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HOBBY BOSS 1:72 CURTISS P-40M / KITTYHAWK III |
Reviewer:
Hrvoje Šafhauzer (contact via SMAKR webmaster)
Kit Review submitted: 25 May 2009
Kit Details:
Aircraft History:
By mid-1942 it was clear that even the latest P-40Es were outclassed by the opposition. However, exigencies of war dictated further production and development until better fighters became available in quantities, and due to the lack of US-produced Packard/RR Merlin engines P-40 versions with improved Allison engine appeared. The P-40M was based on long-tail P-40Fs and P-40Ks, powered by 1200 HP V1710-81 engine. Although nominally lower powered than P-40K, the P-40M had similar performances and load carrying ability. The only external distinguishing feature comparing to the longer-tail P-40K sub-series were the appearance of two perforated cooling nose panels, situated one at each side in front of the exhaust stacks. Being like other P-40s pretty sturdy airframe, the P-40M found its use in ground attack fighter bomber duties, performing them well until being replaced by more modern types. Most of them found their way to RAF/Commonwealth (designated confusingly Kittyhawk III – same as 21 of P-40K-1) service through the Lend-Lease program, with reputedly only five seeing USAAF service. How that figures with a Finnish 1943-captured ex-Soviet example – beats me, only if a P-40N with earlier style canopy was not in question. On the production lines and after being produced in some 600 units, it was superseded by lighter P-40N initially powered by the very same engine.
The Kit:
I purchased this kit, together with some more Hobby Boss kits of the same class, while being on a business trip to Manila. To spare my luggage space, I have repacked them into the resealable PVC pouches and dismantling the box top, and that is why is photo showing the kit parts out of a packing tray. And parts survived airport cargo handling services just fine, being placed in a sturdy Trumpeter's Wellington Mk Ic box it was expected. Otherwise, the kit is packed in typical Hobby Boss fashion, in a top opening box with parts firmly held within a tray. Box top is adorned with a Kittyhawk III from 112 Sqn RAF in flight and model brief data, while at the sides there is some small artwork of the same plane with photos of finished model and some basic historical data. Parts are arranged in three light gray sprues common to P-40 E/M/N, there is an insert for fuselage behind cockpit, a clear sprue with single piece cockpit canopy and rear windows, a fuselage, and wing with front and rear lower fuselage. Engraving is fine, and control surface ribs are less pronounced than at the instruction drawings. Landing gear retracting arms and scissors, and bomb and drop tank braces are somehow thick and one could thinned them if preferred. There is some flash mostly at wing tips and rudder, but it can be cleaned up easily, as well as the molding seams. Main gear and tail wheel doors are molded in open positions, so wheels-up is obviously not an option offered with this kit. Cockpit is consisting of a floor with a bomb releasing handle and the rudder pedals being molded on, a separate seat, seat back armor, and pilot's stick. There is no instrument panel, or decal for it, although the kit arrangement offers the possibility for placing one. The single clear part is thick but transparent enough. In detail, this kit is looking similar to Hasegawa offerings to me.
© Hrvoje Šafhauzer 2009
Instructions:
© Hrvoje Šafhauzer 2009
Decals/Markings:
The small decal sheet is protected by paper and kept in a transparent PE pouch sealed by adhesive tape – nice touch to keep moisture away. It offers markings for two aircraft, both with underfuselage bombs. No stenciling is provided, only national markings and squadron codes or numbers. First one is anonymous "P-40M MK III" from No. 112 Sqn RAF, where year or location is not stated, but it could be easily be Tunisia in 1943 or Italy 1944. RAF serial is not given at all, and aircraft is coded white GA-M and adorned with "Shark Squadron" distinctive shark mouth, and painted in "middle stone/wood brown/light blue" scheme with red spinner, i.e. standard desert scheme – middle stone/dark earth/azure blue. Red in RAF markings is maybe too bright, but I can handle this. The other one is P-40M from 44FS, 18FG, in 1945, and location is not stated again, but judging from USAAF roundels with no bars and white details it could be easily SWPA. Since there is no USAAF serial, it could be late K or early N as easily. White 129, it is painted in "olive drab/gray" scheme with white spinner, and thin white stripes at fuselage behind rear cockpit windows and at both wing uppersurfaces and undersurfaces. There are four decals, one numbered 17 and 3 numbered 18, not being shown by assembly instructions at all. No.17 being with cross and some lettering, and 3xNo.18 being like fuel filling cap markings with text, not applicable for RAF planes, as indicated by Revell instructions. Main colors are given in Gunze Sangyo ranges only.
