As I eager await the new Airfix P-40B to arrive from overseas, I figured I would get a few of their kits under my belt to see what they are like. I’ve had these two in my stash for a while and couldn’t decide which I wanted to build, so I figured I’d build both. Please join me as I jump one of my favorite topics…the Battle of Britain
Other than some PE seatbelts, these will both built be right out of the box. First thing I noticed was the plastic has a somewhat rough texture. It reminded me of the Special Hobby Blackburn ROC I built a while back. Perhaps I’m used to the silky smooth Hasegawa and Tamiya kits.
I started with the Hurricane. The cockpit detail was decent. Not great but decent. They did a nice job of recreating the “cage” for this early fighter, but it could use some PE in here. I used XF-71 Cockpit color mixed with some XF-19 light grey to come up with RAF interior green. The instrument panel was a decal. I used an RAF color seatbelt harness I had in the stash.
I switched to the Spitfire. I think the Spitfire cockpit was a bit nicer. This could be that the 'Cane just had a very basic pit on the real thing. Anyways, it got the same treatment to include the seatbelts. On this one the instrument decal shifted slightly on me…[:@] You’ll have that I guess… (Note: Before the Spitfire police arrive[;)], I forgot to paint the area behind the seat silver. It was too late before I remembered.)
I’m one of those modelers that actually likes to follow directions. I assembled the pit and added it to the starboard fuse as instructed. The fit was good so far.
I was dryfitting the fuselage and I can already see this piece I’m holding is going to be a problem. What a dumb design.
That’s all so far. At this point, the only thing I would replace would be the instrument panels with a PE one. I might replace the control yokes which are quite lousy too.
That’s a nice amount of detail in those pits in comparison to the Revell offering. They look very nice and I can’t see where the decal slipped on the Spit IP at all.
I’ve been eyeballing both of these kits, especially the Hurricane, but its the P-40 I’m willing to put out the cash for. Waiting for it to show up on Sprue Bros. or someplace where it isn’t nearly $40 without shipping lol.
But I’ve had some budget issues and I am forcing myself to have some patience. I’ve got another Monovell P-40B in the stash, so I’ve got something to cool the itch lol.
Speaking breifly of the Monovell P-40 real quick, they changed the instructions recently. The new instructions now include three (left, right, top, bottom) diagrams that show the proper placement of the decals and the camouflage patterns - though the color call outs are still wrong.
Back on topic; Interesting piece that goes in front of the pit. What’s wrong with it? I’m not understanding.
Thanks Mike. I ordered two P-40s from Hannants in England. I should expect them soon. They aren’t available here yet for some reason. It’s not a particularly expensive kit, so I’m sure the high prices are supply and demand. Mine will promptly be done in a Pearl Harbor and then an AVG subject. Reference the top cowl piece, it doesn’t look like it will sit flush in there without trimming the top of the instrument panel. We will see soon.
Hannants was the first place I went to. I almost pulled the trigger.
I’d love to build the AVG version of the Airfix kit, as the Monovell markings are so ambivalent. But I will finally be building the Pearl Harbor version of the Monovell kit. I can only build the AVG version so many times (3 times throughout the years) lol.
Am waiting to see more progress on these two kits.
Great start on those Brits. I loved building that Hurricane kit, and I’m itching to get their Mk. Vb as well.
Mike - I had the same dilemma with the P-40. But orders over $50 are free shipping, so I bought two for something like $54. If I build both, great, but I am certain I can always offload one on eBay and recoup at least $20-$25, which brings the price for the single kit down to the $25-$30 range.
I built test shots of the new Vb and Mk.I Spits for AMW, before the kits were released for general sale, so am familar with the fit matter you describe. I questioned the engineering rationale (on the Vb) with Sam, who heads up the Airfix design team. He explained that the CAD was set to create a lip of 0.1mm, to reflect the thicker aluminium over the fuel tank, ahead of the windscreen and a feature seen in photographs.
Whether by tooling error or some other means, the Vb covers D33 and the ‘Duxford’ option were rendered too thick (D33 more so than the Duxford cover) and it’s a case of too much plastic attempting to occupy too little space.
I was ready for more of the same, when I later received the Mk.I kit but it was an improvement all round and the remedials more straightforward. My m/o in such matters, is to come up with the simplist, most direct solution and what I have since recommended is to glue the cockpit in gently at the rear only, leaving the forward bulkhead unglued. Then when the cover is slotted over, the front cockpit can flex down a little to accommodate. If you have a mini-drill, then hollow out the cover certainly and ensure the IP and forward bulkhead are slimmed and lowered.
Thanks for the kind words all. I’ll take a Porterhouse with Mushrooms Mike.
Steve, thank you for the advice on the saddle. That overlap makes sense now. I ended up doing just that, grinding out the inside of the piece and the top of the IP with a Dremel. I got it to fit flush but the panel lines looked lousy on the port side, so I filled and rescribed. Now I know if I decide to build this one again (I’m still firmly in Tamiya Spitfire corner though).
