P-40 panels
by Dan Collier & Garth Hogan of Pioneer Aero of New Zealand
Notice towards
the top of that gunsight exploded view, the A-1 bombsight,
which was an alternative to the Curtiss sighting head with
stationary reflector glass. The A-1 bombing head had an adjusting
wheel to change the angle of the gunsight glass to compensate
for the trajectory of a falling bomb, as well as act as a
sight for the P-40 wing guns. The A-1 was a generic sighting
head that was also used on other fighters, and light bombers
as well.
Notice also the crash pad for thr A-1. The one pictured was
for the P-40. I don't think it was generic, like the bombsight
sighting head was. I'll send some P-40N tech drawings of the
N instrument panel and N sub panel soon.
Here is the gunsight
assembly when it's mostly assembled, and includes the mounting
yoke, the reflector head, the rails for the sliding green
sunshade, the sunshade, the N-3A (Single-pin lead) or N-3B
(Two-pin lead) gunsight, and the reflector glass, and the
actuating handle that slides the green sunshade up and down
What this drawing doesn't show is the U-shaped rubber crash
pad that mounts on the rear part of the reflector head.. Some
crash pads were molded rubber and the earlier ones were stuffed
upholstered ones.
This N-3B gunsight
reflector head casting was used on Most all P-40 models, after
the E. And some E's as well.
This is for the
N-3B gunsight body that was mounted in a vertical position.
The earlier ones were mounted in a horizontal position, and
their freflector heads were more complicated. I have the drawings
for those as well.
Here is the left-hand side of that panel for the P-40E and
D sub panels. The F was a little different, as it had a warning
light in it somehow. I can send that as well. Lemme look for
it...
Anyway, this panel and the last panel I sent both go together
to make up the complete sub panel face. Notice that the right-hand
side of this panel is 1/4-inch up, and this forms the lip
that the larger, right-hand panel overlaps to make a complete
cover to seal the electrical box that they are mounted on.
The right-hand side has a piano hinge riveted to it at the
bottom, and dzus fittings at the top, and the left-hand panel
has no piano hinge to hold it down, but is secured to the
box by dzus fittings only. And the overlapping joint between
the two panels is what holds the left-hand panel down to the
electrical box. So these two panels (left and right) do not
sit flush when they're together. Rather, there is a 1/4-inch
step between the two. The left-hand side being lower than
the right by a quarter inch. Get my drift?
Here is the right-hand
side of the electric sub panel, which is the largest half
of that two-part panel. THis is the drawing I used to make
up my repro sub panel to sit under my original main panel,
and it all worked out fine, if you can read a rule.. I'll
dig out the left-hand side of this panel as well.
Brad, I surely
don't wanna jam up your website with my many P-40 tech drawings,
but here is an E instrument panel, as shown in the Curtiss
tech drawings.. This sorta stuff could be very handy to the
modelers who visit your website, especially any scratch builders.
I can take requests from anyone who needs me to look up something
for them, but it would have to be as time permits, as I have
no catalog or index for these parts, and there's at least
3,000 drawings here.. This instrument panel is a sample, and
I'm tempted to also send a drawing of the gunsight assembly,
if you want.. I will hold off sending you too much, because
as mentioned, I don't wanna clog your website. --Dan
Drawings:
Gunsight one,
two, three,
four, five
(TIFF's, right click to download)
P-40D
& E panel
P-40D
& E panel
P-40F
panel
P-40F
panel
P-40N
panel
P-40N
panel
Key
to illustration
Parts
list
Parts
list
