P-40M 44th FS, 18FG - White 125 - Gypsy Rose Lee

[GUY5Y]

Beautiful work!  I was amused by your doubt over port and starboard. As a drinking man,a tip learned years ago and have never forgotten.........Is there any port left? (and port happens to be red).

[repeater]

Beautiful work!  I was amused by your doubt over port and starboard. As a drinking man,a tip learned years ago and have never forgotten.........Is there any port left? (and port happens to be red).

 

 

Thanks for the tip!  Ahah - that will make it easy to remember!  

 

Tim

[GUY5Y]

I loved it 40 yrs ago when it was taught me. Got to love the simple stuff....now what's new with that gorgeous model?

[repeater]

Simple works for me!

 

 

Exhausts are on and weathering is in progress. Pics to follow

 

 

 

Tim

[repeater]

Belated progress update - photographic evidence supplied! 

 

Gloss coat and decals applied.   

 

I used the kit decals - these were quite thick and didn't respond too well to setting solution.   But.. they are on.    Decalling was simple job - relatively few markings and stencils.   Lesson for next time:  this would be a good scheme for masks. 

 

Related to above point - Some optimism/laziness that did not pay off - on the wing roundels - from some angles, the white band is slightly visible through the roundel.  I should have ensured a uniform colour prior to applying the decal.  I suppose it was the worst of both worlds - a thick decal but not thick enough to be opaque.

 

Kit exhausts used, painted flat black and pastels applied.

 

iPhone pic:  

 

 

All feedback - comments, criticism is welcome 

 

 

Tim

 

[Dave J]

Need more pics!

 

 

But from what I can see it looks fantastic!

[Mikester]

Nice!

[repeater]

Hahah alright Dave -   time for some more pics - and another progress update.

 

 

I've managed some bench time in the past few days, and have given up waiting for a break in the overcast weather - not the best lighting for my rudimentary photography - but hopefully you'll get the general idea.

 

Progress made:

 

- a fairly thin filter of brown oil paint was applied. 
 

- oil dot fading technique applied on the olive drab.   I used  white, yellow, green, black and a smidgen of blue & brown.  This was my first attempt of this technique - it's relatively simple to apply - the challenge is getting the balance right.   Reminds me of the breakfast cereal ad - 'not too heavy, not too light - just right' 

 

- post-shading with redbrown/black mix 

 

- paint chips applied with a silver pencil 

 

- matt coat applied and canopy masks removed. 

 

Here she is: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All feedback - comments, criticism is welcome  

 

 

Tim

[repeater]

Some more pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking!   All feedback is more than welcome. 

 

 

Tim

 

[Dave J]

Thats Awesome! Maybe I should send you my P-40 kits to build for me!

[repeater]

Thats Awesome! Maybe I should send you my P-40 kits to build for me!

 

Thanks Dave - no probs!  Send 'em over!     

 

I've learnt a lot from this build so far.. I'll definitely build more in the future....  an RNZAF or RAAF  P-40N  .. would love to do a Desert Air Force scheme too.  

[oddmanrush]

No criticism here! Looks stunning! 

[repeater]

No criticism here! Looks stunning!

 

Thanks Jon!

[One-Oh-Four]

I like it!

 

I'd scuff the left wingroot more from entering and exiting, though. And I understand your pain regarding the star on the wing. Would it be possible to mask the stars with the sticky portions of Post-It's and spray the stars white over the decal? You'd have to do all 4 because otherwise the markings look decidedly different from each other!

 

Oh, and add MORE exhaust staining! I'd think it would be much heavier on the white band in front of the cockpit. But better to start with too little weathering than with too much. I paid my dues with a Tamiya JS-3 that ended up looking like sh*t! But I couldn't unweather it anymore!

 

Good work!

Cheers,

Erik.

 

AFTER posting this I looked for a picture of such a P-40M. Seriously, don't take my word as gospel!   here's why:

 

 

[One-Oh-Four]

And after the above, I found THIS;

 

[repeater]

Thanks Erik for the feedback and the useful pics.    
 
I agree there's definitely more room for weathering..let me get onto it. 

 

And thanks for the suggestion about fixing the roundels - I might just do that. Will be a simple easy fix. 

 

Cheers, 

 

TIm

[Mikester]

Comments?  Slow down, you're embarrassing the rest of us!

 

Seriously though, really looking good Tim.

