History

What more can be said about the P-40? The P-40 was made famous by the AVG “Flying Tigers”, but was utilized by almost all of the American allies during World War II. The Warhawk was also used in almost every theater of operation during the war.

Every county involved during the war evaluated captured aircraft in some form or another, even with pressing them into service due to the lack of spare parts, such as the example of his kit.

Kit

This is a Limited Edition kit from Hasegawa, and compliments the rest of Hasegawa’s P-40 line. The kit is produced in light grey plastic. It features recessed panel lines with a minimum of flash.

As with most aircraft kits, you start with the cockpit. When complete, you have a nice representation of a P-40 cockpit. One downside is that there are no seatbelts on the seat. You will have to go aftermarket for these.

According to Dragon Model’s web site, this model represents “a vehicle whose main function was combat supply on land and in water. It could tow an amphibious trailer, or alternatively it could work in tandem with another Panzerfahre as a floating ferry platform capable of carrying a 24-ton load.” However, other than the prototypes, no other vehicles were manufactured. Yet we get a lovely injection-molded kit of this weird vehicle!! The Golden Age of Modeling, indeed!

Scale Aircraft Conversions makes various landing gear sets out of lead-free white metal. Some come with the wheels attached, if needed, while others might have the wheel bay included to help with added weight, but most only come with the new landing gear struts. This set comes with the forward wheel bay included so there is added weight up front. I’m pretty sure you will still have to add weight to the nose, but this is a great help.

The detail of the metal parts is crisp and looks flawless. The advantage to these parts is their strength and that they won’t warp under the kit’s weight over time. They will also hold up well while you work with them – no accidentally snapping them apart. To attach the new landing gear, you will need to use CA glue. On their web site they recommend a thicker, gap-filling CA glue so that you can position them the way you want, and then use an accelerator to bond the parts instantly.