1/32 Hasegawa P-40E 23rd FG “Flying Tigers” (Finished)

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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I’m back in the “easy on the eyes scale”. I’m taking a crack at the 1/32 Hasegawa P-40E. It’s my understanding it’s a scaled up version of their 1/48 scale kit, complete with all the annoying inserts. Good times friends.

I’ll be doing Ed Rector’s 104. Rector was a 10.5 kill ace who holds the distinction of having the first Flying Tiger kill on December 20th 1941.

Rector’s 104.

Additions will be Eduard “Look” IP and Brassin resin wheels. I grabbed a set Montex mask set too. I may regret this though.

I started with the pit. It’s nicely detailed out of the box, especially the seat. I made up my own mix of Curtiss Interior Green, namely XF-26 Deep Green, XF-3 Yellow, and XF-49 Khaki. It’s my understanding that Curtiss used the paint shop across the street to mix their paints, and they varied. I came up with my own version of Interior Green from “the paint shop across the street.”

The seatbelts came with the Zoom set. They are quite nice. A brown wash dirtied them up a bit. The floor fuel gauges got Airscale dials with a drop of AK Gauzy gloss to simulate glass. I may use this on all my gauges from now on.

How about that Eduard “Look” IP? Holy Cow! I couldn’t replicate that if I tried. It’s essentially resin that they paint for you, and it’s a drop fit replacement where you use the kit gunsight and rudder pedals. They even simulated the glass. Certainly a step above their PE Zoom sets and worth it in this scale. It’s perfect for the lazy modeler like myself. I see more of these on the horizon, even in 1/48.

Time to tackle those fuselage inserts. See youse in about a month…[whstl]

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Drop-dead gorgeous so far, Joe!

I’ve got the -K and -M versions of the same kit waiting in the pile, so very keen to see your adventure all the way through.

[Y][B][Y][B][Y][B]

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Thanks Greg

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You can call yourself many things, but a “lazy moddler” isn’t one. I still can’t get over the detail and realism you acheive with your builds.

Another stellar build in the making, well done.

5

Fantastic start Joe. Cockpit painting exemplary as always

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Thanks Damian.

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Thanks Robert

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Another stunning office Joe, never tire of looking at your work!

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This looks like a nice kit and you are really doing it justice so far with that pit! Nice work I will be tuned in!

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Thanks Trey

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Nice to have you Jack, and thanks.

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A very special cockpit, you must have great patience and a steady hand.

[Y] Joe

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Those Look IP look impressive. Great paint work as always

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Thanks!

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Thanks Johnny. Yes, they are totally worth it.

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Fabulous office Mate. Looking forward to the rest of my Favorite aircraft built by my favorite builder. Question; didn’t the original Flying Tigers have B (and later) C models of the P-40 and not E’s ?

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Oh man, I’ve GOT to get some of those new Eduard LOOK panels! I’m in.

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The E models arrived about March/April 1942 with the Tigers picking them up in Africa and flying them over to China.

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As Johnny 5 would say “Input, Input”. Looks great![t$t]

I’ll be watching this build as it’s my favorite plane and the plan is to build one after I’m finished with 4 models from the museum that need to be refurbished. Have 3 different kits and lots of AM.

Jim [cptn]

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Thanks Jay, Yeah they were able to get their hands on a few E models before being sucked up by USAAF. I’m no expert in this area however.