AMT 1/48^th P-40N Warhawk

The Curtiss-Wright P-40 began life as a re-engined P-36, itself a mid-30’s design that was a delight to fly, but too slow for a modern fighter. The XP-40 was first flown in 1938 and delivery of production aircraft to the Army Air Corp began in June of 1940.  

In air-to-air combat, the P-40 proved itself highly effective when flown by the skilled pilots of the American Volunteer Group known as “The flying Tigers”. Gen. Claire Chennault demanded that pilots exploit the P-40’s strengths of rugged construction, heavy firepower, and fast dive speed, and avoid trying to out climb or out turn their opponents. In the E.T.O., the P-40 was found to be wanting due to its rather lackluster high altitude performance (a common problem with all Allison V-1710 engined aircraft).

 As the war progressed, the airframe was constantly modified to keep it competitive, but the P-40 was never a “leading edge” fighter. Although the P-40 was the America’s primary fighter at the beginning of the war, it was gradually replaced by newer types in front line service. Because of its second line status, the P-40 was sent to less critical fronts where it was increasingly used as a fighter-bomber.

In an effort to increase performance, the P-40 was put on a diet. Lighter wheels, reduced fuel and equipment loads, and a reduction in armament from six “fifties” to four “fifties” made the early P-40N the fastest of the P-40s. The early P-40N was able to see 378 mph with its 1200 hp Allison V-1710-81 and reduced weight. Only a few of the truly light weight P-40N’s were produced.

 The P-40N-5 saw the return of the six “fifties” and the addition of the improved vision canopy that visually sets the “N” apart from the rest of the Warhawk line. The P-40N was the most produced P-40 with 5,215 being built.

 Universally loved by the pilots who flew it, the P-40 gave sterling service when it was needed most and held the fort until newer types were available.

Released in 1995, the AMT/Ertl P-40N comes in a large box with nice box art of “Geronimo” downing a Betty. Upon opening, one finds four sprues of soft, light gray plastic, a sprue of clear parts, and a decal sheet with markings for two aircraft: “Geronimo” of the 15^th Fighter Group, 45^th Fighter Squadron and “Rosy the Riviter” of the 49^th FG, 7^th FS. This particular kit was made in the USA before AMT sent production to Mexico and the production quality plummeted. There is a little flash, but nothing that won’t clean up easily. This kit has finely engraved panel lines and rivit detail, a basic interior, clear but thick transparent parts, and only a few decals. The fairly low number of parts makes this kit look like a relaxing weekend build. I should know better, having built AMT’s P-40F!

I started this one by removing the fuselage halves and engine covers from the sprue and cleaning them up. As with all AMT P-40 kits, once the engine covers are glued in place, there are two major depressions on the nose that must be shimmed to provide a flat area for the spinner. I cut out two pieces of plastic sheet stock and glued them in place. I also scribed and cut out the rear fuselage section specific to the N model.

 Fitting the fuselage halves together, it became apparent that this wouldn’t be a weekend build. The nose intake needed to be blocked off, the exhausts fit at a weird upward angle, the locating pins didn’t line things up nicely, etc. I cut off all the locating pins and then glued a series of plastic tabs on the inside surface of one half such that they would give support to the other side when the halves were glued together. I then shimmed the lower side of the exhaust mounting plates so the exhaust would be level once glued in place. Finally, I cut and glued plastic sheet to block off the nose intake. I painted the inside of the fuselage halves interior green and, once the radiator was painted and glued in place, I glued the fuselage halves together.

 At this point, I printed out a picture of the instrument panel for a P-40N and proceeded to paint the kit part accordingly. I cut the solid plastic reflector from the kit gun sight and replaced it with a piece of thin clear plastic. The interior pieces were painted interior green, detailed, washed (I used a thin black oil-based wash), and dry-brushed to bring out the detail. The rear fuel tank was painted olive drab and weathered prior to installation.

 I had to fill a sink mark right in the middle of the pilot’s backplate armor, since it is clearly visible through the canopy. Do yourself a favor at this point and reshape the backplate armor behind the pilot’s head. As it comes in the kit, the pilot could not see anything behind him. I did not notice this until after I had glued on the canopy and had to rip it (the canopy) off and dremel away the sides of the backplate on either side of the headrest pad.

