P-40 Warhawk (Tiger Models)

Time for another diversionary build! I've been immersed in the Group Builds over the past year and every once in a while, based on the GB theme, I run out of subjects. As I wrap up a Spitfire Mk.24 in the Post-War GB, I don't have another GB build lined up so I decided come over and try something different.



I'm sure you've seen some of these online. I picked up a couple, one by Meng and the other by Tiger Models. Not sure what you would call them but they are similar to Hasegawa's eggplane series. They are, essentially, 3-D caricatures of WW2 aircraft. Simple, snap-together assembly aimed at getting young ones into the hobby I reckon.

I'm going to tackle the P-40 first. I've never heard of Tiger Models but their Cute Plane series encompasses a fairly wide range of subjects including an F4U, Ki-84, Bf-109E, Spitfire, La-7 and this P-40. The kit comes in a small colorful box.


Although the product is aimed at kids, there is stuff here that will impress even the adult modeler. The packaging is very good with plastic baggies holding all of the individual sprues.




The instructions are a fold-out affair and, based on the limited number of parts, very simple to follow. The cockpit is comprised of multiple parts including the floor, instrument panel, rear bulkhead, seat and control stick... very nice!


There are markings for a single aircraft (AVG P-40 flown by Robert Smith) but Tiger offers a choice of stickers for the kids or waterslide decals for us "proper" modelers. Note the instrument panel face.


The primary plastic pieces are olive-colored and nicely molded. The main sprue holds the fuselage halves, upper wings and some other smaller parts. The ailerons are separate and posable.


Panel lines and rivets are portrayed as recessed and have good definition. The exhaust pipes are molded integral to the fuselage but are prominent enough to be easily painted. I wonder if I can bore out the end of the exhaust?


The wing guns are molded into the upper wings. Hollowing these out should not be a problem.


The secondary sprue holds the bottom of the wing and the cockpit components.


The instrument panel face is nicely molded with bezel and dial details. I'm sure it's not "accurate" but it'll look fairly convincing after some careful painting. There is also a smoothed face version of the IP so that the supplied decal or sticker can be used... very thoughtful!


A bit of detail in the wheel wells, which is a nice touch.


There is a small black sprue that contains the prop and wheels


Finally the clear sprue holds the one-piece canopy. The only small complaint that I have here is that the internal locating spar is unnecessarily large and is placed right in the clear portions of the canopy.

Never heard of that brand but it sure looks nice. Is there a rough scale for this John?

Bless you for showing an interest in my little project, George! I know it's not up everyone's alley but I thought it'd be something cute that my daughter's could put on their desk to match their Nausicaa models. I will procede, interest be damned!

Scale-wise, I'd say the overall dimensions are close to 1/72 but the central distortion puts the cockpit closer to 1/48 or 1/32.

First order of business is to look over the parts and see if there are some things I can hollow out. The gun barrels are obvious candidates and after cleaning up the minor molding seam, I reamed out the ends using an x-acto.



The exhaust pipes are next. Obviously, the way they are depicted precludes hollowing out all of the pipes but the one on the end can be carved out, which I did.



The cockpit is going to be covered by a multi-framed canopy so the only thing I'm going to add to it are some harnesses. I wanted to exaggerate the seatbelts and use 1/32 scale components but I only had harness hardware in 1/48 scale.


That's it for now!

Looking good. Can't wait to see this finished.

Good work so far John!

I've started work on the cockpit of the P-40. The instrument panel has some molded detail and I've decided to paint it instead of using the decal. There is a cut-out on the top of the panel that looks perfectly situated for a gun sight but there is no gun sight included in the kit. Hmmm...


The gun sight is in a very prominent place so I decided to try and scratch one out of sheet plastic. I had the Revi sight from the 1/32 190D-9 that I just built lying around and I incorporated that piece into the mix.



The seatbelts are glued onto the seat prior to painting.


Checking to see how it all fits.


One last detail that I added to the floor board... square pieces of brass sheet with rivets applied to the edges.


Here is the instrument panel and gun sight after painting.



Floor, seat and rear bulkhead after painting.


The cockpit is finished.



