Thanks.  I have one more in my stash but, yes, because of the work involved, will likely give the Airfix kits a try when I get around to more Tomahawks.

I'm posting all this simply because, if I ever become delusional enough to try a conversion again, looking at these photos will remind me of why I shouldn't.  It's obvious that with my limited arsenal of modeling skills, I'm outgunned by this conversion.

I ended up installing the top of the resin nose first and separately from the lower tub after first filling the gap that would be present on both sides between it and the horizontal kit fuselage area with strips of .20" x .60" styrene.  I glued these strips to the kit fuselage and started to fill and smooth out the area with Tamiya putty.  Things looked pretty good, but once I actually used superglue to attach the upper nose and placed a clamp tightly on the parts, the putty started to crack away due to the stress.  A minor setback, and the good news that with this approach the top area between the resin nose and windscreen, the area I was most concerned about, should come out almost even once I finally glue the windscreen onto the fuselage.  I'll need to push it down with some force, causing the side areas to splay out some, but that area will need to be dealt with regardless. 

The real issues occurred when finally attaching the lower tub.  Although I sanded and test-fitted multiple times. once I actually glue it into place I ended up with a rather noticeable gap between it and the upper resin nose on the port side.  Not only is there a gap, but the tub protrudes slightly from the upper nose section, which will require some sanding and/or putty to fix. The starboard side isn't as bad.  I chalk part of the problem due to the thinness of the resin, which might usually be a good thing but provided too much "give" as I was trying to align everything. 

Also, the bottom of the fuselage on both sides splayed away from the bottom of the tub, and even with tightening down my clamp as much as I dared the two parts are uneven, so more sanding and putty will be required here.  And with all this pressure caused by the clamp, the kit fuselage split at one point.  I've tried to glue the parts back together evenly with limited success so, yes, even more sanding and putty.

Now, on the underside are some more gaps that I'm not as concerned about, being largely out of view.  My old tube of Milliput dried up years ago but I have a large tube of 3M glazing putty I bought long ago, after it was highly recommended for modeling.  I've only used it infrequently but I believe now it's time for the big test.

I'll worry about how to deal with the cowl flaps after getting all these other issues resolved, more or less....

Thanks Vince.  I'm glad it's finally finished and in the display case.

Now to the others I'm currently working on.....

After sealing it with Alclad II Klear Kote Flat, I did a bit of weathering consisting of post-shading the panel lines, dirtying up the undersides some, airbrushing the exhaust stains, applying some pastel streaks for the gunpowder residue, and doing a little fading of the roundels.  Nothing too drastic, and I opted not to add any extras such as the ring and bead gunsite or aerials.  The wheels are a wee bit cockeyed (they are replacements from an AMtech kit) and I didn't do the best of jobs installing those clear parts aft of the cockpit, but besides those and some other little issues I'm actually quite pleased with how it turned out.  There's an old saying I always tell myself, whether it's regarding my models or other aspects of life: "It came out better than I expected but not as well as I'd hoped." In this case, it actually came out better than I had even hoped....


The wind roundels appear to be in too far, but I had to place them there so that they didn't overlap onto the ailerons, which wouldn't be correct.

Here's the underside.  In this case, I think the roundels are too far out, but the landing light (which I didn't paint) interfered with placement. I also decided not to do anything about those detail-less wheel wells.

And a couple of shots of the cockpit.  Much of what's in there was scratch-built to make things more detailed and accurate.  I don't recall everything I did since it was at least two decades ago, and before I knew about aftermarket stuff.

The fuselage is together and wings attached, and all the resultant seams from the plugs and inserts have been dealt with; at least until the primer coat is on and shows otherwise.

I'm now at the critical point when the resin nose is to be attached.  As can be seen in the photo with it temporarily inserted, it appears my plan to raise the nose for a more even fit with the windscreen will work. Now I can cut the right size of strip styrene for that gap.  Of course there has to be a downside.  With the nose higher, the upper limit for where the cowl flaps go is also higher.  As a result, the bottom of the fuselage will interfere with their placement.  I'm hesitant to sand the lower fuselage much more so that they will fit, so I'm considering the possibility of either trimming the resin cowls some or scratch-building a new set. 

