I now have a P-40 in my collection. This is Hasegawa's 1/72 kit, in the popular Aleutian Tiger markings. This build was rather peculiar in that it went quite well up to a point - and then went straight downhill.

The cockpit was painted Polly Scale US Interior Green. This same color was used for the wheel wells and the inside of the gear doors, but these areas were painted after the rest of the exterior. I primed the outer surface with Mr. Surfacer 1200, which worked well. I painted the underside with Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey, masked that off, and then used Tamiya XF-1 Flat White for the stripes. I masked the stripes and finished off with Tamiya XF-51 Khaki Drab for the upper surfaces. At this point I had to mask and paint the part of the fuselage stripe that covers the underside, since I had painted the Neutral Grey before the Flat White.

The spinner was painted with Floquil Reefer Yellow, in an attempt to match the yellow decals. It came pretty close. The canopy was masked using the Eduard mask designed for the kit. I've had issues with Eduard masks not fitting properly in the past, but this one worked quite well. I used Right Step for the pre-decal gloss coat.

This kit only has twelve decals (since I had painted on the stripes), and two of those are small red dots - one for the port side of the fuselage just below the canopy and one on the drop tank. I applied the national insignia and "U.S. ARMY" to the bottom of the wing, and the national insignia to the top of the wing. I then applied the numbers on the fin and the national insignia to the fuselage sides. All was going okay, although the decals were quite thick and required a lot of soaking to get them off the backing sheet.

This was when things went downhill. When I tried to apply the tiger markings, they did not conform well at all and also broke in a couple of places. I should have cut out the hole that the exhaust goes through, but I didn't. The two red dots went on fine, but that was small consolation.

I then attached the landing gear, the drop tank and prop. The landing gear went on fine, and I did a better than average job with the gear doors. However, the drop tank did not fit - only two of the braces actually touch the plane. I gave the kit another coat of gloss, and then a coat of Right Step matte clear. I unmasked the canopy and attached it.

Page last updated June 15, 2023.