Stuck in a hotel room for three days, so….

[Clunkmeister]

So far, this has had Tamiya like fit, but from Peter's and previous builds, I know that there are plenty of areas around the firewall that can bite a guy, so I'm going very slow, very easy, and triple fitting everything before daring to commit to glue.

[smitty44]

Smoke and mirrors

[Peterpools]

Ernie

As Gaz pointed out, I did a lot of research on the colors at the start of my build and concentrated on the ones used for the AVG aircraft, which were originally destined for the RAF. Check it out, as it may help - the biggest issue was RAF paint colors that were spec out, were not available in the US and Curtiss used a lot of DuPont paint, which was close but not the same. In the end, it's the builder's choice. 

Exactly, everything needs to fit perfectly or there will be alignment issues down the road that take time to sort out and fix. One decision I made right at the start was what to do with the Allison V12. I decided to go closed cowl as it makes a difference. I also had a hard time with the instructions in some areas as to part orientation and placement. I'm sure that was just me, it did cause problems just the same. I wound up using a lot of Quinta and Eduard AM for the front office which I thought added quite a bit.

You can build the P-40 with changeable front cowlings and engines; I just didn't go that way.