GWH Curtiss P-40B; The Flying Tigers

[Peterpools]

Thanks Rob

And I'm right with you hoping no new fit issues. Just need to take it as it goes

 

[Spitfire]

Hi Peter, sorry to hear about your troubles, getting old really is a pain in the bum.

I'm glad to see you back at the bench and turning out some very fine and crisp work, it's amazing how Immersing yourself in a build will pass the time in a very pleasurable way and take your mind away from your troubles.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers

Dennis

[Peterpools]

Hi Dennis

Very much appreciated and thanks so much. Modeling has helped me through some tough days and not to forget I used it as a form of therapy for my hands, which I had a very hard time even writing my name. Thank goodness I'm back to where I was but there are new challenges my wife and I are facing as we age.  As the saying goes, it's still better around and complain about getting older then the alternative.

Still plugging away and looking forward to the release of Kotare's Spit Mk 1a early next year

 

 

[Vandy1 VX-4]

Looking Great Peter   Hope all is well with you and your wife.

[Peterpools]

16 hours ago, Vandy1 VX-4 said:

Looking Great Peter   Hope all is well with you and your wife.

Very much appreciated, lots of test fitting and fussing but I'm getting there. We are doing a lot better and my wife has a big procedure scheduled the end of the month and hopefully, all will be fine.

[KevinM]

On 11/17/2022 at 5:14 AM, Peterpools said:

I just can't understand why manufactures devote so much of their resources to providing all these details that will never be seen. Personally, a waste of time and money on both sides of the coin. I

It's looking really good Peter luv the Quinta interior/belts it works well enough for me.I think your question is valid but just maybe it's to be instructional for us occasionally and the newbies coming in?just a thought.Peter just keep telling yourself your getting younger.

[Peterpools]

Thanks Kev, Much appreciated. Somehow, I don't think of myself as an old geezer, it just occurs to me when I keep trying to do things, I never gave a second thought to and now, struggle to accomplish.  👨‍🦳

Right with you and I also find the Quinta Seatbelt sets just fine and they do look great.

I can understand and appreciate the "ZM" educational philosophy at times but just doesn't make as that value has to be lost in that once the model is built, most of the 'internal educational" is only a memory. But the biggest negative to these types of kits, is it complicates the assembly and causes all sorts of build issues. One part out of perfect alignments and lookout, down the line.

 

[BlrwestSiR]

3 hours ago, Peterpools said:

One part out of perfect alignments and lookout, down the line.

That about sums it up. 

[Peterpools]

Carl

Just seems to come back and haunt us when we least expect it

 

[KevinM]

4 hours ago, Peterpools said:

But the biggest negative to these types of kits, is it complicates the assembly and causes all sorts of build issues. One part out of perfect alignments and lookout, down the line.

 

I will agree on that esp.when doing some of the Trumpeter kits life got real easy/quicker on the P-51 once I axed the engine/gunbays

[Peterpools]

Kev

Surely does

 

[Vandy1 VX-4]

Thanks 

   I just picked up all the Gunze paints for this kit today.  Now to Mix the two greens to make the right shade of green! 

[Clunkmeister]

Peter, this is looking amazing!  I cheated and a couple months back, applied the Quinta instrument decals to my Hawk’s panel, then stopped to work on my Helldiver. 
 

Fit issues are a fact of life these days ai expect, as us consumers demand more and more out of our kits.   The only company that made kits fit flawlessly, to me, is Wingnut Wings.  Even Tamiya has traps and pitfalls that can screw a guy up huge. My Corsair engine and cowl gave me headaches after I used AM on it. But the more was ask for, the more complicated they get, and the bigger chance of interference rearing it’s head.

I’m glad you’re making it through life arak right now, as I’m struggling as well. Death is all around me, and we fight on!  

[Peterpools]

Ernie

How right you are. We keep asking for more details and accuracy, regardless of the limits of technology and now throw in 3D modeling as well and still expect perfection in fit and assembly. These days I'm a happy camper with descent details and hope for no or few fit issues, which for the most part doesn't happen. 

With all the details added as I move forward in the build, the fit gremlins are popping up everywhere - guess you're right, you can't have both.

I'm so sorry to hear about; Death is all around me, and we fight on. My prayers that you and your family are well and alright.

