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Description
Backround: The curtiss P40 Warhawk was one of the 2 most advanced aircraft the us air force had when the war began(the other beeing the p 39 Airacobra). The p 40 was based on the earlier p 36 hawk fighter aircraft but featured a new engine, the powerful allison v1710 inline piston engine, replacing the radial engie on the p 36. This gave the p 40 a much more differnt appearence than the aircraft it was based on. A large air intake on the p 40, sitting under the nose of the machine, gave it a vry characteristic appearence. The earler models(B-D ) were named the Tomahawk, the later models were named Kittyhawk; the us airmen referred to all of them as the warhawk. The P40 had a tough aircrafe, able to withstand a lot of punishemnt and when it entered service, it was one of the tightest turning aircraft of its time. The aircraft featured a standard layout with tricycle landing gear and low mounted wing. A three bladed propeller propelled all variants of the p 40. The p 40 earned particular fame during the time it was flown by the ammerican volunteer group,famously named the flying tigers. They served with their p 40s in china ,flying against the jappanese aircraft. At first it had to face aircraft like the ki 27 fighter and ki 21 sally bomber, aircraft the p 40 could quite easily handle, the ki 27 beeing much slower but much more maneuverable and ki 27 was easy to shoot down since it didnt have any sealf sealing fuel tanks. When entering a turning fight tho, the p 40 was doomed-should it decide to follow. when using boom and zoom tactics, the p 40 was a fearsome opponent , as it was much more able to take damage than the japanese fighters. Later on, it had to face the ki 43 oscar, a much more sofisticated dogfighter that could match the p 40 in speed, could climb better and was much more agile. With their heavier armament and superior dive performance, the p 40 was however able to hold its own. However, the p 40 had its faults: Its lack of a two stage supercharger meant that performance dropped significantly at high altitude. Its climb rate was absolutely awful, with only around 11 metres per second, even some biplanes could outclimb it. The visibility was also not great. Early P 40s had a mix of 7,7 and 12,7mm machine guns, later variants had6 12,7mm machine guns, 3 in each wing. P 40s were also used by the british and p 40s served over europe and in north africa. Compared to the bf 109 E, the p 40 was just as fast, dived better and was similarly maneuverbale. As the bf 109 F apeared however, the p 40 was completely outclassed. P 40s were used on ground strike missions and were particularly successful in that role in later stages of the war, when it wasnt really competitive enough as a dogfighter . Armed with bombs and rocket, P 40s provided fast close air support . In the pacific, P 40s were pretty good fighters in the early stages of the war, using theri superior dive speed, they could evade dogfights with the much more maneuverable zero and oscar fighters but when the Ki 61 appeared on the batlefield, the P 40 again found itself outclassed, although it remained in service, with success, towards the end of second world war.
Production of the aircraft ceased in 1944, after almost 14000 P 40s were produced, making the p 40 the third most produced fighter of U air force during WWII. A large number of P40s were used by the soviet union, where they serve with distinction, russian pilots really liked the aircraft for its sturdy airframe and diving capabilities.

Several p 40s remain in airworthy condition today.

The kit:
This is a mistercraft or mastercraft model kit, a limited run I think. I bought it for 5 bucks.Its in 1/72 scale.
Detail: The surface detail is very nice, the rivets and panel lines are not bad, but the interior is basically nonexistent, no cokpit detail, no landing bay detail. The landing gear itself is ok
**
Quality: Not that good, there was significant flash on the parts of the kit . The clear parts are good.
**
Fitting: Also not that impressive, all the parts are really rough fitting, not that good fitting. The kit went however well together after all, the seams were small enough that the glue filled them most of the time.
***
Decals. The decals are also not worth mentioning, they look ok, some seem a bit offset but not noticeably, they rip however very very easily
***
Extrapoints: The kit itself is well...crap, there are way better kits of this aircraft in that scale. The result is however quite nice and the low price might makes this kit attractive for begiiners, and it is begiiner suited despite quality issues.
IS there anything worth for extrapoint? Well, the surface detail IS pretty nicely looki ,I give it that, I also like the box art and the instructions are straightforward, tho I find it extremely funny, that the instructions show much more detail than there really is)
***
Result: Its not a good kit, but not a bad oneeither, its ok-ish. Surface detail is good and the pilot figure in the tight fuselage hidesthat there is no cockpit. I love how my p 40 came out, its one of my fines 1/72 kits despite the unspectacular camouflage (touhg the colourful decals make up for it). I also love how the weathering came out, not too much but not too few, its one of my most realistic looking 1/72 kits.
Would I recommend it? Its good enough for its price but there are better p 40s around .
**and a half

