Airfix 1/48 P-40B Warhawk AVG!

[aur0ra145]

Howdy all!

Saw an ad at my local hobby store that they were having a model competition in late March. Now, I usually just build for fun and occasionally submit my work to their competitions. Usually, it's just to hang out with the other aircraft/armor modelers and trade techniques, etc. Though, this time I really wanted to build a kit specifically to enter. This would drive 2 goals. One, get to buy a new kit! Two, I have a hard deadline.

So it all began with my wife realizing there is a nice wine/beer store next to my local hobby shop that you can buy mead at. We went and it has a nice selection (the model store and the beer store.) I did my normal, browse the whole model store and not come home with anything (basically I already own most of what's interesting to me and they're selling.) But, alas! She wanted to go to Hobby Lobby to look for picture frames. For those not in the know, Hobby Lobby sells models too, though they're usually really old or not good kits. Think along the lines of old Revell or crappy 1/72 Academy kits. Amazingly, this time they had quite a few nice kits, to include some Airfix and Tamiya. I was actually impressed. The other amazing thing about Hobby Lobby is they always have a 50% off coupon going on. So I decided on the Airfix 1/48 Curtiss P-40B Warhawk and got it for $15 (usually retails for $30.) Really good deal as far as I'm concerned.

The kit for the most part has been great. I'm actually really happy with it except for the front wheel covers. They just don't fit like they should and require a lot of filler in the gaps. This is the second Airfix kit I've tried. First was an old Fw-190 that was so bad I had to toss it. This one seems like they stepped up their game (and updated molds.) Very pleased.

Also, James May has a Toys We Grew Up With type of show that covered Airfix. They made a 1:1 scale Spitfire that seemed pretty sweet. Good show if you have a chance to see it. Also, a 1:1 scale kit would be awesome. I'd probably have to find a new wife if I built a 1:1 F-105F Thud.

Soooooo, started to build and made a mistake. Putting a cargo door on the side I held it on with my finger wile putting TET on the inside. It bled through and I had a fingerprint pressed into the fuselage... I fixed it; but, felt dumb for the mistake.

Now, pictures! Got excited about modelling again and missed some major stages... like the cockpit. And basically everything up until most of the assembly.

Also, bonus pic of a kit I won in a drawing. I have zero intention of ever building it. So maybe a kit bash later? If anyone really wants it, let me know and I'll ship it to you.





Before



After













Bonus kit I won. Went to the East coast regional model competition and entered a raffle. Last year I got about $150 worth of kits for $5 of raffle tickets. This year, well, I got a $30 kit for $20 worth of tickets.



Bonus Bonus of my dog. Her name is Goose. She is a good dog and loves eating socks.

[Gary30]

Goose is GORGEOUS!!

[aur0ra145]

Small update:

Primed in Ultimate black. Worked well. Found that the engine cowl seem was not as filled in as I had thought. So that's that, filled it again and it looks much better now.

Painted in MM 4849 RAF Dark Green, MM RAF Dark Earth ANA617 and Vallejo Model Air 71.296 Curtiss Grey/USAF Light Gray. According to my research, these planes were made up for an order to be sent to the Brits. Curtiss used the closest American equivalent to the RAF colors before they were to be sent to the UK. However, the order got diverted and sent to China instead for the AVG.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Plane is ok, but more puppy dog pictures would be appreciated

[Kevthemodeller]

She's coming along very nicely

[aur0ra145]

Got some decals done. Just a few more to go, then a clear coat and some weathering! In a stroke of genius I made a Micro Sol/Set holder. I can't believe I've been modelling this long and hadn't thought of one.

[aur0ra145]

And pic of a tired puppy, this was taken around Christmas time.

[aur0ra145]

Finished! Ended up doing a lot of weathering work with Vallejo pigments. Had a horrible time deciding on the final finish (story to follow.)

The decals were super thick and took a ton of Micro Sol/Set to flatten. So much that I tore two of them before they had sunk into the panel lines. One I doctored with some weathering to look better. The second I just painted where the 47 had torn. Looks really good now that it's done. Hard to tell the 47 ever tore.

Originally after decals I clear coated them with aqua gloss as is my norm. Though, I sprayed a tad bit too much. So, when I left it to dry it had not sagged; but, returning the next day I had some bad sag under the engine cowl and empennage. Sanded as much as I could until some paint came off (SCARYY!!!) and decided to go with what I had.

First I tried MM Semi-gloss and it did not at all flatten the high gloss areas, it was still super smooth and you could see the gradients. So I tried again with Testors Matte lacquer. That worked and hid a lot of the mistakes! Also, it super flattened the decals and to my trained eye it's hard to tell that they're decals and not painted on. Really happy with the result. Testors is really weird with their matte coat in that, you don't really see it go on, you just get a sense of everything becoming more matte.

As for weathering I made use of an aluminum colored acrylic pencil I have. Worked incredibly well with doing edges and stippling where the pilot/crew chief would have climbed on the airplane. It's rather subtle; but, looks good. I personally think most modellers over weather aircraft, so my most weathered stuff always gets a "Nice clean build" sort of compliment. No worries, I like the kind words.

Next I tried for the life of me to do a panel line wash and I just was never happy. Either too dark, too runny, too just not right. So I took it all off and didn't do any. Enter the pigments, I took dry pigments and brushed them on. Results were more of what I wanted. The dark color of the paint job made the pigments not pop as much as I liked, though again, putting more on would look weird. Also, I'd had an opportunity this past week to see a real P-40, so a lot of my weathering and painting decision were based off seeing a real, still flying P-40 (that was also done up in AVG paint scheme.)

I think my greatest triumph was not buying a canopy mask. I usually do now; so not buying one was a challenge and this one looks good! Making my own canopy masks I hate only slightly more than gluing landing gear doors on airplanes. It's always one of my last steps and the CA glue seems to never work how I want.

In all though, I spent $15 on this model and had all paints, solvents, primer, pigments, washes, stuff, etc. in inventory, so it was great! Good kit by Airfix, lots of mistakes by me, this will end up being one of my show case models in the man cave. Better than most I have done, though, I realize this hobby is for fun and not for anything else (though I started this one specifically to enter a model competition, if it doesn't get any awards, well... the wife will let me goto the model store this weekend

More better, professional, taken with my DSL in good lighting and stuff will follow later this week. But here are a few cell phone pics I snapped. When I do the proper photo shoot I will make sure to highlight the trouble spots and post a link here.

After review of post edit: I just wrote a novel. Thanks for reading! If any of ya'll want that mine clearing thing let me know and I'll ship it off to you (I'll even pay the shipping) just please only take it if you're going to build it. I'd like to see what an armor modeller could do with it.

[aur0ra145]

Finished!

[PilotMM]

Wait you won second!? That is awesome! I thought it looks great and really makes me want to try an aircraft soon. I am just torn on what I would actually want to build. I mean the MkV Spitfire is my favorite, but I can't find Cpt. Levine decals, I love the P-47 Razorback because of its devilish good looks, there is an awesome P-51 Reno Air Racer on sale from the site I like to order from, I can never have enough Hellcats.... You see my problem... Plus I haven't build an airplane since I was in middle school.

Nicely done
-M