1/18 Curtiss P40C - Finished :)

[Thunnus]

Amazing work as always, Pete! Most of these techniques are beyond me but there are a few nifty ideas (like the tape template) that I may be able to use.

[airscale]

evening folks

 

On 9/13/2022 at 7:45 PM, BiggTim said:

Hi Peter,

 

I read through your great tutorial threads, but I just can't seem to find anyone who sells 0.06mm (.0024 inch) litho plate material. Any suggestions?

 

 

Hi Tim - the only place I know of is where I got mine, but I got 100 x sheets bigger than A4 - I don't know if they do smaller amounts - it's called Jade long runs

 

On 9/14/2022 at 6:05 PM, Thunnus said:

Amazing work as always, Pete! Most of these techniques are beyond me but there are a few nifty ideas (like the tape template) that I may be able to use.

 

 

There is nothing here beyond you Thunnus, in fact I think if you for example lost the main gear door on one of your glorious Fw190D's you could and would scratchbuild one equal to, or better than the kit part - it's all about shapes and basic construction, I just make it look fancy

 

it was time to sort out the under wing area - quite a lot to do here..

 

the wing join needed filling, the flap housing in the fuselage needed doing, the lower keel parts needed making etc etc

 

.. I started by filling and fairing the wing join - I also added some false flaps so I could fill and sand over them and leave a perfect outline for the recess..

 

..here masked up for a shot of primer so I can see whats what..

 

..you can also see the big hole at the front - thats where I ripped off the fairing I had made before as it was wrong..

 

 

..the false flaps doing their job well - these were just bits of litho exactly the shape of the recessed flaps bordered in tamiya tape....

 

 

..once it was primed I added the ribs right at the end where the flap meets the fuselage..

 

 

moving forward, there are no drawings I can find of the forward fairing - I just have to go off photo's and in fact this whole area has been really hard to interpret in terms of the fairings & LE wing root fairings..

 

..you can see behind the cowl flaps is a ducted fairing from the back of the radiators (the dull ali fairing on the right..)- this I made ages ago and now I find it's not quite deep enough, or long enough

 

 

..I remade the fairing to meet that ducted fairing and used the cowl flaps to understand and set out the geometry of the fuselage edge...

 

 

..I did my best to interpret it and compensate for the earlier error - you can see the fairing below the cowl flaps - this should be as long as the cowl flaps are...

 

 

..these pictures belie the amout of making, re-making, measuring, re-measuring etc that has gone on in this area and I am still not entirely happy..

 

 

..I reshaped the cowl flap borders, the leading edge fairing area and still think there is more to do..

 

 

..I also need to cut the slots in the forward fairing for the big ammo ejection chutes and do a lot more finessing here..

 

 

 

..once I get all the keel parts made, the shapes & fairings right I can start skinning it all, though there is a lot going on under here so it will take a while..

 

TTFN
Peter

[JayW]

Beautiful work Peter.  I wish I could help in the drawing department; I don't think I can.  Looks like Aircorps Library drawing collection is incomplete.

[Oldbaldguy]

Could be an issue stemming from different models of the P-40, but from what I can see in photos of later airplanes, the large streamlined fairing that cleans up the airflow coming out of the radiators and the longer, skinnier fairing behind it are less two separate parts like you have it and more one big part with gappy joints.  The external tank hardware confuses issues a bit when trying to figure things out but it sure looks to me like there may not be as much going on there in later airplanes than what you are trying to build into your model.  Of course, your airplane is an early one, so Curtiss may not have gotten the simplicate and streamline memo at that point.

[Ol' Scrapiron]

I've only photographed one P-40C and that was P-40C 41-13390 at the Flying Heritage Collection. Not sure what is specific to the C, but maybe you'll see something in my pics of the area you are working on that might help in some way.

 

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Hope these are of some use (even if only as inspiration) -- but as with any restoration, use your own judgement

 

 

 

 

 

 

[brahman104]

Wow Peter, there are some pretty intense shapes going on under the belly! But if there's anyone that can make sense of them it's you.  

 

Craig

[airscale]

evening folks

 

been a bit slow at the bench lately as real life has been getting in the way - don't you hate it when that happens?

 

On 9/23/2022 at 7:24 AM, Ol' Scrapiron said:

I've only photographed one P-40C and that was P-40C 41-13390 at the Flying Heritage Collection. Not sure what is specific to the C, but maybe you'll see something in my pics of the area you are working on that might help in some way.