Description
Backround: The curtiss P40 Warhawk was one of the 2 most advanced aircraft the us air force had when the war began(the other beeing the p 39 Airacobra). The p 40 was based on the earlier p 36 hawk fighter aircraft but featured a new engine, the powerful allison v1710 inline piston engine, replacing the radial engie on the p 36. This gave the p 40 a much more differnt appearence than the aircraft it was based on. A large air intake on the p 40, sitting under the nose of the machine, gave it a vry characteristic appearence. The earler models(B-D ) were named the Tomahawk, the later models were named Kittyhawk; the us airmen referred to all of them as the warhawk. The P40 had a tough aircrafe, able to withstand a lot of punishemnt and when it entered service, it was one of the tightest turning aircraft of its time. The aircraft featured a standard layout with tricycle landing gear and low mounted wing. A three bladed propeller propelled all variants of the p 40. The p 40 earned particular fame during the time it was flown by the ammerican volunteer group,famously named the flying tigers. They served with their p 40s in china ,flying against the jappanese aircraft. At first it had to face aircraft like the ki 27 fighter and ki 21 sally bomber, aircraft the p 40 could quite easily handle, the ki 27 beeing much slower but much more maneuverable and ki 27 was easy to shoot down since it didnt have any sealf sealing fuel tanks. When entering a turning fight tho, the p 40 was doomed-should it decide to follow. when using boom and zoom tactics, the p 40 was a fearsome opponent , as it was much more able to take damage than the japanese fighters. Later on, it had to face the ki 43 oscar, a much more sofisticated dogfighter that could match the p 40 in speed, could climb better and was much more agile. With their heavier armament and superior dive performance, the p 40 was however able to hold its own. However, the p 40 had its faults: Its lack of a two stage supercharger meant that performance dropped significantly at high altitude. Its climb rate was absolutely awful, with only around 11 metres per second, even some biplanes could outclimb it. The visibility was also not great. Early P 40s had a mix of 7,7 and 12,7mm machine guns, later variants had6 12,7mm machine guns, 3 in each wing. P 40s were also used by the british and p 40s served over europe and in north africa. Compared to the bf 109 E, the p 40 was just as fast, dived better and was similarly maneuverbale. As the bf 109 F apeared however, the p 40 was completely outclassed. P 40s were used on ground strike missions and were particularly successful in that role in later stages of the war, when it wasnt really competitive enough as a dogfighter . Armed with bombs and rocket, P 40s provided fast close air support . In the pacific, P 40s were pretty good fighters in the early stages of the war, using theri superior dive speed, they could evade dogfights with the much more maneuverable zero and oscar fighters but when the Ki 61 appeared on the batlefield, the P 40 again found itself outclassed, although it remained in service, with success, towards the end of second world war.
Production of the aircraft ceased in 1944, after almost 14000 P 40s were produced, making the p 40 the third most produced fighter of U air force during WWII. A large number of P40s were used by the soviet union, where they serve with distinction, russian pilots really liked the aircraft for its sturdy airframe and diving capabilities.

Several p 40s remain in airworthy condition today.

The kit:
This is a mistercraft or mastercraft model kit, a limited run I think. I bought it for 5 bucks.Its in 1/72 scale.
Detail: The surface detail is very nice, the rivets and panel lines are not bad, but the interior is basically nonexistent, no cokpit detail, no landing bay detail. The landing gear itself is ok
**
Quality: Not that good, there was significant flash on the parts of the kit . The clear parts are good.
**
Fitting: Also not that impressive, all the parts are really rough fitting, not that good fitting. The kit went however well together after all, the seams were small enough that the glue filled them most of the time.
***
Decals. The decals are also not worth mentioning, they look ok, some seem a bit offset but not noticeably, they rip however very very easily
***
Extrapoints: The kit itself is well...crap, there are way better kits of this aircraft in that scale. The result is however quite nice and the low price might makes this kit attractive for begiiners, and it is begiiner suited despite quality issues.
IS there anything worth for extrapoint? Well, the surface detail IS pretty nicely looki ,I give it that, I also like the box art and the instructions are straightforward, tho I find it extremely funny, that the instructions show much more detail than there really is)
***
Result: Its not a good kit, but not a bad oneeither, its ok-ish. Surface detail is good and the pilot figure in the tight fuselage hidesthat there is no cockpit. I love how my p 40 came out, its one of my fines 1/72 kits despite the unspectacular camouflage (touhg the colourful decals make up for it). I also love how the weathering came out, not too much but not too few, its one of my most realistic looking 1/72 kits.
Would I recommend it? Its good enough for its price but there are better p 40s around .
**and a half