Since this is a snap-fit kit, glue isn't needed. While I am planning to glue and putty the major exterior seams, sub-assemblies are held nicely in place by the locating pins.

Love it, what a neat little kit....!

Lovely work so far John!

Here's an update as I speed through this tiny build. First, a few pieces to be painted prior to the fuselage halves going together.


With those pieces done and inserted, the fuselage is snapped together. Fit is very tight but I have welded the seams shut with Tamiya Extra Thin.



I've added a flange around the drop tank cuz it was easy to do.


The canopy was masked using Tamiya tape. The frames are very pronounced and I was able to burnish the tape against the frame lines with the tip of a pencil to help delineate the cut line. This helped guide my x-acto blade.


The wing assembly has been put together. Again, I used Tamiya Extra Thin to weld the seams. The ailerons are "posable" but since they are so loose they just droop to the lowered position. I am going to secure them in the neutral position with glue.



Parts fit is very good and only needed a few touchups with putty.

The canopy is carefully wiggled down into place. Again the tight is fit but there are some gaps that will need to be filled in with white glue.


The wings are attached to the fuselage. There is a minor gap at the wing roots so I have applied some white Milliput. The excess is removed with a wet piece of paper towel so no sanding is needed. I give the canopy frames a spray of the interior color first. This will then be given a coat of black to make sure the frames are not see through.


Since the plane is so small, I decided to give her a coat of primer, Mr Surfacer 1000 thinned with Tamiya Lacquer Thinner. The primer revealed a few imperfections that are taken care of with sandpaper.



I switch airbrushes at this point since my Paasche V is fitted with a smaller needle than my Iwata. The panel lines are pre-shaded in black.



The model is further pre-shaded with a fine black mottle. This helps give the camo colors a bit of tonal variation and depth. Not sure how effective this will be on a model this small but let's give it a shot.



Since this looks like a P-40E (six wing guns and no fuse guns), I'm going to paint this in a standard 2-color scheme of Olive Drab over Neutral Grey.

Wow! ... It is a very good work John!
It's a fun model, but very well done by the manufacturer, ... and your "touch", make a P-40 pleasant to add to the collection of your daughter.


Saludos y esperando el final feliz

Luis Carlos

Fast approaching the finish line on this little guy. The decals were applied after the clear coat was allowed to dry 24 hours. I poached my spare box for the lighter blue Chinese roundels and the plane ID number. These are very old decals... dating back to the 80's and there was a bit of cracking to deal with. The red fuselage stripe was painted on as were the eyes. I didn't like the stylized eye decals that came with the kit and wanted to fit smaller, more accurate eyes closer to the front of the fuselage.



The eye dots were painted red. Doesn't this look much better than the kit's intended eyes?



After the decals were sealed with a light gloss coat, I gave the plane a dark pin wash.



A flat coat was applied after the pin wash. I got quite a bit of the frosty white sheen from a touch too much Flat Base. I was able negate some of it with a quick spray of pure Alclad Aqua Gloss but it's still noticeable. The exhausts were painted by hand at this stage and a light exhaust stain was added.


I've wanted to play around with oil filtering and I thought this was a good opportunity before doing it on more "serious" subjects. Plus, I was curious to see if the oils could cut down on the white sheen. These were cheapo oils from an art set that was given to my daughter years ago. Little blobs of different colors were added to a panel.


The oils were slowly worked into the painted surface using a clean brush. I really didn't know what i was doing but I started to discern the type of effects that I could possibly get with this technique.


The painted and weathered prop was stuck on. I gave various fuselage and wing panels the oil filter treatment and then applied paint chips using colored pencils.



Landing gear legs and drop tank are pushed into place. Being a snap-together kit, attachment required no glue and was solid as a rock. I wish normal aircraft kits featured this type of connection for the landing gear... I really hate the vague fit that comes with some aircraft kits.



With the wheels popped into place, this little guy is just about finished. All I have to do is remove the canopy masks and put on a little segment of aerial.


Final update tomorrow!

Finished pictures as promised. I know egg-planes are for everyone but I think it's quite interesting. You can make out the tonal variation caused by the oil filtering in these pictures.

Great work John!

Hermoso trabajo, quedó de lujo!
Your daughter will love it!