The instructions have one assemble the upper and lower portions of the resin nose first, then insert the entire assembly into the fuselage, but I'm considering attaching the top portion first and then, once it's securely glued in place, attach the bottom "tub" assembly.  I'll need those clamps to firmly hold the fuselage tight against the upper nose to ensure a relatively even, smooth fit, but the bottom tub will need a set too where the line ends for the same reason (I have more clamps so that's not an issue).  However, there doesn't appear to have as much interior contact area between these parts to glue them together well.

Whichever route I go, I'm considering using 5 or 15 minute epoxy to give me more wriggle room, time-wise, than superglue would to get everything properly in place.

Just finished with the decals, which worked flawlessly.  I was worried that all the raised lines and rivets would cause some issues, but that wasn't the case.  I did apply a rather thick clear gloss coat and perhaps that helped.  The only issue I had with the decals is that, in trying to position the shark mouth on the other side exactly, I started to tear that decal so decided its position was close enough for government work.  However, the shark mouth fit almost perfectly, probably because the recommended kit for the decals is the Monogram, and I only have a couple teeny areas that I need to touch up with some paint.

The decal guide shows that the roundel, at least the one on the fuselage, was over-painted some when the Middlestone was applied over the original dark green paint.  The guide also shows an area just aft of the letter "F" that had been repaired and repainted a grey color.  After looking at all the photos I could find of this Tomahawk and not seeing definite evidence of either, and consulting with an expert on these P-40s who doubted the existence of them, I decided not to do either. 

However, I almost forgot to paint the area where the serial number is on the fuselage.  This number was masked over then the Middlestone was applied, so the original dark green would still be evident.  In reality, there would have been a hard demarcation between the dark green and dark earth under the serial number but I was just wanted to quickly paint the dark green so there's evidence of over-spray.




 

That would be Derek Bradshaw, who posted here as well a number of years ago.

The main problem with the conversion, as well as the Aeromaster one for the Eduard/Mauve kit, is that by the nature of them they don't (can't, really) take into account the minor difference in the panel line layout caused by the replacement of the Allison engine with the Merlin one, as can be seen in this photo of Charles Jaslow on his P-40F "Sweet Bets" (the area next to his hips)
 
It's not a problem with the AMtech kit that came with its resin nose, since the nose is simply being used as a replacement on a long-tail P-40F that already has the panel lines correct on the plastic kit.

Thanks, I'm hoping it will come out nice.

I've seen at least two of these conversions built up.  One by Tom Cleaver, which was posted years ago on Modeling Madness shortly after the resin nose was released, and another that was finished recently and posted on Hyperscale.  That one came out very nice (as did Tom's), and its builder has been very helpful with suggestions on mine. 

From those builds and another in-progress one I know of, it seems the issues I've encountered are par for the course so at least it's not "operator error" on my part...for once!

Unfortunately, although I cut the fuselage at the indicated location per the resin nose directions, it's caused some unforeseen issues.  Once I temporarily added the windscreen portion to the fuselage and put the resin nose in place, there was a very noticeable height different between the two.  The windscreen sat much higher than the nose. I figured I had two options:  either glue the nose in place as is, and have to do a lot of sanding and puttying to get some semblance of evenness; or, try to "raise" the nose somehow to even the top out but then have a gap between the horizontal edges of the bottom of the nose and top of the newly cut fuselage.  I chose the latter approach.

What I've done is sand down the interior of the nose and fuselage where they would come into contact, so thus the nose sits higher.  It should be completely even once the final touches are made.  I've also temporarily added some styrene strips in that horizontal gap.  When I determine the exact size needed, I'll likely superglue the strips to the nose and then go over them with some putty or Mr. Surfacer, so that hopefully when everything is painted no one will know the difference.  There are still areas that needed to be cut and/or sanded for a more perfect fit, once the fuselage and wings are all glued together.

However, even with raising the nose, I've found that it curves inward more than the fuselage, so some sanding and putty work will still be needed in this area.  But hopefully much less.

The resin nose is very well detailed but I'm finding that it's taking a lot of test-fitting and sanding, over and over again, to get things to fit the way I think they should.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will pay off in the end.

