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.
