joeg

An absolute stunning piece of art, I still hold my breath!!!

It really looks the part. Great skills in both modelling and taking pics! Hats off to you!!

Normally used to finish one or two models a year a broken ankle helped to turn out a very fast build of the P-40F I had just bought before the incident in January. And so within four weeks (for me an incredible short time) I had finished Trumpeters P-40F with all its advantages and disadvantages, of the latter not all completely discovered and remedied. On the plus side there is the very good fit of the kit and fine surface detail and the fact that this is the first F-Version on the market. But on the other hand there are indeed some shape issues that should not be there at a kit selling for about 50 € and so trying to compete with the Japanese. Quite easily to correkt is the too bulged shape of the upper cowling and with some gentle and careful sanding no rescribing is required. More work will be needed to deepen the again too shallow cockpit tub and to correct the chin intake shape. Other errors included the shape of the rear quarter windows, bulged sides panels on the sliding canopy, a right hand fuel filler cap on the fuselage and too pointy (at least for my taste) propeller blades. Except for the clear parts I was able to correct these items with more or less effort. I didn´t care about the fact that the exhaust stub openings and the subs itselves seemed to be too large. For the paint scheme I chose an aircraft being handed over to the French quite after the Morocco landings. The Indian head was taken from Berna Decals Sheet 32-34 that offers two different P-40F and several P-39s, while the rest of the markings were painted. I especially liked the idea of the overpainted US-insignia that resulted in a spot of much darker colours around these areas (some sources state olive drab being used but I opted for a dark brown that seemed to match my referrence pictures). For the chipped paints, two layers of maskol were applied over first aluminium paint and then an coat of zinc cromate yellow with a sponge. When removing the maskol this resulted in a very irregular chipping either down to the primer or through that aswell down to the "bare metal".

I really love that old Matchbox kit as it offers plenty of possibilities for very late Mark Spitfires and Seafires at a very low price and no regretts if that project fails and might end up in the bin. All you need is patience, some replacement canopies from Hasegawa and quite some plasticard...I might build some more.....21, 22,24?

The same basic kit, but now converted into a Spiteful XIV ..just finished before the release of the resin kit...

Just to bridge time until my next project is ready to be released, here are some pictures of earlier builds..... Matchbox/Revell Spitfire 22/24 converted into a Seafire 45

Welcome from me too. It is nice to see a blue nosed Mustang made from the Revell kit. Looking forward to your future builds!!

A yellow nose always suits a 109 well! Very good!

I fully agree. Indeed a very impressive built. Well done. Congrats!

A different approach to display your mastepiece, bravo!

Quite a good looking Mossie! Well done!

That is really an awesome engine. Nice build anyway. The chiping on the walkways looks convincing. Well done. Have you read Sheddans book with his memories? Gives intereseting insights in Typhoon and Tempest pilots lives!

I like it! Aa very clean paint job, looks fresh from the Messerschmitt factory.

You made an incredible well paint job! The oilstains look perfect. I also liked the excellent pictures.