The color looks good on the spinner.  I typically use Insignia Red (the only red I have) and try to fade it by adding a little white.  Too much and it turns pinkish, though.

Thanks Vince.  It must be the only Tomahawk you've ever seen, then!

I didn't think that it had been a year since I started this topic, but obviously that's the case.

I finally got the paint on after pre-shading the panel lines.  It's been many a year since I tried to freehand a camo scheme but I decided to give it a go on this model.  I'm fairly happy with the result obtained with my shaky hands and Omni 4000 airbrush.

Colourcoats Azure Bkue went on the bottom, followed by Humbrol Middlestone lightened slightly with a bit Model Master Flat White and, just to use every brand of enamel paint I have on hand, a 15+ year old tin of Xtracolor RAF Dark Earth lightened quite a bit with the white.  The Xtracolor is a gloss paint, and even with the addition of some flat white still has a sheen.  I then went over the topside colors with a thinned mixture of yellow and desert tan to help blend the colors somewhat.

I still need to paint the smaller parts such as the gun barrels and exhausts, the latter of which will require a steady hand.  The exhausts were installed prior to the fuselage going together and if there were any aftermarket when I started this kit that could pop in after assembly, I was unaware of them.  The wheel bays have absolutely no detail and I've played around with making some of the canvas covers that were often present in these planes but haven't decided yet.  For now I just painted everything Azure Blue.

I'll be using the Baracudacal decals for GA-F, flown by leading Mediterranean RAF ace Neville Duke when he was shot down in it on 30 Nov. '41 by a Bf-109 piloted by Otto Schulz (Schulz was later shot down and killed by Canadian ace "Stocky" Edwards, whose Kittyhawk Mk.III I modeled many years ago).

Nice build, Vince, even if it's a Spitfire and not a P-40!   I was hoping you would post some more builds.  I do like the look of those colors, which is more in line with what I was shooting for.  I still might try and adjust my colors. 

I've always used enamels and thus feel comfortable with them. But seeing that the rumor is that the Testors line is being discontinued and Colourcoats are hard to obtain in the states, it doesn't leave me with many alternatives besides Humbrol.  I recently used MRP/Mr. Paint for a non-Warhawk build (blasphemy!) and was quite happy with how they sprayed, but they aren't meant for brush painting.

I might find myself gravitating to acrylics, like it or not. 

Thanks Vince.  I have the paint on, although I'm not too thrilled with the topside colors.  I used Colourcoat enamels, Middlestone and WWII Dark Earth, the latter lightened with a bit of Desert Tan and White.  The contrast, to my eyes, was starker than I liked.

I then tried to tone down the contrast and "blend" the colors by applying a very thin mixture of Desert Tan and Yellow.

I like the look better this way, although something doesn't seem quite right about it.  I usually use Model Master, Humbrol, and Colourcoat enamels and rarely keep track of which brand on what build, so I don't know if it's because I used a different brand for the colors on previous builds, or what.

Being a glutton for punishment, I've started a third (and last, for now) 85th FS/79th FG P-40F.  This one is using the 32nd Hasegawa Kittyhawk Mk.I/Mk.III kit and the Grey Matter P-40F/L resin nose.

I was fortunate to remove the kit nose at the necessary location with little problem.  I also went ahead and attached the rear fuselage plugs and rear canopy inserts so that I could more easily deal with the resultant seams.  Luckily I remembered to paint the interior part of the canopy prior to attaching the clear portion.  I had to utilize my feeble re-scribing skills at a couple of locations, but I was able to get the engraved panel lines lined up fairly close so it wasn't as bad as I feared.  I still need to drill and clean out some of the lost rivets.

The kit cockpit is rather nice and detailed but I decided to add the Eduard Look P-40F set, which has seat belts and a slightly more accurate instrument panel than what's provided with the kit.  This set is actually designed for the Trumpeter kit, but I think with some careful test-fitting that I've been able to adapt the IP for the Hasegawa one.  I won't know for sure until everything is buttoned up.  I'll wait until that point to add the control column and what I believe is the manual hydraulic hand pump, along with the clear glass acetate for the site.