Great to see you revive this thread Bob, excellent project!

Cheers, D

Hello, Everyone!

I have what may seem to be a dumb question: I have in my collection, 3 un-built 1/48 HASEGAWA P-40s; 2 P40-Es and 1 P-40N. I also have an ANCIENT 1/48 REVELL P-40E, which I built back in the late 1980s.

I'm just curious- Being a "fuss-budget", I'd like to get you fellows' "take" on how the above-mentioned AMT, ARII (OTAKI), and AMTECH P-40 kits stack up against the 1/48 HASEGAWA P-40s? I'm willing to admit the old 1/48 REVELL P-40E is probably a "non-player" in this discussion, since it's quite primitive in comparison to the other kits. YET, it still looks "passable" once a lot of patient work is done with it, especially after painting it in a three-toned disruptive-pattern camouflage scheme. (USAAF, Southwestern Pacific, for example)

I would very much welcome any and ALL comments from anyone regarding the HASEGAWA P-40Es in comparison to the ARII (OTAKI), AMT and AMTECH P-40Es...

THANKS in advance...

VR, Dennis

Hello, Dennis. IMHO. The Amtech/Itleri kits build up into nice builds, but nothing like Tamiya or Hasegawa. Again that is my humble opinion.

Others with more knowledge here will chime in with really good advice and reference.

Hi, Bob!

I've been checking in over the whole of June for responses to my question. Besides yourself, doesn't ANYONE have an opinion on the 1/48 HASEGAWA P-40s???

I should think that there would have been at least a few more people chiming in on these fine kits, but... ???

VR, Dennis

I have been busy with a couple of campaign builds and cleaning up my apartment so sorry for the delay Dennis.

In my opinion the HASEGAWA P-40E is the best kit available, it is easy to construct and just looks nice built. AMT, Amtech, ARII and Otaki kits of the P-40E are still available on ebay and build up into a nice P-40E and with the decals still available many different markings are great to choose from.

US. ETO, MTO, PTO, CBI.
UK, ETO, MTO, CBI.
FRANCE, MTO.
FINLAND, ETO.
NZ, MTO, PTO.
AUSTRALIA, ETO, MTO, CBI, PTO.
AVG, CBI.

Bob

Bob, I seriously doubt that there is any commonality between the Arii kit and the AMT versions, also boxed by Italeri. To get the smooth surfaces, someone would have had to remove the hundreds of little "pips" that form the rivets on the Arii parts and then polished the surface without doing serious harm to the raised lines that make the recessed panel lines.
Also, the rudders and wing tips are shaped differently, the lower fuselage trunk is completely different (and you'll find a major gap at the rear of the Arii wing/trunk join line, the Arii wings have significant sweep-back while the AMT have very little, the upper engine cowl is handled differently (and the Arii scoop is actually more like the P-40D), the AMT rudder slopes too much toward the top and the Arii is too rounded, and so on and so on. They're just two different kits of the same airplane.
Over the years many (all?) of the Arii molds have suffered negligent damage, especially KO pins punching through to dent the opposing mold surface, This is apparent on the lower wing surface of this kit in the flap area, and more obvious on the Ki-43 and Ki-44.
That said, I finished one of the the Arii P-40Es just before the Pandemic hit as GA•Y. I did add the QB landing gear doors intended for the Hasegawa kit, a Yahu instrument panel, and a Vector prop and spinner. I love the Arii kits for all their faults and have most of them - all of the Japanese fighters. They are lots of fun to build as long as you're not a stickler for accuracy.

The Hasegawa kits are probably the most accurate available - when they are available - and assembly should present no serious problems with a normal amount of care. They are the only kits which do well by the landing gear struts and actuating gizmos, and overall detail is good, even better with QuickBoost resin updates and a few other bits and pieces from here and there. Their short K beats the AMT kit by a long shot. That said, I've never actually built one, just admired them in the box.
The Mauve kits are also good, if more basic, when you can find them.
I'd save the AMT kits for their F versions, especially if you come across a boxing with the resin nose, but do replace the rudder with a Vector or other resin control surface update part - the AMT rudder spoils the shape of the tail for me.

Bob, Glad to see you cooking on this one again. Smashing thru my drives the other day and found the lists of P-40 kits and details we put together for a P-40 campaign years ago.

Christopher, here are a couple of photos of the ARII P-40E. The panel lines are engraved and the pips are not too bad and also engraved making it not a bad kit to work with. For the money they build up into a nice airplane.

Finally settled on the color schemes for the P-40's

1. Robert L. Scotts no. 7



2. No. 450 Squadron, RAAF, Western Desert, 1942


3. 1/Lt. Dallas A. Clinger, 15th. FS, 23rd. FG, Kweilin, China, 1942