P40 E Warhawk 1/72

[copcheck]

Not too impressed with my latest effort, however I was feeling pretty good about it until the canopy. Looks terrible IMO even after using future.

This is another Academy kit. I know many people here are not fond of these kits due to inaccuracies, but for 1/72 scale model, I just love the amount of parts and detail as compared to Testors and Hobby Boss. Currently I am working on a Hobby Boss 1/72 Wildcat and to be quite honest it's a terrible kit and most likely my last Hobby Boss in that scale.

It got me thinking that there must be 2 different types of builders, those looking for accurate kits, even it means losing some challenge, for lack of a better term. And those, like me, that like the fun of building a kit with a lot of parts, even it means losing some accuracy. Would you say that's a fair assessment?

Anyway I'll shut up now LOL.

 

[Airframes]

Looks good to me. What's wrong with the canopy, it looks fine?

 

[Crimea_River]

Looks fine to me too.

Accuracy and challenge are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Ther are many kits out here that are accurate, have many parts, and that are also a challenge to build. You may have found a tradeoff in the manufacturers and scale that you dealt with but this is by no means a sound basis for a general conclusion.

The key is you've found a make that you're happy with for now. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[lostinhull]

Nowt wrong with that, looks fine.

I'm finding there's different aspects of the build I like and my favourite phase at present is probably the painting. I enjoy building the Eduard kits as they have loads of parts and options to choose from (including fairly comprehensive decal schemes) but the Hawk kit (which had about 10 parts) provided just as much fun researching the paint scheme.

My stash contains kits of different vintages, accuracy and skill levels. I guess what I'm trying to say is try to take from each kit what it offers, they don't all hit all of the buttons.

 

[Wildcat]

Looks good mate

 

[Wurger]

Looking very nice. A good job
However I had to resize the pic a little bit down. It was too large.

 

[copcheck]

Thanks everyone.

The part I do not like is the top/back part of the middle canopy is not flush with the top of the fuselage. If I am not mistaken, this should be flush as the canopy, when opened, should lift up and back. I filed the bottom of the middle section a bit, but was worried it would skew the front if I went too much further.

Thank you again,

Jon

 

[Wurger]

You are right but to a certain extent. The P-40 cockpit conopy was slided back going along guides and channels in the fusleage ( a black line in the pic below) So there was no need to lift it up when sliding back. The P-40 cockpit wasn't the pressurised type and didn't have to be hermetic. However its fitting was quite tight.

The main problem of many cockpit conopies that come with kits , is their thickness. Also their fitting or a way for that might be a trouble. But you have managed to do that quite good.

 

[otftch]

It looks pretty good. Canopy is not really noticeable until you point it out.
Ed

 

[Wurger]

Yep...I agree with Ed. It seems that the main mistake you made , are the exhaust pipes. I'm not sure but these parts should have been attached inside of both of the fuselage halves. These in your image are sticking out a little bit strange.

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done!

 

[A4K]

Nice job mate!
Got that kit myself (plus Academy's P-40M/N), and you're right about the canopy. (This is one of the areas they nearly always screw up in). In this case, the canopy is too large, and sits too high - very noticable side on.

Luckily the CMK P-40E cockpit set comes with a correct vacform E/M canopy, and Falcon also do replacement vacform canopies for the Academy P-40E/M and N (set no.46: USAAF World War Two, part 4). (They also sell same in double packs under the Squadron name, though these are designed for the Hasegawa kits - should be usable for Academy kits with minor fit mods however)

A word on Hobby Boss too - I've never built one of their kits, but I've seen some in the box which were packed with components - maybe just some of their kits are duds?

Evan

 

[Wurger]

These HobbyBoss 1/72 scale kits for the quick assembling are quite nice. However the number of parts that come with each kit don't rock us down. A fuselage is mouled as one part mostly. The same if we talk about a wing and spinners with propellers. The cockpit interiors are usually quite basic. Generally, the possibility of introducing of any major corrections is really limited.

To sum up... too much plastic, not too much work.

 

[rochie]

looks good to me

 

[copcheck]

Yep...I agree with Ed. It seems that the main mistake you made , are the exhaust pipes. I'm not sure but these parts should have been attached inside of both of the fuselage halves. These in your image are sticking out a little bit strange.

Wurger, they are indented, however the angle of the picture might not help to portray that, or maybe they are in fact sticking out a bit too far. Another possibility is that I angled them incorrectly, I'll take a look at it when I get home.

Thanks again everyone for the feedback!

 

[djos]

I have the same model in the "waiting to be done" line. Your model looks just fine to me. I must admit that i like more "used" look of aircraft's from WWII but also like to see clean and precise work. Did you had any problem in decal applying process, as they are quite big for the size of the model and covering quite large area of the nose?

At the end, good work.

BR

 

[copcheck]

I have the same model in the "waiting to be done" line. Your model looks just fine to me. I must admit that i like more "used" look of aircraft's from WWII but also like to see clean and precise work. Did you had any problem in decal applying process, as they are quite big for the size of the model and covering quite large area of the nose?

At the end, good work.

BR

The only decals I was not pleased with were the nose decals. Even with Micro Set and Micro Sol, I could not get them to set flush against the plane. From the side you cannot see the gap, however if you look at it head on you can see a small gap. I am considering putting a small cut and putting another coat of Mirco Sol on it again.

 

[woody]

Well done.

 

[Andy70]

Hey, copcheck,

Looks good! I was frustrated with the canopy as well when I built the same kit a few months ago. I started the Academy P-40B kit after it, but the flat wings (no dihedral) and very shallow panel lines frustrated me, so I chunked it and ordered the Trumpeter kit. It's next on my "to do" pile. My 1/72 collection wouldn't be complete without an AVG bird!

Again, nice job on this one!!! Glad you found some Future!