 

 

[Bomber_County]

Peter, just catching up, always seem to be doing that these days. Great to see you back at the bench and building yet another masterpiece. I didn’t realise you are on page 4 already. Life is certainly getting in the way of modelling…..

[Peterpools]

Thanks Phil

Life sure does have a habit of doing that. Just glad to be back at the bench and making progress

 

 

[Landlubber Mike]

I'm just getting around to catching up on here, and came across your log.  What a beauty Peter!!  Really nice job!

[Peterpools]

Thanks Mike

Making slow progress but getting something done each day. I have the fuselage glued up and a lot of tweaking was needed to achieve a good fit with the nose assembly. Of course, the fuselage needs to be glued to the wing assembly which is now underway first or if you glue the nose on first, the wing fuselage fit won't work! 

 

 

[Peterpools]

THE WING

Please excuse the photographs as my Nikon is at Nikon having the sensor cleaned and a general cleaning service as well and thusly, I used my iPhone. I was too forgetful, rushed to get the photos taken and neglected to clean the photo setup area, so there is a lot of dust and dirt floating around. 

The wing looked simple and of course it wasn’t. There are options for the flaps to be down and with all the PE ribs inside bracing or a separate set of flaps in the up position. Looking at a lot of photos, most P-40B ready on the flightline had the flaps up (as with my last Spitfire build) and so I went that route.

While GWH includes a very nicely detailed sheet of PE, the PE is very thin for 32^nd scale in some applications and just a bit too thin to be as effective as I wished. Another small issue was Parts PEA 35 as called out in the instructions which are covers behind the wing MG’s that could have been larger to glue more securely in place, are not numbered as #35, which on the fret is a seatbelt part. Finding the correct parts isn’t hard but not only did they get it wrong, it’s not on the correction sheet. Why even have the parts as PE for these parts, just have a solid wing and panel lines denoting the access panel, as there aren’t any details to be seen. Just no reason to do it the way they did. Other then creating un-necessary PE.   

I’m assuming parts PEA 10-13 are spoilers or dive brakes on the underside of the wing, are way too thin and sit way too deep into the opening in the close position and I replaced them with Evergreen strip. As normal, the wing leading edge MG covers needed some work to fit but weren’t too bad at all.

Ailerons, elevators and the rudder are designed to be movable, way too toy like for me, I positioned and glued them as I wanted.

I added all the delicate cockpit details that are attached to the cockpit floor which is the top of the wing along with some brilliant molded on details. The cockpit floor area was masked out, primed, painted and glossed. The details received a Tamiya Panel Line Wash of either Black or Dark Brown to bring out the details and then a semi mat clear coat. Some dry brushing, detail painting and the cockpit floor was done.

 

As with most of the kit so far, I felt it is over engineered and what I thought would be an easy assembly but wasn’t. 

From here, I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time test fitting the fuselage to the wing and a ton of tweaking was needed to finally sit the fuselage in place correctly. I finished up the test fitting with the left hand side wing fairing – fit is OK but a lot of Mr Surfacer is going to be needed to fill in the gaps.

Cockpit Floor details looking good and for me a bit of weathering as well - new ground for sure.

Underside PE spoilers/dive brakes (?) replaced with Evergreen Strip. Notice the nice added wheel well detal parts along with the canvas covered wheel wells - nice touch.

Finally, the basic test fitting is done - loads of tweaking taking hours to get everything to fit. So far, I'm hoping I can still correct the wing fairing for a better fit, a separate part. 

Less the wing fillet.

Ruidder, and tail feathers have been added and tweaked as well. Re-scribing is in order.🙃

 

 

 

 

[Martinnfb]

Beautiful work Peter. Great presentation, I love it. Thank you for sharing.

[Peterpools]

Thanks Martin

Slow but steady and making a bit of progress each day now.

 

 

[harv]

1 hour ago, Martinnfb said:

Beautiful work Peter. Great presentation, I love it. Thank you for sharing.

Yes, very much so....harv

[Peterpools]

Thanks Harv

Much appreciated

 

[JohnB]

Lookin' good Peter!

[Peterpools]

Thanks John

Slow progress over a good week's time, as I've never spent so much time test fitting and tweaking. Getting use to GWH's over engineered details and the next batch is the under fuselage plumbing that I'm most likely going to completely leave off as it's 100% hidden - what a waste.