ARII P-40E W38 Dallas Clinger Kweilin China 1942

Nathan Dempsey
Interesting subject. Following.

Daniel Klink
Promising start.. Count me in 👍

Andy Ball
Will have a peek! (Best P-40 in this scale?)

Guillaume Blanchet
Andy, I don't have much comparison (the last time I builded a P40 I was 12 year's old) but I found this kit to be very detailled on the outside. I'm not a rivet counter, but I'm pretty sure they are all molded in. The fit is also verry good. I'll probably won't need to use putty on the wings and not much in between the wings & fuselage. It also cam with nice color illustrations printed on glossy paper & allow you 3 differents nationalities options. It also have a crude engine part. Not much details but it's there non the less. I to upgraded mine by adding pipping, but for a serious P40 fan, I would suggest to buy a resin engine if details are important.

On the bad side, the interior is very sparse ans the details on the inside are far less extensive than the one on the outside. I was glad I came with a resin interior kit. The wheel wells have flat surfaces & the landing gear is on the simple side. Without all the after market part,I could probably have built the whole set in a single days if I wanted.

But a fun build overall.

Daniel Klink
The original tool release was in 1974 by Otaki.
They made really good kits by that time. Interior Detail was not that important back then and compared to others the kits were well equipped even in that point of view.
There are better alternatives today but as you experienced the fit and outer detailing ist still rather good.
I am sure the result will be very nice..

Patrick Hagelstein
Building a kit that's almost as old as the actual subject and that subject being a P-40? I'm in for sure! 😄

Guillaume Blanchet
Patrick. I had a feeling you would like it😉 For an kit that old, I'm still surprise how many details it have on the exterior.

I'm all set to to the paint job, but it'a going to be raining all day. Hopefully tomorrow.

Guillaume Blanchet
I also found this video yesteray nigth. I can be usefull for someone who want to see the details of the interior or simply plan to fly the airplane in the sky.

Enjoy!
Youtube Video

Patrick Hagelstein
Cool video Guillaume! Now I don't need to apply for an FAA certification when I want to fly one of those restored examples out there. 😉

Patrick Hagelstein
Picture 38: That's a well trained and good behaving Carpet Monster you got there. 😉

Guillaume Blanchet
Yes! I made an investigation by looking at the time of my pictures. That way I was able to determine that the crosshair was lost while masking the bottom of the airplane while wathcing my daugther playing the Genesis emulator. I then knew it was in the living room.

Carlos Cisneros
On the area behind the cutout windows, those should match the surrounding surface camouflage paint, not be in interior green. Those were painted at the factory in that manner to match the surrounding area.

Guillaume Blanchet
Thank for the information Carlos. I have some camouflage green touch-up to do. I'll paint the surface at the safe time.

Carlos Cisneros
You're welcome. I'm looking forward to seeing some markings on this build.

Guillaume Blanchet
All done! I'm a bit disapointed wth my camo. I lost all of my preshading effect after over-applying the colors. Next time, I'll set up in a place with good lighting and will try to postshade instead of preshading. The washes did managed to bring back a bit of constrat so the final result made me happy.

Carlos the surface behind the pilot should have been tan according to the only authentic phto I could find. But I like the green so much I decide to forego historical accuracy for personal taste. Your comment is still much appreciated.

Carlos Cisneros
Understood Guillaume. It's your build, make it as what makes you happy. It looks very nice as you have finished it.

Nathan Dempsey
You brought life to this old kit. Nicely done.

Patrick Hagelstein
Preshading can be challenging if you get too carried away applying paint. Happened to me more than once too... 🙁 Still, I think it looks great! 👍 If you have a close look at the plane in the video, that's not that beaten up either and shows stark colors as well.

Guillaume Blanchet
Thank you all for the nice comments.

Patrick you are right. In reality the planes does not get this amount of shading. It's just make for a more dramatic build when we exagerate shadows & the wear & tear. I have since then discovered post shading & like it a lots for touching up the base coat.

Funny enough, in my current build I had to add paint to hide the pre-shading a bit. It's a learning curve.

Andy Ball
great balance re. weathering/ I think everyone you learn from is also a success

Clifford Keesler
I don't know how I missed this one, but very well done. I always kind of shyed away from the ARii P-40 as I wasn't sure how it was. Now I know, so next time I get a chance to grab one I will. The only P-40 kit I have ever built was the Revell/Monogram one. I re-scribed that whole thing.

Guillaume Blanchet
Thanks Clifford This one didn't needed a single scrib or rivet 🙂