 I assembled the interior and added Eduard’s pre-painted USAAF seatbelts at this time. They are simply beautiful! I installed the interior in the fuselage, glued in the shimmed exhaust and set the fuselage aside to dry. Once dry, I filed the nose flat for the spinner and sanded the seams. Next, as a departure from the norm (and the instructions), I decided to glue the upper wings to the fuselage prior to attaching them to the lower wing. I did this to avoid the dreaded wing root seam so common on aircraft models. I was able to get a very good alignment of the wing roots using this method. Once dry, I glued the lower wing and tailplanes to the model. Fit here was good requiring minimal filler. The bulges on the leading edge of the wing and the radiator outlet flaps were glued on, as was the belly fuel tank. I also attached the canopy with white glue at this time. The middle, sliding section of the canopy was too wide, so I had to hold it in place with toothpicks and tape until it was dry.

 Masking the canopy was almost easy. While masking, my #11 Exacto blade slipped and I made a nice gouge right across the front windscreen. No alternative but to rip it off and sand out the scratch with 1500 grit wet or dry sandpaper. I then polished the windscreen out with auto polishing compound and a cotton cloth. I reattached the front canopy section using white glue and finished masking the canopy (Tamiya tape is the bomb!). While reading another review of the P-40N I noticed a dorsal frame member that runs down the spine of the canopy. There is no mention of this in the kit instructions, so I had to track down a wartime picture of a P-40N for reference. Once confirmed, I removed the tape where the spine would run and she was ready for paint.

I chose to use the kit markings for “Rosy the Riviter” of the 49^th FG, 7^th FS. This plane was in the Pacific theater and wore Olive Drab over Neutral Gray. A nice shark mouth and a white vertical tail added some spice to the rather boring scheme. I usually like to have a photo of the aircraft that I am modeling, but having none I proceeded with a best guess approach. The directions called for Medium Green disruptive camouflage to be applied to the leading and trailing edges of the wings and elevators. Since I could find no pictures of 49^th FG P-40N’s with this, I left it off. I can add the Medium Green later if I find a picture of this plane confirming that it is there.

 I air brushed Poly Scale acrylics, first spraying interior color on the window framing, then spraying the white base for the red nose and white tail. I masked the spinner with automotive pin striping. I masked off the white tail with Tamiya tape and used a piece of kneadable eraser that was rolled into a snake and wrapped around the fuselage for a soft edge between the white and the olive drab. I then sprayed Poly Scale Neutral Gray for the underside color. Once the underside was masked off, I sprayed Poly Scale Olive Drab on the upper surfaces. Once dry, I sprayed Olive Drab lightened with RLM 02 gray green onto areas more likely to be faded by the sun.

 I let the plane dry overnight and then I applied various powdered artist pastels to bring out panel lines, exhaust stains, etc. I applied the pastels with a soft, closely cropped paintbrush, removing the excess with kneadable eraser. I then sealed the pastels with an airbrushed coat of Future floor polish diluted slightly with water.

 The kit decals were used and went down fine. It took a lot of Champ setting solution to get them settled into the panel lines. To help, I cut them along the panel lines with a sharp #11 Exacto blade when they were almost dry. The shark mouth decals were the most difficult, needing many stress relief cuts to conform to the curved radiator shroud. I had to touch up the front of these decals with paint where they wrap around the cowling.

 At this point I decided to give the airframe a wash before the final flat coat was applied. I used a very fine paintbrush and an oil-based dark brown wash. The gloss coat allowed the wash to flow freely in the panel lines and it was easy to clean up any excess with a Q-tip dampened with mineral spirits.

 Finally, I airbrushed Poly Scale clear flat acrylic over the entire airframe. I think I sprayed a bit too much because it came out very flat and somewhat milky, obscuring some of the detail I had added. I buffed the flat back down to an acceptable level using a kneadable eraser first and then rubbing it with a used dryer sheet.

 I did a final application of pastels, and brush painted the guns, landing lights, etc. Then, I glued on the landing gear and other final bits. I had decided to use True Details’ resin P-40N wheels and I’m glad I did. They really set the model off. I used Testors silver (oil-based) to simulate chipping around maintenance panels and scuffing on areas walked on by pilots and ground crew. I had some great photos of actual planes that I used as reference for this step.

This kit was way more work than I expected! I came close a couple of times to pitching it, but I’m glad I didn’t. I love the way this bird turned out. I would like to thank Tom Cleaver for the great P-40N reviews he has done for this site – they were a tremendous reference! As far as the kit is concerned, I have mixed emotions. While I can’t recommend this kit over the Hasegawa P-40N on any criteria save price, it can be turned out well and it is simple enough for modelers of any skill level.

 Ethel, Jeffrey L. Warbirds, American Legends of World War II. Ann Arbor, MI: Lowe & B. Hould Publishers, 2003.

Jonathan Prestidge

February 2010

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