**** DONE: GB-45 1/48 P-40B - BoB/Foreign Service

[dneid]

User name: dneid
First Name: Dale
Category: Intermediate
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Airfix
Model Type: P-40B
Aftermarket: Eduard Cockpit PE

Hey, guys,
Well, the bench is 99% sorted out. It will never be 100% sorted, so I guess it is time to jump back in with both feet after the long absence. I found my Airfix P-40B kit and discovered it does have markings for the AVG group in China. I do not have the PE set in hand yet. Other than the PE set, no other aftermarket. I want to keep this simpler as I need to knock the rust off the dormant building / airbrushing skills. I almost jumped on an FW-190 A-7, but I quickly realized the airbrushing skills are not quite ready to jump into a Luftwaffe scheme. I am glad to be back though and look forward to interacting with all you reprobates .

 

[N4521U]

Welcome back,
Good one,
always liked the P-40.

 

[Wurger]

 

[le_steph40]

 

[Crimea_River]

Good stuff Dale and nice to have you back in the fold.

 

[Donivanp]

Good call. Great to have you back sniffing glue and playing with sharp objects !

 

[dneid]

Ok, started on some basic work. Airbrushed the cockpit innards and applied a came wash. That came way better than I expected. I will try to get some pictures up soon. I am waiting on the PE set to arrive before I can much more work done. Expected arrival date is 10 Mar. Sure is nice to be getting back into some plastic.

 

[dneid]

Well, I am still in a hold pattern waiting for the P-40B PE set to arrive. So, I broke out an Eduard Bf-109 E-7 Trop. Typical late Eduard kit, looks GREAT. I am going to do her in North Africa colors and German markings, so I figuring this one would not qualify for this GB. But, it sure is fun to glueing and spraying again. I had forgotten about the air pressure for acrylics (mostly Vallejo Model Airs) and stripped and thoroughly cleaned my airbrushes. Whoops, upping the air pressure to around 20-25 PSI solved the issues. Well, at least the brushes are REALLY clean and even polished. Yeah, used my drill motor and some extra fine sandpaper to polish all the needles to a mirror finish.

 

[Donivanp]

Get the PE set yet?

 

[dneid]

Finally received the PE set and started to work on the P-40 in earnest. I did not snap a picture on the PE before I started in with it. I discovered tweezers called "quilling" tweezers. I bought two pairs at Hobby Lobby. One set is curved jaws and self closing and the other set have straight jaws and are manual closing. I will get pictures of them for you all. I mention these due to the fact that they have made life with PE soooooo much easier.
Ok, pictures below of the progress on the cockpit with the PE.

 

[Wurger]

 

[le_steph40]

Very nice

 

[dneid]

Ok, slow progress. Cockpit complete, fuse sides joined. All in all, not a baby did.d kit. My only nit pick is the nose panel inserts for. the guns. I can understand Airfix doing these in the manner they did. This will make it easy for them to develop additional variants. But, one side went in nicely, not Tamiya-like nicely. But, nicely. The other side not so nice. Tons of sanding, puttying, rescribing, and rivets / screw holes. But, I am getting everything sorted out. I am hoping to make far more progress today and tonight.

 

[dneid]

Ok, not a GB thing, but.... I had a surprise little bonus fall in my mail box last week. Well, a professional painter friend (custom cars / motorcycles ) was telling me about Harder Steenbeck airbrushes. He said while Paasche is a GREAT value, more serious airbrush and Iwatas are damned nice. He said he discovered H-S a couple of years ago and they are now his go to airbrushes. So, I called my favorite airbrush mail order place (Midwest Airbrush) and talked with Sol. He agreed that the H-S brushes are great, they are not the cheapest things out there. After talking, Sol recommended an Evolution versus the highest model in the H-S line. I received it a few days ago and have been playing with it. Does it beat my Talon? Yes, Does it beat my Iwata HP-CH? Yes. The main question, for my use, is it worth the money? After a few hours of throwing various things through it... Yes. So, it is a keeper. Maybe, just maybe the Talon may get retired around the end of the year.

 

[Donivanp]

Nice work. moving along very nicely, congrats on the H&S

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff. Bought a H&S airbrush a couple of months back ( and reviewed it on this forum ) and really like it.

 

[le_steph40]

"Slow" but nice progress

 

[destrozas]

first, the assembly looks great and great ..., second the evolution is a great but great airbrush similar or similar to iwata customs I have 1 evolution 2in1 and a hansa 281.
with regulating the air pressure and the water they make a fine fine fine line .. and having teflon seals last longer and more solvent solvents ...

 

[Wayne Little]

Good progress..!

 

[Wurger]