R.T. Smith's P-40

Yoxford · Post by **Yoxford** » Mon May 25, 2009 7:49 am

Much has been said about the accuracy of the P-40 on this site, (too fat in the middle, canopy too big, too toy like...etc. ) and it put me off from buying one…that is until I saw one in person…what was I thinking? it is NOT too fat in the middle and the canopy is not that much off from the real deal...remember the P-40B/C was chunkier than the P-40 E...(HOWEVER, the under fairing and cooling flaps are quite off and will be fixed right in upcoming pics) Overall this is one great aircraft. The paint job is dead nuts on and quite detailed. I liked it so much I bought two.

It would make R.T. Smith proud. Here are some shots of some custom details...more to folllow showing the 3 point antenna with spring tension mount and the aluminum Prestone cooling flaps.

Side view with adjustable ring and post gunsight, wing root fuel doors, side blue formation light and hand hold, and filler caps for main fuel and oil.

Bullet proof glass, frame, and grab handle.

Tail detail with white formation light , door hinge & handle

Wing with retractable landing light, trim tab, red formation light and aluminum pitot tube

Gear up

Gear down

even a real leather headrest

Roy Sutherland & 21st Century Toys did a great job.

As Roy stated…”painted in the markings of R.T. Smith. This is one of his other airplanes. It was previously flown by John Petach of the 2nd Pursuit Squadron “Panda Bears”. It was moved to the Third Pursuit Squadron “Hell’s Angels” in late spring-early summer of 1942 and was partially repainted. The blue fuselage stripe was repainted in red, Petach’s mouse on the motorcycle was obliterated, and the Disney designed Flying Tiger decal was applied on both sides of the fuselage. RT Smith also had his name, kill flags and Hell’s Angel art added at this time. His Flying Tiger decal had the two blue flashed added, making one of the most colorful of the AVG P-40’s. We worked from an original photograph that clearly shows all of these features. Also, please note that Robert Hedman’s Angel had the left arm trailing behind her, while Smith’s angel had her arm raised over her head.

The P-40 is painted to represent a typical AVG P-40C. These were re-allocated from a batch headed for the RAF. This is why they were painted in DuPont equivalent British Dark Green and Dark Earth colors, with a non standard light grey underside color. Visible on the wings is evidence of the overpainted British upperwing roundels. “

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Mon May 25, 2009 7:58 am

Nice work! The AVG P-40 does have a great paint scheme, just some of the aircraft tooling is a bit off. I recently got an AVG P-40 myself and must say it is the best of all the 21c P-40s.

SGT. ODDBALL · Post by **SGT. ODDBALL** » Mon May 25, 2009 5:24 pm

i have this plane. it is a fantastic piece. definatley worth picking up if anyone is debating the purchase of one.

pickelhaube · Post by **pickelhaube** » Mon May 25, 2009 5:33 pm

Great details !!!!

nooker21 · Post by **nooker21** » Mon May 25, 2009 11:01 pm

I love it when people improve the existing mold just using simple details...how did you make the gunsight and pitot tube? I'd love to add those things to the 1/32 model as well...

VMF115 · Post by **VMF115** » Mon May 25, 2009 11:33 pm

Nicely done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yoxford · Post by **Yoxford** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:17 am

Thanks all, more to do...starting on the movable cowl flaps and .30 cal. MG cooling shrouds...here are a couple new updates.

cut out the radiator intake and added the .50 cal. blast tubes

antenna mount with spring tension, rudder hinge, and trim tab arms & linkage.

pickelhaube · Post by **pickelhaube** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:38 am

Yoxford wrote:Thanks all, more to do...starting on the movable cowl flaps and .30 cal. MG cooling shrouds...here are a couple new updates.

cut out the radiator intake and added the .50 cal. blast tubes

antenna mount with spring tension, rudder hinge, and trim tab arms & linkage.

This looks great. Also a perfect paint match. What kind of paint did you use ?

Yoxford · Post by **Yoxford** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:09 am

Thanks PH...
The paint that I used is Humbrol #119 MATT for the green and Model Master Dark Earth #617 for the brown...it was the gray that had me at a loss...I tried over seven diferent shades and a finally found a very close match with model master agressor grey #36251...
I just made some decals (NO STEP, PRESTONE, TIE DOWN, DRAIN VENT etc.) and will be getting those on the model today.

kevrut · Post by **kevrut** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:09 am

Looks good.

Post by **aferguson** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 9:34 am

the idea that it was 'fat' came from the overly buldged underfuselage fairing, that makes it look pregnant. Never bothered me much; in fact i didn't notice it til someone pointed it out.

Many 21c planes have overly large canopies.....and i bet many people never notice. In fact, the only ones that don't have oversized canopies are the 109's, spitfire, stuka, avenger, P-51 and 262's. All the rest are too big...including the mig and f-86....as is bbi's hellcat canopy. It has never bothered me, in fact i rather like the look.

I have smith's p-40 as well as the raf version and like them alot. The later models were nicer looking planes and leaner in apperance, and that's where alot of the misconception comes from.

Yoxford · Post by **Yoxford** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 5:07 am

Updates:
close up of aluminum crank style pitot tube, wing mount plate and also you can see some stenciling under the wing (tie down, insp.)

Pitot tube mounted

Cut off the static cooling flaps and getting ready to make aluminum ones. (Also you can see the "PRESTONE" stencil in front of the windscreen and the cherry wood stand that it will rest on once finished.)

Yoxford · Post by **Yoxford** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:22 am

UPDATE: .30 Cal. shrouds:

This has been big stumbling block for me, trying to get the .30 CAL. MG cooling shrouds/barrels right…(as pickelhaube can attest to, there are virtually no 1/18 scale .30 cals around)

Thing is I can’t mount the wings till the .30 cals. are mounted and the wheel covers are on due to perm. nature of the new mould for the under fairing with the .50 cal. vents, them wings are NEVER coming off once on.

So after many failed attempts, three jigs, and half a dozen drill bits later, I finally got the jig right. Using square brass tube, got the right line up of holes to kick out the cooling shrouds.
Now the A.V.G. used whatever .30 cal could get a hold of and most had either the slotted British version (NOT going there) or the four-row, holed American version. Here is a shot of the barrels, in raw form not cut yet, fresh out of the jig. The actual cooling shrouds stuck out from the wing edge with about 6 or 7 holes showing.

Next up is a shot showing a rough idea as to what the barrel will look like (there will be six parts to the final version including a inner barrel and hex nut lock cap for the barrel stay.) Also what to do for the wheel covers??? (stickers aren’t gonna git it) so I found a US dime is the perfect template to use for some sheet metal wheel covers…

Don’t toss them stickers though, as they are perfect templates for the upcoming paint job!

nooker21 · Post by **nooker21** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:21 am

Keep those lovely photos coming. I can't wait to see the finished machine guns...

Yoxford · Post by **Yoxford** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 5:37 am

Wheel covers are on finally and make a huge difference…ended up hand painting as reference photos show the real deal were hand painted and hand drawn without stencils...(Not to mention they were directional and 21st printed both stickers as starboard covers)

Here are both covers showing directional rotation

Before

After