© Hrvoje Šafhauzer 2009
Construction:
From the outset I intended to make this kit out of the box, adding only three things: a landing light, a gun camera fairing and a pilot-posing alien. For the interior colors I went to the instructions for Revell P-40K and Hasegawa P-40N. Its not stated otherwise during construction, Revell (R) paints and glue were used, as well as putty.
Actual construction started by drilling a blind hole in port wing undersurface at location indicated, and gluing a part of clear sprue, that was two days later trimmed and sanded flush with wing surface. Some would skip this effort by simply painting it in silver. Snap-tite tab at rear cockpit insert was removed and insert glued to position in upper fuselage, leaving a gap that was filled with putty. This was followed/performed simultaneously by preparing the parts for assembling.
Parts were cleaned and pre-painted at the sprues, using R91 steel for landing gear legs and undernose radiator interior, my mixture of R84&91 for exhausts, my mixture of R48 lake green and yellow as interior green for main and tail wheel wells, spinner interior, and radiator cooling grilles interior. Cockpit shall be green drab and I used Humbrol H117 US light green for all the surfaces and parts required, including areas beneath rear windows, and for a bomb. Propeller blade tips were painted in R15 yellow. Determining from outset that I would make RAF plane, with white stripes not being supplied as decals for USAAF version and me not willing to toy with masking, I painted main wheel hubs in Humbrol H47 gloss aircraft blue, with all tires, propeller blades, sight and control stick grip in R9 anthracite. For machine gun barrels, pitot tip, and pilot goggles I used black permanent soft tip pen, as well as red and green ones for wing formation lights as applicable. Pilot face was painted in R35 flesh, helmet and gloves in R84 leather brown, as well as pilot head rest at cockpit insert, desert uniform in R314 beige and Mae West in R15 yellow.
I took a printed copy of Revell P-40K instrument table decal at transparent sheet, painted its rear in R91, trimmed it and glued in position beneath coaming. Not that is to be much visible when canopy is in place, but it made me feel better. Instructions would like you to assemble the complete cockpit first and then to snap it into position in wing-lower fuselage. However, while test fitting a floor I realized that it would be easier to snap it in position and glue all other parts subsequently, and I did that way. To me, seat looks to be too low, a fact confirmed by placing the pilot in it later.
© Hrvoje Šafhauzer 2009
Sanding the putty required reinstating some fuselage panel lines, which was done easily. Test fitting of the wing-lower fuselage to upper fuselage revealed that major gaps would occur, being especially prominent at wing root fairings, so I trimmed all the locating lugs and holes and sanded mating surfaces slightly. That reduced gaps, which were later filled with liquid glue using a needle applicator. Maybe trimming all the snap-tite tabs would reduce gaps even more, but I decided to be happy with what I achieved. Unfortunately the joint at both sides of the radiator exhibited slight overhanging at their upper sides, requiring sanding that slightly obliterated nicely made rivet details there. The join lines were designed mostly along panel lines, so filled gaps were not to be extremely noticeable after being sanded slightly. Tabs at horizontal tail surfaces needed to be trimmed slightly for achieving the correct position and I glued and kept them in position after they were dried. The gun sight was glued in its position too, and everything was ready for placing a pilot and cockpit canopy. As I expected, single peace transparencies were troublesome to be inserted easily, so I carefully scored along frame lines with modeling knife until separating rear windows, cleaning the cuts and placing them in positions using a white glue. Now windscreen and main canopy went easily when tested, and I needed to add a one mm pad beneath pilot for his head being raised level with headrest. The pilot was glued in and the canopy positioned using only white glue at joint under windscreen. Some may remove canopy tabs, but I felt no need to do that, a fact that I paid by cracking the starboard lower rear side in process. With using a drop of glue for fixing, a tailwheel was inserted in its position, followed by main landing gear legs and wheels. Instructions swapped leg numbers, but one can easily realize correct locations for respective parts.
