EMD is pleased to announce that their three latest additions to the range of products are now available for purchase (1/32 Me 163B Komet SG 500, P-40 Perforated intake plates and Spitfire fire proof bulkhead respectively).

There is also a brand new EMD website customer's image gallery where they can show off their fine handiwork to the world!

(A big thank you is due to Tim, Mark, Richard, Sarah and the rest of the Grey Matter Figures crew for getting all of the resin castings to me in time - Thank you).

Best regards

Derek

Thanks Brad. I know, more questions than answers again, but at least it all helps to pick up on new things that otherwise would have been missed under the heading of 'assumption'!

Cheers

Derek

Sorry about that Brad   (That's what happens when you are switching between posts too quickly!).

Sorry for asking all of this detailed information, but I do like to get things right, and, like the Spitfire, I find that I am constantly learning new things everytime I look at any new aspect of the P-40, so thank you for your help.

I am beginning to like the idea of paint masks more and more because of the flexibility they offer to the modeller. I think that I now need to start collecting as many photographs and profile drawings of Aleutian aircraft Tiger head nose artwork as possible to see what other people have already done and try to get it correct - I think that I may have thought of a suitable method of varying the Tiger head art design whith paint masks

Regards

Derek

On a related note, it had been pointed out to me that the wheel wells of the P-40N's in the above photo's all feature canvas wheel well covers. I was aware that early P-40's featured these, but was not aware that the later aircraft also had them until now (I am still learning a great deal about this aircraft). Does this mean that every variant of P-40 had them? (if so, then this is a major oversight missing from both the Revell and Hasegawa kits - I could provide resin cover for the P-40 Hasegawa kit if that is the case?).

Thanks

Derek

Thank you Vince 

Derek

I have elected to go for the style 1 hub, otherwise, I would have to make two complete master patterns - I'll let the kit items pretend to be the style 2 hub! Below is where I am at present. As some of the internal brake mechanism is visible through the hub spokes, I shall have to represent these details (the P-40 aircraft wheel brakes are drum operated brake shoes types - just like car drum brakes - and not multiple disc).














 


Derek

Hello all,

This is my current WIP (until I can get hold of another B-25 main wheek to start on a new hub again). It is a replacement wheel hub set for the Hasegawa 1/32 P-40N kit items. I have always considered the standard kit hubs, although generally accurate in configuration and shape, is totally lacking in detail.

In addition, some modellers may wish to produce an earky P-40N, which looked very much like the P-40M, but with the 27" diameter wheels as opposed to the standard P-40 30" wheels. Looking at as many period photographs as possible of P-40N aircraft, it has become evident to me that there were two factory supplied standards of wheel hub fitted to these aircraft (see below):
 






The above three photographs feature what I shall term as the style 1 hubs. They are externally identical to what I shal call the style 2 hub as far as the spokes are concerned. The differences are only noticeable when you view behind the hub spokes and at the brake backplate on the axle side of the hub adjacent to the undercarriage leg.
 
If you look just behind the spokes, you'll notice that there is an angled , but smooth faced, machining that runs circumferentially around the inside of the hub rim - this is only broken by the inflation valve. On stle 2 hubs, this same feature has smal fin-like ridge castings protruding at regular intervals equidistant between the spoke openings (see pictures below).

On the reverse side of the style 1 wheel, the hub backplate, the circumference of the brake backplate is broken by a ring of cooling slots in the form of small cast fins - style 2 backplates look identical to the standard P-40 hub backplates, albeit slightly smaller in diameter.
 






The above three photographs are good examples of the style 2 wheel hub. You can clearly see the diferences to the stle 1 hub above. Both styles of hub appeared to have been equally used on P-40N's.

Excellent footage Mark - Conditions out there were certainly primitive to say the least!

I could not really tell from the footage whether the guns were simply removed or not, so the jury is still out on this one for me until I can see some definitive evidence one way or another>

If the guns were simply removed, then it happened to quite a few P-40s. The wing leading edge gun muzzle ports and (as you quite rightly pointed out) the underwing spent cartridge chutes appear to have been taped over. Given the harsh conditions encounted in the Aleutians, this action is understandable. Unless these aircraft were only used in a training, bombing or reconnaissence role, then I would be surprised if they were not armed for operational sorties!

Thanks

Derek

Thanks Mark. I could do with some better photographs and a definitive answer from those that might be in the know? Glad that you like the paint mask idea. In the meantime, tell me what you think of these pictures on the subject? (towards the bottom of page 3): http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/14319-curtiss-p-40-warhawk/page__st__40

Cheers

Derek

I have looked at photographs of various P-40s with the winterised exhaust kit and it seems that the Aleutain Tigers wre the main (and maybe only) unit that appeared to use them to any great extent. I see that the Hasegawa kit only partially gets this correct. I would have to obtain a set of exhausts and the relevent shroud from a Hasegawa P-40 kit and make a master pattern that will be a drop-in item for the kit (i.e. A one-piece cowl exhaust shroud complete with recessed exhaust pipes and small forward intake).