[repeater]

Comments?  Slow down, you're embarrassing the rest of us!

 

Seriously though, really looking good Tim.

Thanks Mike... this one is nearly done but trust me - it'll be slow going on the next build.

 

I've resprayed the stars on the roundels - problem fixed.

 

 

Tim

[repeater]

Well.. as I mentioned, the progress has slowed. 

 

Now - I think I'm *almost* *just about* *doors closing - all stock must go* *crazy bargains- never to be repeated* done with this.   Still not sure on the aerial wire configuration - apparently this varied a lot for P-40s, depending on radio type etc,  but it does seem the 44th aircraft had the 3 aerial wires (from fuselage, port and starboard wings to the fin)  (note- the appropriate use of port and starboard) 

 

I'm paranoid about overdoing the weathering, so I've added further chipping and exhaust stains..but not too crazy.. 

 

So I will add the extra aerial wiring and call it done..  then post final pics.. 

 

Here are some interim pics.. 

 

 

 

 

All feedback welcome. 

 

Thanks for looking!     

 

Cheers, 

 

Tim

[Paulster]

Love them P-40's! Very nice. And the way I learned to remember port and starboard was that both "port" and "left" have 4 letters in it. Also, "starboard was originally known as "steerboard" (or steerage) side. a couple/few thousand years ago rudders were positioned on the right side of the hull so the dude who steers sat dead center on the stern. Which was also pointy back then. So, when in port, the left side was always docked toward the port to prevent rudder damage if the hull made contact with the pier/dock/wharf. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it!

[repeater]

Love them P-40's! Very nice. And the way I learned to remember port and starboard was that both "port" and "left" have 4 letters in it. Also, "starboard was originally known as "steerboard" (or steerage) side. a couple/few thousand years ago rudders were positioned on the right side of the hull so the dude who steers sat dead center on the stern. Which was also pointy back then. So, when in port, the left side was always docked toward the port to prevent rudder damage if the hull made contact with the pier/dock/wharf. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it!

Thanks Paul. Haha it definitely sounds very plausible to me!

 

Tim

[GUY5Y]

Nice story! As a drinking man,I ever remember left and right thus.........."Is there any port left"?.....And Port also happens to be red. Not sure I want to take on a glass of green starboard.

[One-Oh-Four]

Tim, your P-40 sure looks nice!

 

Port and starboard are in Dutch:  Bakboord and Stuurbord. If you would directly translate stuurboord in English, it would be steerboard as Paulster said.

 

Wikipedia supports Paulster's explanation:

 

Starboard (right)[edit]

Man sailing a corbita (a small coastal vessel with two masts). Marble relief, ca. 256 AD, probably made in Africa Proconsularis (Tunisia). Found at Carthage.

The origin of the term starboard comes from early boating practices. Before ships had rudders on their centrelines, they were steered by use of a specialized steering oar. This oar was held by an oarsman located in the stern (back) of the ship. However, similar to now, there were many more right-handed sailors than left-handed sailors. This meant that the steering oar (which had been broadened to provide better control) used to be affixed to the right side of the ship. The word starboard comes from Old English steorbord, literally meaning the side on which the ship is steered, descendant from the Old Norse words stýri meaning "rudder" (from the verb stýra, literally "being at the helm", "having a hand in") and borð meaning etymologically "board", then the "side of a ship".

Port (left)[edit]

An early version of "port" is larboard, which itself derives from Middle-English ladebord via corruption in the 16th century by association with starboard. The term larboard, when shouted in the wind, was presumably too easy to confuse with starboard^[1] and so the word port came to replace it. Port is derived from the practice of sailors mooring ships on the left side at ports in order to prevent the steering oar from being crushed.

Larboard continued to be used well into the 1850s by whalers, despite being long superseded by "port" in the merchant vessel service at the time. "Port" was not officially adopted by the Royal Navy until 1844 (Ray Parkin, H. M. Bark Endeavour). Robert FitzRoy, captain of Darwin's HMS Beagle, is said to have taught his crew to use the term port instead of larboard, thus propelling the use of the word into the Naval Services vocabulary.

[Paulster]

Damn Erik. Didn't even think of that Wiki link.  I heard this story/explanation the first time 35 years ago. It was in a bar in Olongapo explained by an old Chief using empty San Miguel bottles and cocktail straws.

[Paulster]

Time to de-jhijack this thread. Beautiful build there Tim. Your Fw.190 looking great also.