P-40K Col. Robert L. Scott Commander 23rd Fighter Group, 1943 China

[T Bolt]

P-40K Col. Robert L. Scott Commander 23rd Fighter Group, 1943 China
User name: T Bolt
Name: Glenn
Kit: AMT/Etrl P-40K Warhawk
Scale: 1/48th.
Accessories: True Details resin wheel set with smooth tread

I have had this one on the shelf for some time and thought it I would start it as I find it hard to have only one model going on at a time. I thought it would complement the P-40M I have going in the current Group Build.
I have already made the P-40E flown By Col. Robert L. Scott, author of "God is My Co-Pilot", and have wanted to build his P-40K, which replaced his P-40E "Old Exterminator" after being shot up. Scott's P-40K does not seem to be as well documented as his "E" although I do have some pictures which I have posted below, including a signed one that I got about 10 years ago before Col. Scott's death. Unfortunately all three photos are of the front half of the left side of the aircraft and I have no idea what markings it had aft of the trailing edge of the wing. I know I have seen a profile of it somewhere but have not been able to locate it. Any help I can get with pictures or profiles would me much appreciated.

I quick look at the part trees shows that there is some nice surface derail although a lot of cleanup will be needed as there is quite a bit of flash on the parts, so I guess thats where I'll be starting.

 

[rochie]

that is exactly the same kit as my Italeri kit Glenn, mines not been too bad so far, with the patience you show on your builds it will look top notch i'm sure

 

[rochie]

found this in ospreys 23rd fighter group, will keep looking

 

[javlin]

On a P-40 kick Glenn? I have this kit in the stask and have built one also and I can say it builds up nice and easy.Cheers

 

[T Bolt]

found this in ospreys 23rd fighter group, will keep looking

That's the one I've seen before Karl! Thanks a million. Looks like Scott kept the same fuselage number he had on his P-40E. He told the story behind the "7" in his book. The number on his first P-40 was "10" and he was returning to base one day and radioed in "One-Zero coming in from the east" and was met by a whole squadron of P-40s looking to shoot down a "Zero", but fortunately recognized him as a friend before it was too late. After that he changed the number to a "7"

On a P-40 kick Glenn? I have this kit in the stask and have built one also and I can say it builds up nice and easy.Cheers

I seem to get into ruts. Last time it was 109s, this time P-40s. I have a P-40L in the box waiting too, but I'm not ready for another triple header just yet.

 

[Matt308]

One-Zero... great story!

 

[Wayne Little]

Yeah, good story......look forward to your build Glenn!

 

[Wurger]

With Wayne here.

 

[T Bolt]

I spent a couple of hours last night cleaning up parts wile I watched Apollo 13 (lots of flash). This morning I sprayed it with Model Master interior green, and this afternoon applied a wash made up 5 to 1 of isopropyl alcohol and black acrylic paint (basically dirty alcohol). Still needs a lot of detail painting, and the seat that is not shown, needs to be reworked altogether as it is without detail and altogether the wrong shape. It looks like a holdover from the P-40N version of the kit which had a different style of seat.
Here's the results:

 

[woody]

Nice start.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Good start Glenn! And a good story to.

 

[T Bolt]

I thought I'd write a little about Col. Scott. I'm doing this from memory having read, "God is my Co-Pilot" three or four times, most recently a couple of years ago, so forgive me if someone finds some errors, but I believe it to be accurate.

Robert Lee Scott grew up in the South (Georgia I believe, but I could be incorrect here) wanting to fly more than anything else, and managed to wrangle his way into Westpoint, and after that the Air Corps and flight training. In his mid 30s at the time of Pearl Harbor, he was considered too old for combat and assigned to be a flight instructor. He heard of a call for volunteers with 4-engine experience for a combat mission. Although he had no multi engine time, he said he did and was part of a plan to fly B-17s to China by way of South America, Africa and India, to bomb Japan at around the same time as the Doolittle raid. By the time the flight of B-17s reached India the whole thing had been called off and the aircraft reassigned and Scott found himself flying DC-3s across the Himalayan mountains to supply Gen. Chennault's Flying Tigers.

He got to Know Chennault and many of the AVG pilots. He asked Chennault if he could "borrow" a P-40 to protect his transports and was "leant" a new P-40E. Scott did more than just escort his transports. He made up combat missions on his own searching out enemy aircraft and strafing Japanese columns on the Burma Road. He would fly multiple sorties a day having his crew chief repaint the color of his prop spinner between flights. The Japanese thought a new P-40 unit had moved into the area. On July 4, 1942, the AVG contract with the Chinese government ended and most of the Flying Tigers went home. Gen Chennault was taken back into the USAAF and asked Scott to take command of the 23rd Fighter Group which took over from the Tigers. A few of AVG pilots stuck around and helped out with the training.

Scott had become attached to the P-40E Chennault had 'lent' him which he had named "Old Exterminator" and was determined to keep it. This involved some sleight of hand as it technically belonged to the Chinese government and was now flown in the USAAF. This problem was solved by taking a newly arrived P-40 and swapping tail numbers with his, so it is rather sketchy exactly what tail numbers his plane had and has lead to several numbers showing up in profiles. Scott flew Old Exterminator until it was shot up during a mission beyond repair and used for spare parts. Scott's next plane was the P-40K that I am modeling.

His book details many missions and incidents including the "One-Zero" one I mentioned in a previous post, and a real interesting one of him flying a P-43 over Mt Everest and taking pictures. I've always wanted to see what those pictures looked like. The book ends with him still in command of the 23rd fighter group before the big push by the Japanese that pushed the allied forces back out of the bases at Kunming and other areas. I have always wondered about his involvement at this time but have never seen information on it. If anyone has any info, feel free to post it here.

 

[Airframes]

Looking good and great info Glenn.

 

[Crimea_River]

Great stuff Glenn. And here's me with no P-40s in my stash.

 

[Lucky13]

Good start Glenn!

 

[T Bolt]

Thanks fellas!

Did a little work on it tonight. Glued the wings together and will begin sanding tomorrow when it has set up.

I also dug out my old VHS of the God is My Co-Pilot movie made during the war, which I haven't watched in ten years and was surprised how much of the book actually made it into the movie. And they actually used a P-43 in the movie. How often do you see a rare plane like that fly, even in an old movie! They only made 272 of them, the majority of which were only built to keep the republic production line going until they could start making the P-47

 

[Wayne Little]

sounds like things are going to happen quickly here, Glenn....

 

[T Bolt]

This P-40 kit was originally intended as a long tailed later version of the P-40K so a replacement tail section was included and some surgery was required.

Picture 1) The fusalage parts as they came with the replacement tail parts next to them. The new tail has the fin fillet that was unique to early model P-40K's.

Picture 2) After tail removal with my razor saw, and before I dressed the ends up with a large flat file. The cut was made right on a panel line so that made things a little easier.

Picture 4) The new tail sections mounted on the fusalage halves. I was pleasantly surprised at the fit. It won't need any filler except a smidge along the fin fillet, and not much sanding at all.

Pictures 5 6) I also finished up the filing and sanding on the wing assembly. It took a lot of work around the guns and if I had known I would have cut them off and filed slots at the locations to add the guns later.

Pictures 7 8 ) Test fitting. There is a gap that is caused by the rear of the fillets being too wide. I'll work on fileing this down to get a better fit.

 

[Airframes]

Neat work Glenn, well done mate.

 

[B-17engineer]

Surgeon Glenn reporting for duty!