matto21 Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 Hi all, Encouraged by the relative success of my ongoing Bf-109, and with it drawing close to being finished, I wanted to make the most of my current enthusiasm and not lose momentum. I've had a Hasegawa P-40E in the stash for ages, but the schemes provided did little to inspire me to actually build it. By chance, I came across a lone example that the Finnish air force "obtained" in 1944. A bit of Googling later, and I found out that suitable decals were available from SBS Models. The base kit and decals are as follows: These Hasegawa multi part fuselages are a bit of a faff to assemble and make good the resulting join. Work started in the cockpit, colour is speculative (essentially RLM02!) but I like to paint the cockpit lighter where possible, because the colour always darkens with weathering, and once the fuselage is assembled. Belts are homemade from HGW buckles and painted foil. I originally intended on using a replacement IP from Yahu, however thought I'd give the kit decal a go, figuring I had a Yahu shaped replacement available if it went wrong. Turned out reasonably well after copious amounts of Mr Mark Softer! A lot of filling and sanding, and filling and sanding was required to get a reasonable finish to the fuselage. It's not perfect, but then none of my models are. I used superglue as a filler and restored lost panel lines using a Tamiya scribing tool which worked well. I'm also using replacement exhausts from Quickboost. Next up is the painting! Thanks for reading. Matt Gazzas, Landrotten Highlander, daveculp and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto21 Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 4 hours ago, Jennings Heilig said: Good start, but, um, that aircraft was a P-40M, not a P-40E... Well spotted but I'm not too concerned. My goal this year is to reduce my stash by actually building models, and as the model is for me only, I'm happy to ignore this fact. I believe that Heller offered a kit of this aircraft many, many years ago and they also used an E, so I'm building a model of a model... Matt Kagemusha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Level of detail looks good as well as all of the prep work Matt. matto21 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto21 Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 Thanks very much. Not wanting to make the same mistake I did with my Bf-109, I've sprayed the yellow sections first this time! Base colour is H413 RLM04 from Gunze with Tamiya XF-3 for some highlights. Next is a gloss coat to protect the paint before I mask and spray the blue undersides. Matt Landrotten Highlander, MikeC, daveculp and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto21 Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 I'm making really rapid progress by my usual standards. Basecoat of blue now completed. Matt mustang1989, daveculp, Kagemusha and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto21 Posted March 28, 2020 Author Share Posted March 28, 2020 Evening all, Underside blue has now been shaded and highlighted using a lightened mix - completely randomly. I've also made a start on the topside, but only around the masked areas as I was concerned about the paint lifting. Needn't have worried, but sods law would've dictated differently had I left it in place! Matt daveculp, Landrotten Highlander, Gazzas and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto21 Posted March 31, 2020 Author Share Posted March 31, 2020 (edited) Thank you Mr Maru! I decided to preshade some random panels using green and yellow to try and force some contrast into what can be quite a monotonous colour. This was done entirely freehand and randomly. After it had dried, I applied a mottled topcoat. Thin enough to get a hint of the preshade, but heavy enough to avoid it looking patchy and cartoon like. It's difficult to photograph given the dark colour, but I'm pleased with how it's looking. Note I haven't painted the leading edges, flaps or wingtips to make handling easier! Matt Edited March 31, 2020 by matto21 Grrr, predictive text daveculp, MikeC, mustang1989 and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 Nice choice of subject, like the paint work. matto21 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto21 Posted April 3, 2020 Author Share Posted April 3, 2020 Decal time... These have fought me every step of the way. Getting them to conform to the recessed detail has involved numerous applications of Mr Mark Softer, which usually beats any decals into submission, and also required them to be cut along the panel lines. The correct circular decal on the fuselage disintegrated as soon as it was applied, and as no spare is supplied, I had to substitute it with a slightly larger version from the sheet. All in all, quite disappointing. I've also added an initial wash to the lower wings. Matt mustang1989, daveculp, Kagemusha and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 Shame about the decals, but on the plus side, it's not readily noticeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto21 Posted April 6, 2020 Author Share Posted April 6, 2020 Hi all, Tonight I've painted and weathered the hubs and gear legs. I'll need to mask off the hubs tomorrow and then paint the tyres. These resin replacements from SBS are really nice. I've opted for a white spinner. All the colour profiles either have black with a spiral or aluminium. Looking at the photos available, I think it looks white. If it's wrong, it's wrong and I can live with it. Finally I did a bit of post shading. Very subtle, and not really visible in the photos, but worth it in my opinion. Not sure what's going on with the pink tinge in the photos! Thanks for looking Matt mustang1989 and Kagemusha 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted April 7, 2020 Share Posted April 7, 2020 On 3/26/2020 at 4:04 PM, matto21 said: Thanks very much. Not wanting to make the same mistake I did with my Bf-109, I've sprayed the yellow sections first this time! Matt Now I'm followin' about the 109 build. There's been quite a bit of progress in here since I've last visited this thread Matt. Love all the modulation and paint prep work. It really makes a difference when it all comes together. Wow! matto21 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto21 Posted April 11, 2020 Author Share Posted April 11, 2020 Not far from completion now. Finally got around to painting the exhausts. I basecoated them in dark grey then applied various brown and rust coloured washes from both enamel and acrylic paints. Matt Derek B, Lothar, Kagemusha and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 Paint work is impeccable!!! Nice! matto21 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto21 Posted April 12, 2020 Author Share Posted April 12, 2020 Thank you! I'm nearly done now, just a few things left to do. Matt Lothar and mustang1989 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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