- Thread starter
- #221
T Bolt
Colonel
After a delay of over 5 years the time has come to start in on the 1/48 scale version of this puppy.
So for a quick rundown on what I'm trying to do here:
There has been a mysterious picture of a twin engine P-40 floating around for years (see post #1). My opinion of this picture (discussed in detail in the first few posts of this thread) is that it was a prank played my a maintenance crew way back when, who put this together using parts from several P-40 wrecks. The fuselage from a P-40E and the engines from one of the Merlin powered variants, either a P-40F or L.
I decided to modify two P-40 kits to depict it as if it were a real aircraft treating the aircraft in the picture as a mock up. I didn't want to cut up two perfectly good 1/48 scale kits before I knew I could do it, so I started with two old 1/72 Heller kits in the previous part of this thread and made it as the prototype based on a short fuselage P-40E with Allison engines being evaluated at Wright Field.
The 1/48th model I've started today would be a production version based in the longer tail P-40F with Packard Merlin engines.
The kits are 2 bagged AmTech P-40F/L kits I bought for this build. The AmTech kits are actually the old AMT molds which were also put out in various versions by Hobby Craft Mauve and Eduard.
I started by gluing on all the engine cowl side panels. I really like these P-40 kits and have built quite a few of them but this is my least favorite part of them. The panels are too short and don't fit very well in the other directions and take some work with a file to get a decent fit. The shortness of the panel didn't hurt this time as that is where I intend to make my cut, so I just lined up the front and left a gap at the rear, opposite of what I do when building a normal P-40 where I line up the rear and shim the front. Sorry the pictures are a bit fuzzy, the battery of my DSLR was dead so I used my cell phone.
I then started in on the wing by snipping off the landing gear fairing and plugging up all the holes from the back side. I also filled the depression made from the gun butt hump so I would not blow through the plastic when it was sanded off.
Here I have the port side wheel well plugged, the ejector chute holes filled and landing gear fairing and gun butt hump filed flush.
Everything filled, filed, sanded and re-scribed
I did the scribing with this which came in the mail a couple of days ago. This is by far the best scribing tool I have ever used. Its easy to handle and makes a beautify clean line just the right width. I can not recommend it more!
So for a quick rundown on what I'm trying to do here:
There has been a mysterious picture of a twin engine P-40 floating around for years (see post #1). My opinion of this picture (discussed in detail in the first few posts of this thread) is that it was a prank played my a maintenance crew way back when, who put this together using parts from several P-40 wrecks. The fuselage from a P-40E and the engines from one of the Merlin powered variants, either a P-40F or L.
I decided to modify two P-40 kits to depict it as if it were a real aircraft treating the aircraft in the picture as a mock up. I didn't want to cut up two perfectly good 1/48 scale kits before I knew I could do it, so I started with two old 1/72 Heller kits in the previous part of this thread and made it as the prototype based on a short fuselage P-40E with Allison engines being evaluated at Wright Field.
The 1/48th model I've started today would be a production version based in the longer tail P-40F with Packard Merlin engines.
The kits are 2 bagged AmTech P-40F/L kits I bought for this build. The AmTech kits are actually the old AMT molds which were also put out in various versions by Hobby Craft Mauve and Eduard.
I started by gluing on all the engine cowl side panels. I really like these P-40 kits and have built quite a few of them but this is my least favorite part of them. The panels are too short and don't fit very well in the other directions and take some work with a file to get a decent fit. The shortness of the panel didn't hurt this time as that is where I intend to make my cut, so I just lined up the front and left a gap at the rear, opposite of what I do when building a normal P-40 where I line up the rear and shim the front. Sorry the pictures are a bit fuzzy, the battery of my DSLR was dead so I used my cell phone.
I then started in on the wing by snipping off the landing gear fairing and plugging up all the holes from the back side. I also filled the depression made from the gun butt hump so I would not blow through the plastic when it was sanded off.
Here I have the port side wheel well plugged, the ejector chute holes filled and landing gear fairing and gun butt hump filed flush.
Everything filled, filed, sanded and re-scribed
I did the scribing with this which came in the mail a couple of days ago. This is by far the best scribing tool I have ever used. Its easy to handle and makes a beautify clean line just the right width. I can not recommend it more!
