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Project Notes

#649 P-40B Flying Tiger in 1:144

Improving the already well-detailed 1:144 AFV Club Flying Tigers P-40B with a scratch built cockpit.

No electronics in this one.

Build

Here’s a quick demo..

clip

Notes

The Hawk 81A-2 is an export version of the P-40B, with 110 aircraft produced for the RAF as Tomahawk Mk.IIs and Mk.IIAs. Apparently some ended up with the Flying Tigers in Kunming, China.

The aircraft depicted in this AFV Club AR144S01 1:144 kit was flown by Flight Leader Charles H. Older, Third Squadron, American Volunteer Group, Kunming, China, 1942.

It sports the roundels of the Republic of China, and a “Flying Tiger” insignia that was created by the Walt Disney Company.

The Kit

kit_parts

Paint Scheme

To the extent I kept track of this…

Feature Color Recommended Paint Used
cockpit Pale Yellow Humbrol 81 Vallejo 70.824 German Camo Orange Ochre
prop tips Matt Trainer Yellow Humbrol 24 70.952 Lemon Yellow
lower fuselage Matt Camouflage Grey (approx DuPont 71-021) Humbrol 28 70.986 Deck Tan + 70.993 white grey ~3:1
  Matt Black Humbrol 33  
upper camo Matt US Dark Green (approx DuPont 71-013) Humbrol 116 70.893 US Dark Green
upper camo Matt US Light Earth (approx DuPont 71-009) Humbrol 119 70.921 English Uniform w/ 70.824 German Camo Orange Ochre ~ 3:1

Build Log

There’s no cockpit in the kit, so a little scratch building goes a long way..

build01a

build01b

Drilling out the exhaust pipes with a PCB drill bit

build01c

With seatbelts and a quick paint job and wash:

build01d

build01e

build01f

Time for masking and painting

build02a

build02b

build02c

The light earth camo was a blend

build02d

build02e

With the main paint job complete and decals added:

build03a

build03b

build03c

build03d

build03e

build03f

The cockpit detail is reasonably well visible through the canopy, but so small it is a challenge to photograph with my old phone camera.

build03g

build03h

With an antenna aerial rigged and some OPR:

build04a

build04b

build04c

build04d

build04e

The AFVClub 1/144 Flying Tigers P-40B joins its big brother - Airfix 1/72.

flying_tigers_1

flying_tigers_2

Credits and References

About LEAP#649 scale modelsCraft
Project Source on GitHub Project Gallery Return to the LEAP Catalog

This page is a web-friendly rendering of my project notes shared in the LEAP GitHub repository.

LEAP is just my personal collection of projects, usually involving an Arduino or other microprocessor in one way or another. Some are full-blown projects, while many are trivial breadboard experiments, intended to learn and explore something interesting (IMHO!).

The projects are usually inspired by things found wild on the net, or ideas from the sources such as:

Feel free to borrow liberally, and if you spot any issues do let me know. See the individual projects for credits where due. There are even now a few projects contributed by others - send your own over in a pull request if you would also like to add to this collection.