Hi All,

I am building my beloved P-40. Having read only glowing reviews, I must submit some nitpickies. Perhaps it is my mistake, but perhaps this will give you something to watch for building your own.

The modeular design is interesting and so far the only con I read is the parts do not attach along natural panel lines. A problem I encountered is the rear canopy plug does not match the fuselage. The plug's convex edge is not as round as the fuselage:










I built the plug, THEN the fuselage. I suggest consider the fuselage first, then build the plug on the fuselage. However, I still think the curvature is a bit off.

Additionally, the cockpit rear bulkhead does not line up with the plug. Again, this may be my slight misalignment of the cockpit that may be avoided by plugging the cockpit in AFTER the fuselage has set.

Speaking of the cockpit, unmodified:









Same complaints about the nose. You can see the carborator intake part does not fit flush with the rest of the nose, and the complex curves of the radiator intake is off--align it with the scoop, and it is off around the spinner.




These are rather slight misalignments, and probably my fumbling. Just bear these in mind when you build yours.

Hi Fred!

Thanks! I too have this kit in my stash and your comments will be usefull! I encountered the same problems with Hasegawa's Hawker Typhoon! It seems that this is a common problem with Hasegawa's alternative parts... I suppose this is the price to pay if we want to have more versions of the same plane!
But if they test-build their models at Hasegawa, why can't they solve these issues!? It's as if they would spice the thing a little bit by adding a few flaws in their kit... #:-)

Jean-Luc