Two years ago, I got the idea to build a Flying Tigers P-40 of the American Volunteers Group. Unfortunatley I could not find a suitable P-40B kit at that time. Instead, I found and built a Hobby 2000 (reboxed Hasegawa) kit of the P-40N. After a while, I managed to find and get the Airfix P-40B but I did not get around to built it, until one my favourite Facebook groups launched a Group Build Campaign with a WWII pacific theatre theme.
It was a quick and easy build. The cockpit that Airfix provides is good enough. I only added some PE lapbelts from Eduard (these early P-40s did not have shoulder starps on the seats).
I added metal gun barrels, pitot tube and gunsights from Master Model, hydraulic lines on the undercarriage legs (0.25mm solder wire) and antenna wires (Uschi van der Rosten rigging).
Oddly, the “Kuomintang” roundels that Airfix provides are wrong. The stars are 11 pronged instead of 12. It is not something that is immediately obvious but it something that once you see it, you cannot unsee.
Thankfully, I got myself a little cutting machine for christmas, a Cricut Joy. I was able to download the SVG file of the “Kuomintang” from Wikipedia and create stencils, using Oramask 810 self-adhesive film. I also cut and used stencils for the white “47” numbers on the side of the fuselage and the camouflage patern, because, why not?!
The work in progress
The finished model
Products Used
| Kit | Box | Scale | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airfix Curtiss P-40B Warhawk |  | 1/48 | A05130 |
| Eduard Seatbelts USAF & USN WWII |  | 1/48 | 49001 |
| Master Model Curtiss P-40 B/C Tomahawk II – British version |  | 1/48 | AM-48-136 |
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