I recently started Academys P40-E kit, (1:72) and plan to finish it as a P-40E from the 11th FS, 343rd FG, 11th AF ("Aleutian Tigers")

Now I run across a conundrum, what form of Roundels this the planes carry on the fuselage? Academy supplies "bare" white stars, while several profiles found on the net use a blue roundel whit white stars (but no bars). There is also a restored airworthy plane with the full stars&bars with a red border, which as far as I can tell must be wrong.

I found several period photos, but they are not really conclusive. (I've posted these pictures on my blog when I wrote about the project: http://polarcoordinate.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/tigre-i-alaska/ if anyone want to take a look and see if they have sharper eyes than me.)

Do anyone know for sure what roundels was used? I like the "army" look of the bare stars, but I would prefer the correct finish.

Thanks in advance!

Hi Eirik, my reference (Kev Darling's Warpaint Series No. 77) shows an animated picture with the blue rounded and B&W photos which are less conclusive but seem to substantiate the blue roundels. The markings are for a P-40E flown by Lt Col John S. Chennault, 11th Fx, 343 FG, 11th AF, Aleutians late 1942. I hope that is helpful. I plan to build the 48th Hasegawa P-40 sometime soon. Take care.

Jim

Hello Eirik. Russell here, thought I would share some photos of the kit you are working on which I completed a couple of years ago. This is an older Academy kit, so be a little cautious with the decals. I used Solva Set, a strong decal setting solution on mine. You can see, on the U.S. Army, on the bottom of the wing, that even after several applications of this strong setting agent, I still got some silvering. Yikes!! Oh well. The kit is nice though, and it is an enjoyable build. Thought you would like to see a finished product. Take care, any questions, don't hesitate to ask me. Good luck, Russell.









P.S. I dusted the model, but still a bit dusty I'm afraid. LOL

They had a blue roundels whit white stars and later stars&bars with a red border:









Sergey.

Thank you for the help and information. The color pictures seal the deal. I knew the bars had to be later than the 1942-look I'm going for, but I could only find B/W from the early period.

Blue and white it is then! As Academy also have a different US profile in the same boxing, I can use the roundels from that machine. (I have mixed experiences with mixing decals from different suppliers in one color scheme, call me superstitious!)
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I know Academy-decals are stiff and have a dubious reputation, but using hot water and liberal amounts of Agama Tensol made the decals on my Academy Corsair manageable. I will however trim away as much superfluous decalfilm as possible to minimize silvering potential before I apply them.

One thing I noticed. On this picture:
the white stripe on the fuselage looks like it is extremely sloppily painted on? I thought these where masked off and sprayed on, but this one look like a drunk private took a bucket of white wash and a big brush?