Another forum (sfcmac) member and I thought it would be fun to build some of the kits we had in our youth. My kit choice was the P-40 E Warhawk that has been around since 1969 and seen many different box~art versions. This will be my attempt to improve on this kit with the aid of Squadron Reference Books ,scratch~building and a Eduard P/E set.
The kit comes with many working options OOB to keep young minds busy. I will not be using most of them , but I did like the removable panels to show off the V-12 Allison engine.
Even though most of it will be hidden I scratch built some details to dress up the firewall.
Painted with some wire added, the engine mounts in place.
I used styrene to fill in the Gaping holes, along with aluminum tubing and fine copper wire for some extra detail.
Eduard P/E makes the radiator grill covers.
Next was the “office” here is what Revell supplies with the kit. Not bad, I was quite impressed with this added detail when I was 10 years old.
But I think we can do better . Using the Eduard P/E set for a starting point, I realized this was not going to look very nice on the shaped fuselage. Taping the fuse sides together and the kit supplied floor and bulkhead I used Post-it-notes to make patterns to box in the office. Styrene .030" sheet was used for the sides with lots of test fitting and double checking. This worked much better for the P/E ribbing.
Starting to busy up the office with P/E seat, the Hydraulic hand pump was scratched out of tubing and wire with a blob of C/A glue for the knob.
Sidewall with Eduard parts and scrap wire.
I was much happier with this then the kit supplied part.
To be continued.
