1/18 Curtiss P40C - Finished :)

[airscale]

hello everyone

 

No way of dressing it up, but I have changed subject again...

 

I will go back to the Fairey Firefly - this is it's second time of falling out of favour, but when you get the urge what do you do?

 

My new flame is the early longnose P40. I have always thought it would make a good subject for me and very nearly started one after my P51, but didn't fancy another American aircraft in quick succession.

 

It's easy to see why..

 

 

..beautiful lines, natural metal and technically interesting.

 

This is G-CIIO operated by The Fighter Collection who have said I can come and take at look at her once we are into the New Year and assuming there is no covid funny business preventing a visit...

 

I have spent the last month or so researching and finding out about the airframe and the differences with the later short nose P40s and the earlier P36 - of which there are many. I also liked the timing with the GWH 1/32 kit coming out as folks will be talking P40's for a bit

 

I had Jumpeii Temmas plans scaled and corresponded with Witold Jaworski who has digitally modelled the P40C and had done loads of research and analysis of factory drawings

 

One thing I really looked forward to was doing what I did with my P51 and getting stuck into those drawings to replicate everything part by part. This was always something that hindered the Firefly, I just don't like working in a vacuum, I like the research and knowing what I am making is accurate

 

An example like this - here is the tailwheel door in the parts manual..

 

 

..I can find the part number and in Aircorps Library, look up the drawings..

 

 

..then scale and copy the drawings to make up a set of photo-etch parts..

 

 

..I did this hundereds of times and now have the mother of all PE sheets at 28cm by 47cm with everything I thought I could do in PE represented..

 

 

 

i thought I would base the model on the 21st Century Toys 'model' as I did with their Fw190D -this was on the basis that while it is a toy, the 190 was dimensionally pretty accurate..

So a trip to ebay and £160 lighter, one turned up..

 

Once the 'model' arrived I set about destroying it into it's component parts - this involved sawing some of the nose elements in half so I ended up with effectively two fuselage halves..

 

cue the first plan comparison and a very deflated feeling...

 

 

..it's too short, too narrow, has what looks like the late chin profile and is generally all over the place..

 

..the rear fuselage is particularly out..

 

 

..now, I did toy with the idea of just getting on with reworking it, but the more I looked, the more work I found - in the end I was trying to justify it because I had spent the money..

 

In the end, I bit the bullet and decided to scratch build it - I have no excuse - I have great drawings and having just scratchbuilt a Hawker Fury so feeling pretty confident..

 

..first step was to get a sheet of perspex acrylic to trace out a 'keel'...

 

 

..I used a scalpel to score the perspex - you may juts be able to see some of the station lines here (on the red line)..

 

 

..once I had all the station points and outlines done, I used a jigsaw and a cutting disc to cut out the profile - with a big bit missing for where the cockpit is..

 

 

..this again told me how out of whack the 21st Century Toys model is..

 

 

..using Jumpeii's profiles I cut out all the fuselage station formers..

 

 

..and cemented them in place using a mini set square..

 

 

 

..then I soldered some square brass stock to get the dihedral right for wings to slide into - there is a little perspex jig holding it upright inbetween them..

 

 

..they were epoxied in place with the smaller sliding box sections in place so the angles and dangles can be seen and the positioning made correct..

 

 

 

..so there we are - thousands of hours of work to go, but it feels good to have something fresh on the bench and thats what it's all about right?

 

TTFN

Peter

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by airscale

[Out2gtcha]

Oh Joy! Great news my friend, we get to watch another absolute masterpiece come together.  Always inspiring to watch you work, and know what can really be done with a model. 

 

Onward! 

[scvrobeson]

YAY!  Peter's back with another masterpiece of a project!  Can't wait to watch another brilliant build come together.

 

 

 

Matt 

[JayW]

Peter.  Dude.  Following.  I just spent a fortune on another 21CT Mustang, to replace Miss Velma, which is looking more and more inadequate.  I wonder if I should not try just what you are doing, but on a P-51D.  Your progress so far is eye popping.

 

And BTW - don't you know I am on the same page when it comes to Aircorps Library, and using real live engineering drawings to help with the build.  But the P-40 drawing set is still being worked on as I understand it.  I hope you do not find alot of dead ends.  So far for the Corsair, nearly every drawing is available - a pleasant surprise.

Edited December 29, 2021 by JayW

[Marcin_Matejko]

[Violator1991]

Jaws to drop again!!

[spartacus2000]

Ok, this is modeling, looking at your and other forum members' works, I get richer every day. Thank you for sharing your experiences.

[D.B. Andrus]

Peter,

 

Man, you make it look so easy!  We all know it's not - a tribute to your engineering and modeling skills.

 

 

Cheers,

Damian

[chuck540z3]

LOVE the subject Peter and will love what you are creating in such skilled hands.  While we mortals glue together little parts that come in a kit, you make the kit, then put it all together like you are doing right now.  Always amazing to me.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[Squizzy 78]

Model magic started here!

[KiwiZac]

As much as I prefer the P-40E and later variants I am very, very excited to see you start this build Peter. And with such a great initial post (21st Century Letdown aside)!

[Daywalker]

AWESOME Peter!   I too have always favored the long nose early P-40's, and have one of these in 1/18 scale sitting on my display case in AVG markings.  I'll be watching this one with great interest!

[Chad Veich]

Another of my favorite subjects Peter, I will be watching your magic on this one for sure.  I was fortunate to see the subject aircraft before it left for the UK and shot some detail photos as I too would like to model the aircraft eventually.  If you would like copies of the pics just let me know where to send them, happy to share.

[Rockie Yarwood]

Thank you Peter. Really looking forward to following along!

 

Cheers,  Rockie

[brahman104]

Never quiet for long are you?!!!  

 

This is gonna be awesome! Love the subject.

 

Craig