So I segue into an brief update. I got some bench time in, which consisted of getting the airframes together. The wingroots on both needed some putty but nothing major. On another note, I don’t know if I’m just not used to Airfix plastic or what, but it seems soft and I had trouble with seamwork. They just wouldn’t go way. Tenax----squeeze—bubbling out. Perfect right? Oh no, a swipe of the seam with an exacto and its still under there…oye! More Tenax and persistence eventually worked and times the super glue-accelerator-sand trick was necessary.
Also, I don’t particularly care for the off white/light grey colored plastic as the standard darker grey is easier on my eyes. My silver Sharpie worked overtime on these turkeys. I do like the separate control surfaces though, which I decided to deflect.
All this aside, I must say the Hurricane is light years ahead of the Hasegawa kit in every way so far.
After the painful seamwork, I finally got them both primered and ready for some paint. I intend to paint on the upper roundels and fin flashes with the use of Tamiya tape, a fresh exacto, and circle template. I’ll do a step by step for those interested in trying it.
Thanks folks. Last time I said I would share my method for painting roundels. I have always had trouble with the upper blue and red wing roundel decals settling down. I decided to try this out. I still don’t have the nerve to try the bullseyes yet. You need a circle template, fresh exacto, piece of glass or mirror, and wide Tamiya tape…thusly.
Let’s start with the Sptifire. I sprayed the general area on the wing XF-7 Flat red.
Grab your decal sheet and find the right sized circle on the template.
Now lay down some Tamya tape on the mirror or glass Use several strips side by side to widen it. Cut out the circle and stick it where it’s supposed to go.
Then I sprayed blue. I used Tamiya XF-8 Flat Blue with a touch of Flat black to darken it slightly.
Then we cut out the larger circle from the template. The tough part is getting the red “dot” in the center. It takes some fiddling. I suppose you could find center and put a black dot on each then line them up, but I was too lazy to measure them.
Full view. I did the fin flashes in a similar manner. P aint each color then tape off.
You can also cut out the circles in sections for nice clean cuts, just make sure when they are applied its in a perfect circle. I did this when the cut goes astray which happens (see close up of blue roundel above).
I did the same with the Hurricane. I should be painting soon. I plan on experimenting with aggressive postshade weathering
Thanks Joe I was wondering how you guys did this. I have a drill bit template but the circles are not nearly big enough. I’ll have to see if I can find one like yours. Really need to do this as I’m terrible with the larger decals. Just a thought on postshading. I used to use flat black but to me it always looked to stark, I use RLM 66. IMO it seems to create a faint but noticeable post shade. I was scratching my head on how to post shade black. I think it worked well for that. It was not as stark as white plus I could use the same paint on all the camo. I’ve never had any luck with washes. If I try oil wash over dullcoat it sticks everywhere. and acrylic washes don’t seem to stick will enough. I still marvel at your cockpit painting it still looks airbrushed
But the other two pilots… they’re just fine. They’re at the controls flying the plane… free to pursue a life of religious fulfillment.
Thanks Rob. I’m doing everything I can…and stop calling me Shirley. Interesting choice on post shades, I never thought of 66. Post shading will segue into this post.
I wanted to raise the grunge factor up a bit with some aggressive post shading. Some folks use chipping and panel fading…I use the latter and post shading. I’ve always liked to keep weathering noticeable but restrained. I always felt it was easy to overdo and I can’t stand chipping everywhere. Here I reasoned that Battle of Britain machines got dirty…real dirty, but were too new to be dinged up to bad. Like driving a new car through the mud. Here’s my attempt at this.
I started by spraying the undersides XF-21 Sky to represent this color. The duck eggs and sky type S or F all confuse me. This color has always looked ok to me. I thinned it with Tamiya’s lacquer thinner which makes Tamiya paint spray like silk. I then added some XF-2 Flat White and lightened the control surfaces. After some condensation streaking, I postshaded the underside with an alcohol diluted mixture of XF-69 Nato Black and XF-64 Red Brown. I paid particular attention to the centerline and engine area.
These turkeys then got Gunze Dark Earth. I still hate the semi gloss of Gunze but the color is spot on. I added some XF-2 Flat White and streaked it slightly. I was going for dirty not faded.
Now the fun part (sarcasm). I used blue tac “worms” for the camo masking using the instructions profile as a reference. I thought the lines depicted in Airfix’s drawings were a bit too scalloped, so I eased up a bit n this.
I then used XF-81 RAF Green for the rest. I think Tamiya nailed this color. Some XF-57 Buff was added and the green and streaked. All masks were removed and I postshaded the uppers too. I added the exhaust streaks at this point too.
Here’s what painted roundels look like…huge difference
Hurricane…
Yikes…time to get started on the gears and such. Be back soon…
Those painted roudels do make a HUGE difference! I’ve tried it in the past but couldn’t get a good circle cut out. I’ll try it again using a piece of glass as you did. Really, really nice work so far Joe!
