Hasegawa 1:48 P-40E Finnish Warhawk

[matto21]

Hi all,

Now the Bf-109 is on the home straight, I've decided to start my next project to keep the momentum going.

Bought this Hasegawa P-40E a couple of years ago, but the supplied "prisoner of war" markings just didn't inspire me to do anything with it, so it's lain untouched in the stash ever since.

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I recently came across a decal sheet from SBS Models with a variety of captured aircraft subsequently used by the Finnish airforce. One of the options was a P-40. This gave me the nudge I needed to dust this kit off. Now, the real aircraft was a P-40M, in Russian service, that was captured after getting lost, but in the interests of reducing the stash, I'm conveniently ignoring that fact!

In addition to the decals, I've bought some AM goodies including replacement wheels, exhausts and a Yahu IP (more about that in a second).

I'm not a huge fan of these Hasegawa multipart fuselages, I know why they do it, but it's additional faff. As per accepted wisdom, I joined the sections together to make full fuselage halves as opposed to following the kit instructions.

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Cleaning up the resulting seam will be fun!

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[matto21]

Work has commenced in the cockpit. Colour is speculative (basically RLM02), but I prefer to paint the cockpit parts lighter than they should be so you can actually hope to see something once assembled! Belts are a combination of HGW buckles and scratchbuilt belts from foil.

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Finally, at the last minute, I decided to give the IP decal a go, for no reason other than I fancied trying it out. I figured if it went to pot, I had a Yahu shaped replacement available. Luckily it's turned out pretty well.

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Thanks for looking

Matt

[Twokidsnosleep]

On my list of favourite planes
Watching your progress

[matto21]

Hi all,

I've made some progress these last few nights and the majority of the airframe is now assembled.

By far the most time consuming aspect has been cleaning up the joins that result from the multipart nature of the kit. While I applaud Hasegawa's ingenuity at maximising their moulds, it doesn't half create a lot of extra, and frankly boring, work. I've used superglue as a filler and lost detail has been restored using Tamiya's scriber.

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Thanks

Matt

[matto21]

Motoring along now.

Most of my free time today was spent working on the joints between the machine gun sections and the wing. Some random green primer has revealed some areas that need more work, especially around the nose.

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The windscreen fits really well and is superbly clear. I've used masks by a company called New Ware - not heard of them before but they fit really well.

Also visible in the photo below is one section of Quickboost exhaust - saves my dodgy drilling technique!

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Back to work tomorrow (no rest for me) but hopefully afterwards I can start spraying the yellow section under the nose, the wingtips and the fuselage band.

Matt

[matto21]

Morning all,

Ready for painting!

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Just waiting for a delivery of paint now!

Matt

[matto21]

Painting has commenced using Gunze H413 RLM04 for the main colour, and then some subtle highlights with Tamiya XF-3.

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This last photo shows that I've made a reasonable job of blending the fuselage sections together. Yellow is a very unforgiving colour!

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Matt

[matto21]

Gloss coat applied last night before I start to mask the yellow sections. Also decided to try some preshading around the shell ejection chutes to break up the finish a bit.

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Matt

[TheNordus]

Whoa! This has progressed in leaps and bounds since I first checked the thread. I didn't even know if we had P-40s in Finland. This is definitely of interest to me. If you need someone to pick nits for you, I'm available, although it looks like you're doing quite well.

[matto21]

Hi Tommi,

Thanks for your interest. They had one P-40 that they captured after the Russian pilot got disorientated and landed by accident. Don't think it saw any active service though.

Matt

[TheNordus]

Hi Tommi,

Thanks for your interest. They had one P-40 that they captured after the Russian pilot got disorientated and landed by accident. Don't think it saw any active service though.

Matt

Yeah, I just read about it on Wikipedia. Knew it was too good to be true, the P-40 is one of my favorite looking aircraft of WW2, and if it had seen active service I think there would have been a lot more talk about it.

[matto21]

Evening all,

Tonight's progress - underside has been shaded and highlighted using a lightened mix of the blue in a completely random fashion.

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I've also made a start on the topside, but only around the masked areas initially as I was concerned about the paint lifting. Needn't have worried, but sods law would've dictated differently had I left it!

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Thanks

Matt

[matto21]

Trying some random preshading to force some contrast into what can be quite a monotonous colour by itself. I've moved ahead since taking this picture and I'd say it's partially worked.

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Take care

Matt

[matto21]

Another day, another couple of painting painting pictures!

I've painted the topcoat in a random mottle, taking care to allow some of the preshading to show through, but not enough that it looks patchy and cartoon like.

Difficult colour to photograph without losing the contrast.

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Matt

[Kevthemodeller]

Off to a great start there Matt

[digger303]

Setting a high standard early

[matto21]

Hi all,

Getting closer to the finishing line with this. Been working on painting and weathering the wheels and gear legs. Obviously I need to mask the hubs before painting the tyres but I'm pretty pleased with the replacement resin wheels.

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The decals fought me all the way. I had all sorts of issues - decals disintegrating, refusing to conform to the recessed detail, you name it. I eventually got things under control with a combination of Mr Mark Softer and Daco Strong solutions, plus a lot of slicing and brute force.

The spinner has been painted white. The colour profiles of this aircraft have it either black with a spiral or aluminium. I don't like either, and studying the limited photos of the real aircraft online, I reckon it could be white. That's my excuse anyway.

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[matto21]

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I've done some additional post shading with a lightened olive green mix. It's subtle and not really visible in the pictures so you'll have to take my word for it!

Matt

[digger303]

[Kevthemodeller]

Lovely looking undercarriage, the mottling cammo looks superb

[matto21]

Lovely looking undercarriage, the mottling cammo looks superb

Thanks again for the comment. On the home stretch now. Managed to get the prop painted last night.

Matt

[matto21]

Prop and tyres painted and weathered. Now I just need to sort the exhausts and I'm nearly there...

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Matt

[Twokidsnosleep]

Looking good

[Kevthemodeller]

Just love the mottled finish to the surface colour

[matto21]

Thanks Scott and Kev for looking in

Another boring post I'm afraid. I've finally painted the exhausts. I basecoated them in dark grey then applied various brown and rust coloured washes from both enamel and acrylic paints.

They look a bit shiny at the moment but that'll settle down after a flat coat.

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Matt

[digger303]

Thanks Scott and Kev for looking in

Another boring post I'm afraid. I've finally painted the exhausts. I basecoated them in dark grey then applied various brown and rust coloured washes from both enamel and acrylic paints.

They look a bit shiny at the moment but that'll settle down after a flat coat.

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Matt

I never get the camera that close.....I'd be in depression forever, but look at you you not a blemish in sight

[matto21]

There are plenty of blemishes, don't you worry! I can see them wherever I look!

Matt

[digger303]

There are plenty of blemishes, don't you worry! I can see them wherever I look!

Matt

[matto21]

Nearly there now...

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Matt

[Kevthemodeller]

It just keeps getting better Matt

[matto21]

It just keeps getting better Matt

Thank you! Now completed...

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Matt

[Kevthemodeller]

Superb, very clean build

[matto21]

Thanks Kev, much appreciated!

Couple more photos...

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And finally one in B&W to mimic one of the photos of the original.

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This photo:

https://plane-encyclopedia.com/ww2/curt ... h-service/

Matt

[digger303]

Marvelous, but it looks too clean in black and white. Although I do like that image.

[Tomcat64]

That's stunning - superb work :clap

[Twokidsnosleep]

Incredibly clean work
Nicely done

[Hawkmoon]

Nice finish and very nice work

[matto21]

Thanks for the kind comments. Onto the next project now I hope...