I just finished a quick kit bash to create a hypothetical P-40 nightfighter variant. Its not my best modeling effort by far, but the point was to see if such a modification as this was even possible on a P-40 model. Somewhere down the road I plan to do this to a much better finish in 1/48.
Sooooo, without further delay, I present to you the P-40 NF.MK.1 Nighthawk of the RAAF (circa 1943-44)
I bashed two Academy 1/72 P-40 M/N kits to get an extended fuselage and enough parts for a second cockpit and the contra rotating props I wanted.
I also stuck on a radome from a Hasegawa 1/72 Grumman Hellcat Nightfighter kit.
The radar operations and control of the upward firing pair of 20mm cannon (also from the Hasegawa kit) would be from the rear cockpit. Four of the P-40’s six wing guns have been retained and are controled by the pilot. Two of the forward firing guns were removed to save weight for the 20mm guns.
Like I say, this is just a prototype. When I eventually go 1/48 with the project, I’ll probably include a wing extension and was considering a powerplant change to a Rolls Royce Griffon with cuffed four blade contra props.
What do you folks think of the concept? The WWII nightfighter is not my area of expertise, but this was one idea that was bouncing around in my head that just had to get out.
Any input from anyone who knows about WWII nightfighters and what I might add to make it a bit more convincing and plausible is most welcome.
Of course any comments from anyone are welcome[:D]
looks pretty good!! I love night fighters, and am currently building the F4U-2 Night Fighter myself. The only thing I would do to make it a bit more realistic, is to remove one of the wing guns on the Right hand side to compensate for the weight of the Radar Pod. Just put a plug in the hole, and voila!!! Very Awesome, please share anymore kitbashing you do!!!
I agree with you that the wings are a bit short for the extended fuselage. I do plan a wing extension whenever I get to doing the 1/48 version.
Anthony:
This all happened last week. I bought the models on the Saturday of the Easter weekend, had all this past week off work and split my modeling time between this and a 1/72 tank. I’d say this prototype represents about a total of 48 hours or a bit more.
All I can say is, thank God for CA glue or I’d still be working on it. The 1/48 one will take significantly longer as I’m really going to go out of my way to make it convincing, not just a test of the concept.
very nice. can’t wait to see its big brother. i’ve got a rareplanes mcdonnell XP67 Bat (cheers Woody) that i bashing into a P67 moonbat nightfighter with a radar pod and four blade contra props. the props are coming from a plasticart tu20 bear that never got finished.the undercart is coming from the P38 that is going to be Glacier girl ‘on ice’ one day. i’ll be leaving it as a single seater tho. pics will be posted of both projects but the group builds are first priority.
thanks for sharing
Greg
Looks good to me too. If I had to comment I’d suggest a slightly bigger fin/rudder to compensate for the drag from the radar pod. Looking forward to your 1/48th version.
Pete
Thanks for all the good comments, I’m glad the idea has met with good reception.
I’ve done a bit more thinking on how to do it up in 1/48 and I’m thinking I might bring the radar in off the wing and make a bit more streamlined radome on the fuselage centreline.
I’d still extent the wings and probably enlarge the tail surfaces, but pulling the radar onto the centreline would allow for a few other ideas to be given to the forward armament, my immediate thought is to remove the six machine guns completely and replace them with a pair of 20mm cannons, basically enlarge the firepower all around.
I’ll also be replacing the exhaust stacks with flame dampening types as were seen on RAF bombers.
With a Griffon engine, I’ll also have the latitude to smooth out the nose contours a bit (not sure I’ll do that though, wouldn’t want to completely lose the P-40 look).
Soooo many possibilities.
It will be a while before the 1/48 one rolls out. I have to decide which kits would be best to do the project with (That is which ones are engineered in such a way that the modifications will go fairly well with a minimum of butchery and headaches).
So what’s a good kit of a P-40 N variant in 1/48? I was thinking about using Monograms old P-40B kit, but I wanted the already extended N version fuselage to ease the kitbash.
Mauve P-40N or AMT P-40N will both do in 1/48th scale. The AMT can be had for much cheaper. Eduard boxes the Mauve kit now as Mauve went out of business.
You could also Use the AMTech P-40F since it was the long tail I believe, and it already has a Rolls Royce Merlin engine! Griffon was designed to be fitted in Merlin mountings with a minimum of modification.
I think you should enter it in the planes of fancy (hypothetical) category of IPMS contests. Unfortunately I can’t see the pictures of your build.
