Rising Decals 72110: Sharkmouth Unit - P-40 Warhawks of the 51st FG over CBI

The sharkmouth has been a fairly popular aircraft marking since WWI. It really took off in WWII with one of the first uses of the marking being on German Bf-110s. It was quickly picked up by the RAF's 112 Squadron, which put the markings on their P-40s. From there it went to Burma with the AVG, which decorated their P-40s with these markings and every since it has been attached to the Warhawk.

The P-40 was a perfect match for these sorts of markings, thanks to a large fairly flat sided nose section and so all manners of toothy decorations soon showed up on these planes. This fairly recent sheet from Rising Decals out of the Czech Republic contains markings for a variety of P-40s from different squadrons within the 51st fighter group. Most of these aircraft are in the standard olive drab over neutral grey with one exception. The first four options have patches of medium green on the edges of the flying surfaces.

We are quite fortunate that there have been a lot of 1/72 P-40 kits produced over the years and these markings should fit any of those that are appropriate. Probably the most accurate of the bunch is, not surprisingly, the newest from Special Hobby, which, covers all the variants on this sheet. Other options, though not of the full line are by Academy, Hasegawa, and Revell, to name a few. I should also mention that the profiles provided would have you paint the area under the transparencies behind the cockpit with interior green. This is not accurate, though I did that for decades. These areas should be the exterior color, even on the P-40N (about which I learned just a couple of days ago).

First up is one of the dragon toothed planes from the 25th FS 'Assam Dragons'. This P-40M, as well as the others from this unit, has the forward part of the spinner painted white. This aircraft, along with all but one other, has wheel covers. It also has a white fuselage stripe.

Next, from the same unit, but with the spoked wheels is a P-40N. It has a white fin tip. Note that on the 25 FS planes, you will need to paint the additional teeth where the marking wraps under the nose.

From the 26th FS is a P-40N with a 'standard' sharkmouth and a yellow band around the extreme nose.

Back to the 25th is a P-40N that nas a yellow stripe on the back portion of the spinner along with a red spinner tip.

Another 26th FS aircraft, this time a P-40K in a European scheme of dark green and dark earth over light grey.

The final option is from the 16th FS. It has a white forward spinner and as do some of the other options, sports a DF antenna on the spine. I don't recall any kit I've done in this scale that includes this item, so you may need to cobble one up from scrap plastic and wire.

Overall, this is a very nice decal sheet, especially if you like the P-40. The sheet itself is nicely printed and past experience has shown them to be very good.

November 2024

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