BigD Builds A Tomahawk (pt 3)

 The story so far:  The author decides to build a P40 Tomahawk in the colours of the WW2 Turkish Airforce and is lulled into a false sense of security. Now read on. 

 

I'd been doing pretty well up to this point. I hadn't broken anything, lost anything, put a part in upside down or come close to yeeting the kit across the room. 

Time to apply some paint. I usually put some on at this stage, before I have to add anything like airscrews, exhaust stubs or undercarriage.  I find it easier to get those painted separately and apply once the fuselage is dry. 

  I'm not entirely sure I got the shade of green right but getting the right shade was going to be awkward, what with the shops being locked down  so I went for my old favourite. "Close enough - and nobody but me is every gonna look at it anyway."

 

Then i tried puttting the undercarriage on and for the first time I hit problems.   

Problem #1. The pegs on the landing struts were too big for the holes on the wheels. I had to break out the Stanley knife and do some hacking and drilling. 

Problem#2. The landing struts are quite delicate. My fingers aren't. Naturally I ended up snapping one of the damn struts and getting that fixed took some time and swearing. 

Problem#3. While I was grappling with the lnding gear I managed to knock one of the wing guns off. Good luck finding that on my kitchen floor.  And every time I managed to get a replacement fitted, the next time I had at the undercarriage I knocked the damn gun off again. 

                      See if you can spot the gunbarrel I had to impovise out of a spare bit of plastic. 

 

Once I got all that sorted - and believe me, it was a fraught, aggravating experience - I added the canopy and exhausts.

 

  I think that canopy is supposed to be flush with the fairing but whatever. 

After painting the underside I applied the decals and called my P40 finished.

                                                 It is a very striking colour scheme, isn't it?

 

As always I have mixed feeligns about the end result. I can't help feeling that it could ahve gone better and it sure as hell doesn't look as pretty as everybody elses' kits seem to come out.  Oh well.

 

Then again, I'm glad I got it finished and I did get several hours enjoyment doing something that didn't involve a screen  so I'm going to call this one a productive use of my time. 

 

That's All Folks