For my 3rd build (as an adult) I’m doing the Airfix Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. I’m pretty sure I made one of these as a teenager as I remember making something with a shark mouth, but I can‘t say for sure.
I did my first kit in August-September, an Airfix Spitfire, and I thought things went pretty well, but I had a lot of enamel paint issues (crappy Humbrols, and I hated the smell). I got a lot of experience using acrylics on my Revell North Sea Trawler, and now I’m applying all the skills and techniques I’ve learned, thanks in part to this forum, to another aircraft.
I’m having a much easier time this go-around, and with much better results this time. I remember as a kid I always made my planes closed-canopy because I’d always mess up its fine details. This one will definitely be open. The biggest problem I’ve run into so far was the little tiny decals that go on the protruding rivets on the side of the cockpit. I felt I was being deliberately tormented as I tried to apply them.
I did the weathering with artist’s oils and odorless mineral spirit, it’s very easy to use compared to my acrylic weathering attempts with the trawler (but it had some good uses).
Thanks for the comments, all. That aluminum strip on the bottom of the cockpit that the instructions called for was also a challenge and required many strips of Tamiya tape and precision cutting with an Xacto. But it adds a great detail.
Thanks! What do you mean by an AVG subject? Could you show me an example?
Slow progress on this model. Lots of things to take care of, and hard to find time with work. One thing I’m getting stymied by is the underside color for the model. The Humbrol enamel color name is Camouflage Gray, and I found a Campuflauge Gray in Vallejo acrylic, but the paint seems quite darker than the pain used in other examples I’ve seen. Any ideas?
I’m afraid that’s one of those hornets’ nests that get all the self-appointed ‘experts’ to endless wrangling.
I make no claim to expertise of any kind…but study of the color photos available has led me to go with a lighter gray tone (than camouflage or neutral grays) with a slight ‘cream’ or yellowish cast. Just my 2 cents.
Here is the actual Dupont color chart used by Curtiss. The color used was Sky Type S which was a very light gray, 72-021, as per Nick Millman, American Aircraft For The RAF.
