, yeah. Model is looking great though! I personally just wouldn't say anything. My approach thus far to modelling is, my models will just be in my house and whoever I have over, won't know a lick of difference. It's sounds like you don't have any Chinese friends that will be coming over, so I think you're safe.

[Willem]

Mate. It's just a model.

Would like it to be totally accurate though there's not much I can do about it, and to be honest, life is too short....

My apologies if the above is too flippant. I was once accused of being flippant in a job interview but still got the job (thereby reinforcing a dreadful habit). My apologies if any offence was caused.

As to the build, yeah... it's getting there and the scheme is one I was particularly keen to do as I think the war in China is often overlooked. Thanks for your kind comments.

[mincemeat]

Hey Will, none taken. Keep at it, I can't wait to see your final bird!