Updated with additional pics below…
I’m working on a 1/48 AMT P-40N. It will be in the markings of MAJ Donald Quigley, CO of the 75thFS/23rdFG in mid- to late 1944. His plane was named “Rene the Queen”, after his wife Irene. MAJ Quigley was shot down after his 5th kill, and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp.
Here’s a view of both the left and right sidewalls. I airbrushed them zinc chromate green, then painted the bits and pieces. I follow this with a dry brushing of light gray, then some light weathering with a silver pencil. After that came a coat of Future, decals, an acrylic wash, and topped it all off with a coat of Polly Scale Flat.
Here’s the left cockpit wall. I scratch built a throttle and mixture control lever, as well as the two little wheel dealies mounted behind them. (That’s a technical term [;)]…)
Here’s the right cockpit wall. I think the decals really bring the cockpit to life.
A side view of the seat here. I scratch built the mounting brackets, and added Eduard PE belts.
A front view of the seat. The bar the belts are attached to is scratch built, as is the bolting plate in the seat back.
Here’s the IP. After the Flat Coat, I put a drop of Future in each instrument dial to simulate the glass.
----Updated 28 May 2007 ----
I decided to try something new (for me) to try and give the finish a randomly worn look, and do some pre-shading. Now- I’m awful at pre-shading, but OK at post-shading, so I decided to try and combine the two techniques. I’m also too lazy to mix darker and lighter shades of paint…
So I started with a base coat of Polyscale USAAF OD. Then I followed that up with some white, over various panels, and also randomly patched.
After that, I did some panel patches in Pollyscale Grimy black, as well as panel lines shading.
Finally, I went over the whole deal with the OD. I started by filling in the panel lines here and there, and then begin misting the color over the various panels, patches and lines.
The panel lines themselves show a little better in person than the photo shows. Overall, I am pretty happy with the outcome. It’s definitely random looking, and with a panel line wash, additional weathering, etc., I think this bird will look pretty decent.
Biggest problem I had was just lack of technique with the airbrush. This was the most precise work I’ve ever done, so it’ll take some more practice to really get it where I want it. But it’s a far cry from where I was last year- thanks to all the people on this board for all the tips, encouragement and help!
On to the weathering!