I finished Hasegawa's 1/48 P-40E, using Eduard's photoetched detail set and Eduard decals. The markings are for an Aleutian Tiger, stationed on the island of Kiska in 1943.

The decals needed touchup with paint in places, including overpainting the translucent tail numbers. They conformed to the surface detail very well.

The gear doors, trim tab actuators, radiator flaps, and gunsights are PE. The kit exhausts were bored out with a #11 blade. After the photos were taken, I realized that I forgot to install the light lens on the right landing gear fairing.











This is a great kit, and I highly recommend it along with Eduard's PE set. Thanks for letting me share the build with you !

You can see the prevoius progress pics here: http://www.pix.prettyneatinc.com/p40build.htm

Hi Bill

Beautiful! Another superb build.

I love the brake lines on the undercarriage legs - and the wash really makes the detail pop out. The Eduard cockpit set looks brilliant - those placards are great. Dare I say that the tyres maybe look a bit shiny? Perhaps another matt-coat or some pastels would knock them back a bit.

All the best and keep 'em coming.

Rowan

That's one fantastic model! I love the detail in the cockpit.

Thanks Rowan and Dave !

Rowan - I wish that Eduard would produce frets of placards separately. They add a touch that you can't get any other way.

Thanks again !

That is one sweet plane Bill. Love the panel lines and cockit. Congrats.

HastyP

I only have one word to say when you post one of yours, Bill, superb. I to particularly like the brake lines and cockpit placards.
Mal

Bill,

You tempt me to buy another and build it your most excellent way! And I have to start using P/E sets!

I am amazed how good your seams look (rather, can't be seen) between the windscreen and the end of the carburetor duct. Hey, did you use the clear lens for the nav lights?

Two things, the belly center ridge from the cowl flaps to the trailing edge, the end is open; and I do not see the hinge arm at from the top of the vertical fin to the rudder.

Love that choice of markings!!! :-) :-) :-)

Thanks Paul, Mal, and Fred !

Paul - I spend a lot of time on panel lines. I use enamel washes, and each color gets a different color wash. It's painted and washed (after a Future glosscoat) with enamels, each color being mixed with black. A wash dark enough to show on the blue of the insignia would be WAY too dark for the white areas. This gives a relative darkness to the panel lines, rather than the absolute darkness of a single color.

Mal - I wish Eduard would produce frets of placards. Their simple addition goes a long way to making the cockpit look mopre realistic.

Fred - I do all my seam work as though I were doing a metal finish. It's more work, but I like the results. My walkaround pics don't show the rear of the ventral bulge, so I wasn't aware of that. That @#$% hinge ! I lost the PE part, so I thinned the kit piece as a replacement. I hadn't noticed that this one fell off too. Looks like I'll have to get the sheet styrene and make another one. I didn't use the clear lights, with the exception of the one on the dorsal spine. The nav lights were painted with MM chrome, then overcoated with Gunze clear red and green. I have nerve damage in my right hand, so the fine motor skills are shot. I lose (and constantly drop) small parts that I have to move with my fingers. And tweezers just send the parts flying into orbit (and probably on NORAD's radar screens) . . .

Thanks again !

The Machine guns in the wings, are those PE is well? If not, they look like it to me!!!!!

The placards, would they come with all eduards PE sets for a/c?

Very nice Bill!

Thank you AJ !

The guns are kit pieces. It is a separate plug that fits into the leading edge of the wing. Molded this way, the barrels are open. You don't need to drill them.
This is the first Eduard set I've used that contains prepainted parts. Their pre-painted Zoom and full sets may have them as well. Not everything is prepainted, so you needn't be concerned with matching the color with paint.

Thanks again !