KUROK

Gorgeous P-38! The rivets are a game changer. I was not aware of them being available for purchase ... but I am now... LOL

Great job, JohnB!

Hasegawa P-40N. I have devoted some time to making the prop into a wide chord version. I made rudder cables from scratch. Looks pretty good and was easy.

Excellent work on that Jug!

A real eye-catcher Corsair, JohnB. I love that intermediate blue. I also have bottle of that blue in MM enamel and I will hold onto that! I have a -1A in my stash. Never built one of these. Nice to know I don't have to spend much on aftermarket as you have shown here! Vince

Hey JohnB, I see it now. Since the Trumpeter has more "cheek" one way is to grind out a (approx 1/8") channel at the top of the cowl centerline and pinch. V shaped, of course, you still want round at front by the spinner. It looks like you may have joined things together so this will be hard even with a dremel and grinding wheel. Good luck. My hat is off for giving this project a go!

It's hard for me to believe in this day and age that the newer Trumpeter kit would have lots of shape and contour issues. I'm building a Hasegawa "N" and they got pretty much right in the shape department. I guess Trumpeter didn't put their "A" team on it eh? LOL Vince

Great subject, JohnB! One day I plan to do a Merlin P-40 using the Hasegawa. Apoxie sculpt is hard enough to fill those gaps (given a couple days to fully harden).

JohnB what you are doing is going on for real nowadays. The Curtiss Electric prop is so rare and expensive now that a lot of current P-40 owners are using Hamilton Standard which is more plentiful!

Thanks, Rob. Mauve is Japanese and their factory was destroyed by earthquake back in the 90s. Eduard has put out this kit too, as a Profi-Pack. in the mid-90s the Mauve and AMT P-40s were the tops in 1/48 scale

I know the Hasegawa is the best kit for the P-40N in both 1/32 and 1/48; however I have always admired the Mauve kit for its accurate shapes and fine surface details. So I wanted to build a Mauve kit before I move on to Hasegawa. Well, what I found was that Mauve made lots of compromises that I just HAD to fix: Cockpit, landing gear, guns, open holes for the intakes, etc... I threw in a resin cockpit, photoetch instrument panel and canopy rails, brass guns and bead sight, metal landing gear, resin wheels, resin prop I did myself. Also scratched the gear doors, cowl flaps, DF loop as well as belly tank braces. Here she is!

JohnB you are off to a great start. Looks like the aircraft you are building is using a "double wide" drop tank. I have seen that in photos only rarely. Also, I have a theory about the RAAF P-40s and the "foliage green". I have always thought they just lacquered the US olive drab to make it smoother for extra speed. You can see photos of their planes where the sheen is glossy and it looks very dark. Well, it's a theory anyway.

I won't be worried unless more than one or two years go by without any all-new mold cool plane kits. The last few years have been like another golden age if you think about all the great kits that have come out. I just need to get going on my stash but with a full time job and two kids I'm having trouble getting time to work on kits... Sure would be nice to get a 1/32 P-38 of Tamiya/Eduard/Hasegawa quality....

You are The Man!!!

Aye - Yi - Yi !!!! How DO you do it?

You had me at 'hello'....

Michael Mauritz P-40L on display in Italy. It held up surprisingly well in saltwater. These are not my photos! Please do not repost.

Yes, sir, the Ls all had that extra framing on the left of the windscreen.

Yes the are quite appropriate1 Were gurls going bald beaver way back then?

Looking forward to it. You are leading the pack!

Aye - yi -yi !!!!