 

I had no idea the there were smooth, simple opening ports - I just assumed that all P-40s had those three bulged protrusions on all of the muzzles. It is clearly obvious that there is a short muzzle version as well which I was not aware of. Does anyone have more information on this? (Which P-40 variant did they appear on and why?, are there any good photographs of them, etc). Looking a little more at the Aleutian Tiger P-40 photographs again, I can see that some aircraft (probably most) had what I shall describe as the smooth wing leading edge gun muzzle ports, whilst other had the better known bulged gun muzzle ports - so Hasegawa could be correct in this sense? (compare the second and third aircraft wing leading edge gun ports in the photograph below);

 

What I could do (if I can get the parts) is maybe produce an accurate set of winterised exhausts and (again parts and reference permitting) new wing leading edge inserts with accurate smooth bore muzzle ports as an Aleutian Tigers specific detail set? (and just to complete the icing on the cake, I may also consider including a special set of paint masks for the Aleutian Tiger colur schemes?) - what do you think?
 
Cheers

Derek

(PS I am making a new set of tyres with the same tread pattern as the aircraft in the top photograph ).

Great pictures Mark 

I think that they may be the P-51 types wheels, however, I did like the structural aspects of the wing.

BTW, it looks like Hasegawa are re-releasing the 1/32 P-40N kit (Parrot nose markings), which is good as I am developing a range of AM stuff for this mark of Warhawk.

Cheers

Derek

Thank you for the information Mark. I do not have a great deal of P-40 reference and nothing at all for the cockpits, so this is also an unknown for me at present. I could do some IP upgrades, but I would need someone more knowledgable than I to provide me with good reference and pointers as to what is needed.

I may need reminding what the P-40N seat looks like again - is the the wooden version? (I shall look at the normal P-40 seat).

The XP-40QP-40Q is probably my faviourie P-40 because of the shape and the fact that it looks so different (I will definitely look at a conversion for it).

Cheers

Derek

Thanks Mark. I think that a higher res scan would be great as this is the best detailed shot I have seen so far and tends to back up my theory as to how it is designed.

Many thanks

Derek

Thanks Mark.

Ah yes, you are right - I should have noticed (Mike did not specify which kit it was for - he just said P-40 in the topic title - and I made an erronous assumption!

I think that there is still some milage in the P-40, so any feasible ideas I pick up now will be filed away for future reference, but will see the light of day, even if that day is a bit longer than most would like. Pesonally, I would like to make a conversion for this P-40 as I think it looks really cool:



Derek

Mark, Brad,

Thank you (as always) for the input gents. You are correct in thinking that Jerry Rutman has stopped producing his own stuff for a good while now. I introduced him to Grey Matter Figures and they are producing some of his stuff now (but I do not think that there is a great deal of P-40 AM available).

Brad, Mike of Lone Star MOdels has just started posting on LSP, and one of the things he has posted in the vendor's forum is his P-40 resin cockpit detail set for the Revell P-40E (see here :http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=43016). It sounds like it has been in the LSM range for some years and is still available.

Based on what you have sent to me so far, I have determined that there are two patterns of spoked wheel hub used on P-40N's - both appear to be factory supplied items, but differ in minor detal on both sides of the hub. It looks like the P-40N will also accept the P-51 Mustang type wheel and tyre, although I really have not seen any period photographs of P-40N's having them; however, many post-war restorations seem to use them (The P-51 wheel is a multiple disc brake hub, so my guess is that the original P-40 drum brake wheel hub is very poor in terms of performance and modern pilots prefer the power of the Mustang brakes?).

As far as I can tell the P-40N wheel hub - looking from the outboard side towards inboard therough the hub spokes - show a corresponding set of open spokes, which are internally webbed and have smaller radiused openings at about half hub depth. Further inboard beyond these internal spokes appears to be some form of plate or drun with more irregular holes (I cannot determine what they really look like or their disposition) through which some of the brake drum parts is just visible.

It would be interesting to see what the differences are between the various marks of P-40 cockpit, and what is actually covered in both kit and resion AM form (I think that we need an in-depth Rato type survey here!). I still have my Trumpeter P-40B waiting for me to do something to it (any ideas?) and I would look at P-40 cockpits, but I do not wish to re-invent the wheel if there are already good AM cockpit detail sets out there?

Many thanks

Derek

PS I shall be releasing my P-40M/N Perforated nose cowl intake plates sometime in Feb (See here:http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=43049).