While I'm waiting for things to dry on the P-61 and needing a diversion from scratchbuilding the wheel wells on the Mosquito, I decided it was time to start another kit.

I haven't done much besides adding some of the PE to the cockpit and painting the interior green, along with gluing the fuselage plugs in place. This took about ten hours to do. Carving away some of the cockpit sidewall detail was a nail-biter. It had to be done VERY carefully. I've included scans of the Eduard instruction sheet which show the items I had to remove.

My other projects are all twin-engined, and I'm waiting for paint for a commission build. I needed a nice little single-seat fighter to build. I'm kinda tired of typing, so you can see the pics and read the text here: http://www.pix.prettyneatinc.com/p40build.htm

As always, thanks for letting me share it with you !

Looking forward to the results as always Pix.

Btw, what markings are you planning on using?

Cheers
Darren

Thanks Darren !

I'll be using decals from Eduard, for an Aleutian Tiger. The National Insignia are given as stars only, but every pic of an Aleutian Tiger I've seen has the bled discs. The kit has the correct insignia, which I'll use.


Thanks again !

Hi Pix,

Looking forward to your job! Bet TedMamere is, too! I fear my whinning scare him away from this thing.

Hope you read my threads about this kit; if not: My Threads About This Kit.

Putting the plugs on the fuselage before mating the halves is what I recommended. Only wish I had done so. Watch those cowl plugs ahead of the stacks, another better-to-fix-now item. I also found the rear canopy pieces' rounded edges are too thick to set flush in the fuselage. Careful sanding worked on one, not as well with the other.

Are you building Chennault's plane? I did, with Super Scale decals. The tiger is a little translucent and depending on the lighting, does not always look very yellow. Seriously, if I build another, I will put the decal over primer, seal, then mask and paint over the OD.

Where did you get the info on the markings? I wanted to do the borderless fuselage star but what pix I found of Chennault's, it always appeared his had the blue circle. I also read that his did not have US ARMY under the wings. I kept my decals and can put them on, can you YEA or NAY this?

Looking forward to you updates!

LOL :-)

I think I need 10 years to forget all your negative comments about the kit! But my little finger says to me Bill will handle this without problem!

Looking forward to see the build report Bill!

Jean-Luc

Thank you Fred and Jean-Luc !

Fred - I always dryfit everything before I go near the glue. I don't build with the expectation of anything fitting on the first shot. I assemble with tape, and try different ways of assembly first. This almost always eliminates any "surprises" later.
Mine isn't Chennault's plane, the tail number is different. The decals are from Eduard, and include some other nice schemes that I'll have to build (I want at least four more of these kits !).

Jean-Luc - my favorite kit of all time is Trimaster's 1/48 Me 262. Some modelers say it's "unbuildable" (I've built 14 of 'em !). "Can't be done" is not in my vocabulary book of phrases. There's always a way.

I finished the cockpit today. Parts of the PE set are prepainted (instrument panel, placards, belts, and some dials and controls). I like the fact that the instrument panel has stencils added, but the black looks grainy. Not an orange peel, but it's covered with spots of a lighter black. I couldn't repaint it without destroying the stenciling, so I left it alone. It looks good in the cockpit, but the spots show under magnification and in large pics. I hope I just got a "bad" set.

I added some wiring and linkages that were missing from the kit and PE set. I used Model Mastrer enamels, and my usual washes and drybrushes. I shaved off the gunsight's poor representation of the sighting glass, and I'll add pieces of clear sheet just before I glue the windscreen in place. They will only get lost if I add them any sooner.

I gotta say that I really like those placards!










Thanks for letting me share the progress with you!