The P-40 was a follow-on of the radial engine P-36, itself a modern, all metal fighter with retractable landing gear. The in-line Allison V-1710 engine was installed to bring its performance up to specs with fighter aircraft in Europe. For the most part, Curtiss was successful in that regard. The P-40E was the first of the type that was truly combat ready, though earlier P-40B/C variants did see combat in Burma, China, and North Africa with the AVG, and the RAF.

The addition of the armor and self sealing fuel tanks along with the addition of two more guns in the wings required a more powerful engine. However all this also slightly degraded the aircraft's performance. Probably the biggest failing of the aircraft was its inability to operate much above 15,000 feet as the lack of a high altitude supercharger or turbocharger meant that engine power dropped off quite a bit the higher it went. This was not an issue in the Pacific or North Africa as most combat was at levels below that and the P-40 was able to give a good showing against most of its adversaries.

Though the P-40 was further developed, it was more and more used as a fighter bomber in the ground attack role, letting more modern types handle the air to air bomber escort role in Europe and in the Mediterranean. In the CBI, the P-40 stayed in front line service longer than anywhere else.

After building some Hasegawa P-40s a short while back, it was recommended that I give the Special Hobby kits a try. So it was that ordered two of them from Italy. Thanks to the paucity of airline operations due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, these kits took about 2 months from ordering until they reached my door.

It is quite obvious that Special Hobby is doing multiple variants once one looks at the sprues as there are several parts that are only for later aircraft. Indeed, the sprue layout diagram has these parts marked off as not for use for this boxing. The detail level is quite good, though perhaps a bit overdone for some tastes. I liken the panel lines and parts detailing to be closer to Academy than the petite panel lines of Hasegawa's forty year old kits. Special Hobby did the first of this new tool series, a P-40N, back in 2017.

However, the cockpit details are vastly superior to Hasegawa's offerings. I like that there are belt decals. Decals are also provided for the main instrument panel. An interesting feature is that the cockpit floor is part of the upper wing piece. The kit gives us separate wheel well walls to trap in between the upper and lower wing halves. Ailerons are molded into the upper wing piece to provide a sharp trailing edge.

The kit offers exhaust in three pairs for each side. Rudder is separate. The tailplanes are single piece and slot into the tail sections. If building the early P-40E option, then the builder needs to fabricate the proper pitot. You are provided open or closed cowl flap options, a nice choice. One can pose the canopy open or closed. For things under the fuselage, you get one of two drop tank options, or a bomb. Interestingly, one of the tanks is a design I've not seen before with a pinched and flattened aft end.

The full color instructions are very well done and offer Gunze paint options. You have two SWPA options. One is the box art plane 'Star Dust' with an RAF style camouflage. The other is 'Bob's Robin' in OD/Neutral Grey when based in Darwin during 1942. This one has white stars only without the blue background. The other two are 23 FG planes with one being Dallas Clinger's plane from Sept 1942 with an RAF style camouflage. The other is an ex-AVG  plae as flown by John Petach in July 1942. This OD/Neutral Grey plane still has its Chinese roundels. The decal sheet is very nicely done by Cartograf so you know it is a good one.

About three years ago I built this boxing and really liked it. As such I bought another and the P-40N. This has been sitting in my stash, patiently awaiting me to get the motivation to build it and add to a growing 1/72 P-40 collection.

First thing I did was to start painting the areas that needed interior green and those that needed green zinc chromate. I used Mission Models acrylic for the interior and Testors Model Master enamels for the chromate, both applied with a brush. The seat and its mount were the first items assembled and this was then attached to the armor plate backing. I also built up the radiator core section and, as last time, stupidly cut off the little mounting tab on the bottom of it. I am of the opinion that kit instructions should warn the builder about things like this as it looks like little more than a sprue attachment point.

While I was assembling all the interior bits, I assembled the wheels and the wings. I really like how the upper and lower wings are a single piece so no worries on getting them lined up. The upper wing piece includes the cockpit floor. There is a wheel well section that has to be attached to the lower wing. One also has to remember to attach the landing light at this time. 

With the interior subassemblies complete, I started to install them. The actual fitting of the instrument panel and the seat assembly is a bit on the vague side and installing them was fairly fiddly; especially the seat assembly. Eventually I was able to get them in place to my liking and was able to close up the fuselage. The radiator opening piece was attached and the seams sanded. Much to my delight, no filler was needed, which for me is quite rare, however, the kit isn't finished. With that done the rudder and tailplanes were glued on. The tailplanes are idiot proof in terms of which one fits on which side, though they are a bit loose until the glue starts to set.

I next attached the wing. This was a VERY tight fit fore and aft. However, there were some small gaps at the wing root to deal with. There is a small step between the wing root and the wing which I did not bother to fill/fix. I then used a set of Montex masks for the clear parts. These are a fairly thick vinyl and not surprising is that those on the top of the canopy did not stick very well. The canopy and windscreen were attached and the gear wells filled with Silly Putty. Next stop, the paint shop.

For this one, I used Mr Color OD and Neutral Grey. The OD is probably darker than many like, but both colors went on quite well and were dry to the touch in about 10-15 minutes. Once done, I returned to the bench and installed the landing gear. Back to paint and a coat of Mr.Color gloss clear.

Decals were a sheet I've used on several other P-40E kits, DK Decals 72053: P-40E Warhawk over Philippines, Java, and Australia. This time I chose one of the more garish schemes, an aircraft of the 3rd PS, flown by 2nd Lt R Oestreicher with a huge shark mouth. Of interest is that part of the 'eye' actually fits on the spinner. I used kit decals for the U.S. Army and those are thin to the point of almost being too delicate as they have minimal clear film. The rest came from the sheet. I found that the sharkmouth and eye decals were not fond of compound curves, even after a fairly strong setting solution, Mr Mark Softer was used. I did get them to fit after multiple applications and a bit of pressure with a wet finger.

With the decals in place, I glued on the main wheels, which were resin from CMK set # Q72 298. I've used these wheels before on a previous build and they fit perfectly. I then started attaching other small parts that had been prepainted such as the cowl flaps, and gear doors. I lost the pitot tube so replaced it with a piece of wire.

CONCLUSIONS

Every time I build this kit, it seems that I improve on the previous build. One of these day's I'll make no mistakes, but it probably won't be soon. It has a lot going for it and I will build more of these in the future. It does not make the Academy or Hasegawa kits obsolete as those still make into nice kits, but those who want what is the best so far will want to pick this one up.

24 October 2024