1/48 OTAKI P-40E

[Rogi]

Just Reserving my place atm (I'll edit this post a little later after I get a brief history down and post some pics)

I was told this a start to finish section (I have all my photos already taken just have to jot them down in this section

First a little background on this build:

I had a tough choice 3 months before our bi-annual IPMS competition, people from far and wide our great nation of Canada, and some neighbors to the south in the United States would be coming to compete in Capcon 2011 the cream of the crop in model building, since I only had 1 other capcon tournie under my belt, I wanted to do my best and better my model from last time (I don't go to win, I just try to make the best model possible and have fun doing it

First I decided to choose a Bf-109F for the build but I had to experiment on a aircraft before entering, so I don't repeat my previous mistakes (ie: last time I entered I ended up doing everything last minute and I forgot to apply future, the decals silvered and end of story for any prize ). I found a old Otaki P-40E kit in our local Hobby Centre and to my amazement it was $5 (Canadian), so I decided to give it a try as my "experiment", a couple days later while picking up paint I found a KMC cockpit set, for again, $5, since the Otaki cockpit was bare to begin with (alas impressive for a 70s kit, it was bare by today's standards and could use some sprucing up) I decided on adding it to the model. To keep this section short since I'll be describing the build more in detail first I'll give you the history of my choice in build:


Short history on the P-40E that I decided to build:

I usually decide to go for something un-expected, this P-40E was no exception, Instead of the usual Flying Tigers/RAF sharkmouth motif I went with a un-known subject for some modelers, The Japanese used P-40s for combat and testing purposes during the war, the example I chose was "White 3" assigned to the Koku Gijutsu Kenkyujo (Air Technical Research Laboratory), there are several photos to use as reference material, but I decided to make this P-40 a little "beat up" as were most of the P-40Es at the end of the war in the photos provided to me.


(If I have some of the photos off please let me know, I beleive the format is 800 X 600 max?)



This is mainly the look I was going for, damaged, almost beyond repair.



For some reason, beyond my comprehension of my sorting pictures the other day, I can't find my fixing the cockpit in place (at the start of the build) Just when I started to paint the cockpit and putty everything, so if you all excuse that part till I find it, I would be much obligated to you all.

First Step:

After the cockpit is in place (a mixture of KMC cockpit parts 80% to 20% parts of the original kit), sanding off the panels of the otaki kit and glueing in the cockpit replacement panels of the KMC cockpit set (the seat, the floor, headrest) I applied the mix of Tamiya Flat Green and Tamiya Yellow Green as was standard to imitate the cockpit color on the actual aircraft. The wing being masked as well and the wheel bay painted the same color as the cockpit.






This enabled me to paint out the fine details in the cockpit after the paint drys (and I'll leave it here and post some more pics after some feadback, this is my first actual post in this forum on posting a model and I'd like to be sure I'm following all the rules and everything looks in line before I post some more. Thank you guys for having a helpful community of fellow modelers and not a flaming club like some other forums on the net. I can't begin to express my appreciation for the knowledge and expertise members in here have, I've been doing this since childhood but I've never been so interested in the "finer" details since around 5 years ago when I really started to fall in love with this obsession as some people call it, or hobby to the non-beleivers although I'm no "vet" and I'm more green than most I feal if I learn 1 thing from every model I build I'll be well on my way to creating that model at certain shows everyone oohs and awes over.)

[Crimea_River]

Well, everything looks good from here in Cowtown Rogi. Welcome to the forum and keep posting like you just did. Looking good.

[Airframes]

Good work so far, looking forward to the next steps.

[mrf17]

Yup... Looks good to me also. Look forward to your posts. Welcome!

[Wurger]

Nice.

[Wayne Little]

Nice from here too!