 

Hope these are of some use (even if only as inspiration) -- but as with any restoration, use your own judgement

 

 

 

wow, thanks Scrapiron, they are really useful - thanks very much - there is a lot going on underneath a P40 so every picture really helps

 

in order for me to work on all the fairings under the fuselage, I need to skin the lower wings like the real one and the fairings sit over these. To finish skinning the wings I needed to make up the canvas wheelbay liners - for these I used very thin lead foil which was shaped over a small pot..

 

..there is a small, box like bit of the cover that was made seperately and blended in with foil tape..

 

I took a pic with the label in case anyone wants to get some, it's great for this sort of thing..

 

 

 

..these were primed with mr surfacer, but the adhesion is very weak..

 

 

..I painted the canvas colour out of the model because I thought it would be eaiser to get in all the nooks & crannies, but a lot of paint flaked off when it came to getting them into the wheel bays so I had to mask up and paint them again..

 

 

..after painting the many press lock tabs were added into the well and the wing skin panel added. This panel has double layers in places so no need to rivet it. Also this panel has a lip all the way around the aperture which was added before sticking it down..

 

..they need blowing out as in the pics they still have lots of dust & wire wool bits from panel clean up..

 

 

 

 

..then the doubler panels were added..

 

 

 

 

 

 

..I am not especially happy about the painting - I see these figure modellers who make canvas and clothes look so realistic, but I just don't know how to do that

 

anyways, it's done and it means I can carry on skinning...

 

TTFN

 

Peter

 

 

[zaxos345]

Awesome Peter!!!!!! 

 

John

[brahman104]

They look MUCH better than any of my attempts at canvas Peter! I can't see anything not to like here at all. I especially love the rivetted trim piece that runs around the edge. Very tricky area to work in!

 

Craig

[LSP_Kevin]

That is astounding, Peter!

 

Kev

[geedubelyer]

Peter, I think you're being a little hard on yourself as those canvas boots look very good on my screen. I recognise that you have stratospherically high standards of course.  

Have you dry-brushed them to make the highlights pop?

Using a slightly lighter shade gently dry-brushed over the texture can help bring cloth to life. 

 

Every update just gets better.  

[chuck540z3]

2 hours ago, airscale said:

 

..I am not especially happy about the painting - I see these figure modellers who make canvas and clothes look so realistic, but I just don't know how to do that

 

anyways, it's done and it means I can carry on skinning...

 

 

 

Like any perfectionist, I think you are too hard on yourself.  After reviewing your work I was amazed at how much it looked like real canvas, so I would certainly be happy, especially when this area will always be underneath and rarely seen again.

 

This model is really coming together nicely now and might actually be your best work to date, which is saying a lot!

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[RadBaron]

Beautiful, as always, Peter. I echo everyone else's comments that you're being too hard on yourself, that canvas looks spot on!

 

It's threads like this that demonstrate why internet forums are a FAR better medium for recording builds, than social media. Every single step you've taken, all the questions and answers, all contained in a single, searchable, saveable thread. Brilliant stuff

 

Denzil

Edited October 30, 2022 by RadBaron

[Shoggz]

I think it looks great.

 

This song is appropriate here!

 

 

 

[JayW]

He resurfaces!  I echo the comments about "being too hard on yourself".  We are our own worst critics.  I am in an interesting place comparing your work on an "in progress" to my own "in progress" if indeed a comparison can be made.  You seem to pride yourself in clean and flawless builds.  With NMF.  And it is just marvelous to see.  I am currently working on a bird (as you know) that must be shown as a big mess if it is going to be representative of the way it really was.  This would seem to work to my advantage, as I am not capable of the level of perfection that you display regularly.  At the same time though, there are modelers on LSP who have turned weathering into an artform, where perfection can be measured a different way - accurately depicting real wear and tear as opposed to factory fresh.  I don't know which is more challenging.   

 

At any rate I again applaud your efforts toward attaining the look of a factory fresh perfection on this P-40.  The simulated fabric covering is fabulous IMO, and innovative.  A ton better than the masking tape I used in the wheel bays of my Corsair.  First thing I would do is dirty it up a whole bunch to distract from any perceived imperfections (imperfections that I don't see BTW).   But that is just me.

 

Welcome back. 

Edited October 19, 2022 by JayW