Final assembling before painting was attaching the propeller and its backing plate and spinner to nose, where I used a dab of liquid glue to affix the spinner. The spinner is slightly blunt, not sharply pointed like Hasegawa P-40 kits, looking to me more like the photos. Propeller diameter is also slightly smaller than Hasegawa offerings, appearing to be more correct. I do not have any P-40M drawings to confirm that, or to make detailed comparisons. At the end I sourced a gun camera fairing from spares box, originating from Hasegawa's P-40E and glued it in place, using a P-40N as a guide. Bomb rack braces were glued in place also, these can not be omitted due prominent holes for their mounting at undersurface. Bomb and exhausts were left for after painting and decaling. Now, time was to apply cammo.
© Hrvoje Šafhauzer 2009
Painting/Decalling:
As stated Hobby Boss provided no RAF serial for a 112 Sqn plane. Digging through my references yielded only photos and profiles of the short-tailed P-40K RAF's Kittyhawk IIIs, and B. Robertson's book on British aircraft serials was also not useful, stating all Kittyhawk IIIs being P-40M even when being obviously P-40K. And photos from a Pilot magazine were little more useful, showing restored aircraft in flight and in "Shark Squadron" colors, coded GA-S, but being with P-40N type windscreen it was suspicious to me.
I painted the lower surfaces in gloss H47 doubling as azure blue, and when dried next day I applied R87 earth brown as dark earth. Gloss household enamel bright red was used for a spinner, and that was followed by R85 brown (buff) with painting cockpit frames freehand, and at the end when paints dried a gloss alkyd paint was applied over matt uppersurfaces as a basis for decaling.
© Hrvoje Šafhauzer 2009
Decals went on easily, as there was so few of them – little soaking in water and positioning. I started with the fin flashes, followed by fuselage codes, wing roundels, and ending with 3-part shark mouth. For reducing the silvering, some "wise guy" trimmed carrier film to follow the letter contours demanding care and patience when placing and positioning fuselage codes&roundel decals. Decaling was a breeze comparing to some of my latest builds lasting some few hours only. When thoroughly dried, all gloss surfaces and decals were sealed with R02 matt clear paint. In fact, panel lines are so fine that most of them almost completely disappeared at uppersurfaces.
© Hrvoje Šafhauzer 2009
© Hrvoje Šafhauzer 2009
Conclusions:
It was supposed to be a quick build that extended for almost two weeks, mostly due to painting and small add-ons. This Kittybomber filled a slot in my collection of P-40s in 1/72 scale, leaving only P-40F/L and long-tail P-40K missing. Except filling the gaps, normal for a snap-tite kit, it was not labour intensive and could be done by beginners easily, although a boxtop is stating that it is intended for ages 14 and up. On that ground I would recommend this kit to beginners not worried about mating and gaps. Being of a snap-tite variety some things are crude but it is to be expected. As for myself, if a slightly more expensive Academy P-40 M/N was available in shop at that moment I would buy it. And I shall still find an affordable victim for converting into P-40 "late K" or "F".
Review courtesy of my valet, as usually.
© Hrvoje Šafhauzer 2009
Mine current P-40s lineup, started in early 80s, from front: Academy P-40C (6th built), Airfix P-40E (1st), Hasegawa P-40E (2nd), Airfix P-40E (3rd), Revell P-40E rebuilt as K-1(4th), Revell P-40K (7th), Hobby Boss P-40M (8th), and Hasegawa P-40N (6th)
References:
© Hrvoje Šafhauzer 2009
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© Hrvoje Šafhauzer 2009