[Rogi]

Step 2:

Ok so with the paint dry and tape taken off we come to the details in the cockpit, first off a basic coat of black and red for the panels

While that is drying we'll come to the engine to detail her a bit more before the big reveal (already painted a flat aluminium and set to dry the same day I was painting the cockpit, wings etc), the Otaki kit has a engine (I'm kinda a crazy lovable engine kit guy) Shes basic but thats all I need once I add the wiring and spruce her up. In the following two pictures I've taken the exhaust and cut it off the panels (it was never originally made to "bolt on" to the engine itself) so after some Xacto work and some glue we've got a engine + exhausts on her.


Now time to detail the cockpit panel, if your doing this without photoetch (like I tried to in this build) you have to use something very fine and pick out the panels slowly starting with one color and then moving on up with the others. I was very frustrated throughout the whole process (having to wipe down the panel with water and start again from scratch around 4 times) but in the end I found something that I was pretty pleased with.



Thats it for now, I'll update a little later with the puttying. Thank you all for the feadback.

[Crimea_River]

Coming aloing nicely.

[Tony Hill]

Nice start! Love the photo above too...at the end of the war and obviously bombed out!

[Wurger]

Looking good.

[Lucky13]

Great stuff!

[Airframes]

Good progress.

[at6]

Really good build. Those old Otaki kits still stand up well considering the newer kits out there. Have two of them t build and just can't justify spending more on the newest offerrings. Look forward to seeing more as you progress on your model.

[Nxthanos]

Just picked up an Arii boxing of this kit, love those P-40s!

[Rogi]

Now onto the final steps.

Sadly the engine wiring didn't go as planed, I wired it up nicely and then I noticed that the engine couldn't fit, so I had to cut off about 70% of the wiring I put onto her
I think it still came out ok.


Next, putty, I usually lather up s pretty nice amount (I'm a lil bit of a heavy sander at these things), next wait 1-2 days for it to harden and then sand it off.


Then Tape it off and into the paint booth(Just a reguler Airbrushing). Wait a day or two for one coat, then tape off the other side and the other coat. Since I was doing a Captured aircraft and the video footage in color was grainy I decided to go with a reguler Olive Drab top coat and a unusal J.N. Grey bottom coat (it makes it stand out against other P-40s which seem to appear draby.
Since she was going in for a competition I needed something else out of the ordinary.



Later Apply some weathing, the decals and final coats and we've arrived to this, a completed model, entered at Capcon 2011, its like the holly grail of modeling in Ottawa, only once every two years. It was such a cool show, my second time entering but this year beat last time for sure around 550 models and lots of spectaculer aircraft (the vendor hall was always full and "sadly" I added 3 new models to my "to be built" pile, this addiction will never be cured! ) :




And a cool pic of the plaque you get if you win 2nd place, which I did with this P-40 ! (ok granted only 2 people entered the category but still, its still second place I just feal sad I didn't include any reference photos of the plane, the judges told me it would have validated why I "roughed" up the appearance and I would of had a chance at first. Since I'm still new to competition and mainly do these models for historical authenticity and to have fun, it never crossed my mind, but good lessons for the next show )



and some more photos of the completed aircraft:
First a close up of the cockpit, I scratched up the cockpit side panels and made it look more worn (as several reference photos of similar P-40s at the end of the war showed)

a back side view

bottom view

top view (the chiping of the metal on the markings I got it off some reference photos and I decided to apply it as is for a more worn effect)

and side views (I chose to use a bigger hinomaru than was on the reference material, mainly to draw the individual's eye onto the model and differentiant it from other P-40s)



I really enjoyed this build and it inspired me to do a collection of captured Allied aircraft in Japanese Markings, the Next kit I'll be doing is a Tamiya Buffalo with a good deal of photoetch parts for her and a resin cockpit (this time to be a open cockpit to expose the beautiful work done up in the panels and cockpit area) If anyone has any info. on the captured aircraft please send me a pm

Thank you all for the kind comments and the support on this forum, I look forward to expanding my knowledge and making some more detailed models in the future. If anyone has any suggestions on how to do a better technique on the aircraft please let me know I'm always open to expaning and practing for a better result.