blunce

great work so far! do you have a proper windscreen for it (one without the frame on the side window)?

Thanks Martin! It's always cool when there's more to the story than just an aircraft to build. Pretty cool that the two fella's were able to become life long friends once they found out about each other. Yeah, sorry about that Tomek. Once I had the incident with the windscreen, my inclination to do in depth In Progress shots went right out the window. Once I finally got my mojo back on this one, I only had about a week to get it done (for a GB on ARC), so then too, no time to do the progress shots. Anyhow, to answer what I think is your question, after applying the base coats, each color was treated to a rock salt application, followed by varied colors of the base coats, starting darker, working towards lighter. The extra fading on the fabric surfaces was just done by using a very lightened and thinned version of the base colors. No pastels or pigments were used in the weathering except on the exhausts. I did do a bit of dot filtering on the upper wing roots. Hope that answers your question. Hey Thanks, your's foiled P-40 was quite amazing as well! Thanks Thomas! Doing macro shots can certainly show you things the naked eye can often miss. I suppose all that extra time fretting over making sure everything is perfect before starting paint paid off. I often feel like I'll never get to the paint stage, as I'm always finding something else that needs perfecting. Thank you Mark! Thank so much Ads, next I need to finish up a couple armor pieces for review builds, then I may well get back to a Ki-84 build with aftermarket goodies I started back in March 2010. Unfortunately it's 1/48, so can't be posted here. Much appreciated Ron! Glad you like it Ray! Thanks for taking the time to comment! Always nice to get an "atta boy!"!

Thanks guys! The color variation was achieved by spraying slightly darker & lighter shades of the base colors over salt (think of the salt chipping effect). Also a grime coat was used in the same manner. The salts were moved around between each color variation.

Thanks Kevin & Grant! The build did indeed present some challenges, but in the end it was all worth it I suppose. Full group of pics posted to RFI.

A friend of mine built this aircraft many years ago (1972) from the Revell kit, and hand painted the nose art. Last year he decided he wanted to build it again, only better. So after accumulating decals, the kit, and some aftermarket, he was ready to start on it, only to be halted by medical difficulties. I told him it would be my pleasure and an honor to build it for him. So, here it is. The aircraft depicted is a Kittyhawk Mk.IA, Piloted by Squadron C/O Major D.B Hauptfleish, 2Sqn, EV421, 1943. Usually mistakenly referred to as a P-40K, serial number research and P-40 expert Terry McGrady confirm this aircraft was in fact a Kittyhawk Mk.IA or US equivalent P-40E1. Also usually gotten wrong is the registration number, commonly said to be EW421, when it was actually EV421. These decals got it wrong too, but due to time constraints and considering most of the "W" is covered by the large DB (or H on the other side), I decided not to correct this issue. Full build thread can be viewed here. On to the pics:

This work was done back in late April/ early May. At that point, I had some issues getting the new windscreen to blend in as good as I wanted with the rest of the aircraft, and because of that it sat for a while. Unfortunately, these are the last of any "in-progress" photos I took. The plane is now done, I'll be posting completed pics here VERY soon!

Thanks Kev! It's far easier for me to do it this way. For one, I post to several sites, not all of which are in BBcode, so simply pasting image tags is alot easier. Also, it's alot easier to write and point to things I'm talking about in the pics than it is to try to just describe it in text below the posted pics. I'm not too worried about Google finding my builds, and I don't think the blind will get much from it either way. Thanks though, never would've thought about that aspect of it.

And here's the latest update and where I'm at now. There's a bit of progress shots that I've held back that show the exterior paint weathering process, which I'll post once I'm more ready for a final reveal.

.....and flying. Here she is today. http://www.flyingheritage.com/TemplatePlane.aspx?contentId=81 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42EARdXxZ7o

Thanks for the pic, but unless I scratch the canvas cover which I won't, it doesn't do much for my color decision. I know there was typically the cover, but since I'm not going to create one, I've got to color what I've been given. Thanks for the link to the more photos too!

Here's a topic, supposing all P-40s, all models came off the assembly line the same way, I'd say this is the defining photo. At the bottom of the pic, you can see a small strip of metal that is ZCY, and the rest of the wheel well looks to me like what would be considered Curtiss Green. Talk amongst yourselves.... http://www.gstatic.c...8e8353125_large and here's a photo that show the wheel well pretty good, but is that YZC or GZC or ?? http://www.gstatic.c...49707e423_large http://www.gstatic.c...1599e1613_large and here's an interesting photo that shows both ZCY AND Curtiss green primers in use on the same airframe. (Wing root area) http://www.gstatic.c...cf1918feb_large

Thanks Ray! Somewhere I think I read that the aircraft I'm doing could actually be considered more of a late -E than a K. Anyhow, thanks for that link showing Greg's photos. I'm going to send him an email and see if he knows the answers.

Hmm, I didn't know they had a -K model there! I was there in '08 but I don't think I took any picture of it then. And even if I did they may or may not exist on a hard drive that got fried in a wind storm power outage a few years back. Questions 1,2,3 have been answered, and 4 is believed to be YZC, so if anyone has answers to the rest I'd love to hear them. You ever make it up this way for any shows Ray?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8E_zMLCRNg&feature=player_embedded

So I'm starting to tie up all the loose ends in anticipation of painting my 1/32 P-40K and have just a few questions (for now). Photos from Steven R. Stohr at http://www.p40warhaw...40_3/P-40_3.htm 1. In this first photo, directly above the cowl flaps, there is a small, almost half circle access door that says starter on it. On my kit it is also there, but there is also another one in the same place on the left side. Both the P-40N at the Museum of Flight Seattle and this aircraft pictured below do not have that door on the left side. Do I eliminate the one on the kit? 2. Also, there is a hole in the wing root leading edge on both sides of this aircraft, but my kit only has a hole on the right side. Would a -K have the hole on both sides? Colors: 3. Suggestions on undercarriage color? I've seen silver and seen underside color; either/or? 4. Wheel wells, I painted my wheel wells in interior green (Gunze H58) as directed in the instructions, but I can still change them if I should. I think I've seen some real aircraft painted that way, but I've also seen some in underside color. 5. Bottom of fuselage has two holes and the bottom right wing root has one hole for lights. Instructions state to fill the two in the fuselage. Confirm/ deny for a -K model. *One thing to consider- the aircraft I am doing is a South African Air Force plane that was delivered and used for only about a year in 1943. So, not alot of wear and tear and resulting repaints that may give any number of options for color usage. So I'm thinking this thing would've probably been as it was when it left the factory. Camo scheme is Dark Earth/Middlestone/Azure 6. Any recommendations on a Middlestone color, preferably in a Tamiya mix. I've got Gunze H71 and Floquil Br. Middlestone 303153, but they are not the same color- close though. Anyhow, just curious if there's a popular option for Middlestone. TIA!

It looks like you got it on the other wing, but on this wing, the 2 or 3 rivets next to the two access panels in the middle of the picture seem too close to the those access panel lines. I'd eliminate them altogether. Since it appears you are not using a riveting wheel, what are you using to achieve the perfect distance between rivets? Great work so far, that's one impressive pile of aftermarket goodies. I'll be keeping an eye on this build for sure!