Hasegawa

1/32 P-40N Warhawk "15,000th Anniversary "

Kit Number: 08195

Reviewed by  Fred Amos, IPMS# 6672

MSRP: $79.85 Review sample provided by Dragon Models USA: www.dragonmodelsusa.com As a model builder for almost 40 years I have always liked the Curtiss P-40 series of aircraft. In my own personal opinion the P-40 played a very big part in the winning of WW II by holding its own against the enemy forces while the United States built up its own arsenal. The P40N was the last production variant of the P-40 series, (two P-40 Q's were built and tested but never saw production) with approximately 5200 being mass-produced. During the P-40N production run Curtiss Aircraft Company reached a milestone and celebrated by marking one of the P-40's with the National Insignia of all of the countries that had ever bought Curtiss fighter aircraft since the company's beginning. Not to be confused with all of the countries that ever flew it, namely Japan and Finland and Germany. That aircraft is the subject of this model. I have built Hasegawa's earlier P-40E and K releases and was looking forward to adding this kit to the collection. I first became aware of this beautiful airplane almost 30 years ago when I came across a January 1980 issue of Famous Airplanes of the World Vol.117. with several color photos it. In the meantime I have built it in 1/72 and 1/48 and now in 1/32 scale. Cockpit. The kit is up to Hasegawa's quality standards but there are a few fit problems to look out for. More on that later. The cockpit builds up to a pretty nice representation, but I really think a good resin cockpit would be an improvement. I trimmed the edges of the instrument panel decal so I could get a better fit. After they were soaked with Champ decal solvent they snuggled down nicely. I added some Eduard seat belts to further enhance the cockpit.

It has been my habit to build the fuselage and then slip the finished cockpit into place. Don't try it on this model. The seat back on this kit is larger than the P-40 E and K and it wont allow you to slip the cockpit in after the fuselage halves are glued together. fit. I glued the fuselage area in front of the cockpit together and then had to fight it into place. Fuselage The extended tail fits to the forward fuselage just like the earlier kits and has the same fit problems, a slight step between the front and back. What I suggest is that after the front fuselage halves are dry and sanded, and the tail section is glued together and all seems sanded, place some tube glue on the square part of the tail insert and push it into place. While it still setting up tightly wrap some tape over the seam while pushing the tail forward. The resulting gap can be filled with your favorite putty. I used an old tube of Bondo Putty but it tends to leave pit holes when it is sanded away. Never again, so I threw it away. Wing. From past experience I knew there was a fit problem with the wing to fuselage. I always had a gap at the wing root. So when I put the wheel well pieces onto the bottom of the wing I placed a strong clamp over the wing spar hoping to force the outer wing panels upward. Also be aware that parts No. A28 and A29 must be in place before the upper wing pieces are glued to the lower wing. These fit very tightly so some sanding is called for. I found that even though the leading edge of the wings were perfectly aligned the trailing edge over lapped a bit. With careful sanding it won't show. At this point I drilled the holes in the area of the wing tips for the antenna wire. Drill all the way through from one side. If you use panel lines as a reference you will find yourself out of alignment. Also the hole for the wire on the front of the rudder and the one on top of the fuselage should be done BEFORE assembly starts. Now comes the worst fit of all, the wing to fuselage. The rear part of the wing fits to the fuselage fine but as you move forward the wing root opens up till at the front there is a gap of about 1/32 to 3/64ths of and inch. Where the front of the wing meets at the fuselage, the fuselage is about 1/16 narrower. If it did fit the wing the cockpit and the radiator assemble would be loose so to me the problem is the wing assembly itself. I stuffed stretched sprue into the smaller openings and putty in to the rest. I eventually had to put putty in the wing roots too. The guns at the leading edge fit well enough Canopies The canopy is very crisp and clear. There are four pieces, windshield, two sliding sections, (one open, one closed) and the aft part over the fuel tank. Remember the problem Hasegawa had with the windshield on the 1/32 P-40E? Well, they got this one right but made mistakes on the rest of it. There is no engraving for the framing on top of the sliding piece or the piece over the tank, and no framing at the front of the rear canopy piece. Several kit manufacturers have missed this point but if you look close at several photos you can see the frames. I put the frames on the sliding canopy but didn't think about the rear canopy until after I had finished painting. Painting and Decaling After the canopy was masked off I proceeded to painting. I use an old bottle of Floquil RR color paint, Reefer Gray, for the Neutral Gray and MM Olive Drab Fs 34087. This was followed up with heavy layer of Future Floor wax for the decals and the waxed appearance of the prototype. The decals appear to be a little thick and are certainly brittle. The biggest decal problems were with the ones for the rudder and the tiger's mouth on the lower nose. Both required copious amounts of Champ decal solution to form the decal over the rivets and controls.

The mouth pieces had to be sliced in several places to get a reasonable fit. I would rather have seen Hasegawa have the decal designed as two pieces for each side. After the decals were dried I sprayed over the whole model with MM Semi Gloss Clear Lacquer Finish to cut the shine of the Future and blend in the edges of the decals. Final Assembly of Small Parts With the decaling finished I removed the masking from the canopy pieces. The sliding piece was glued into place, as were the very finicky (or fussy if you choose) exhaust pieces. Pay close attention to the numbers and work from the back to the front. The landing gear, doors and the bomb were then glued into place. I know that the instructions call for the fins on the bomb to be painted O.D. but I swear I recall seeing a picture of the underside of that airplane and that fins were painted orange. Also the instructions call for the landing gear struts to be painted Red White and Blue but I think that was carrying things a little to far by the folks at Hasegawa. Last the antenna wire, represented with a smoke colored invisible thread, was strung from wing tip to tip through the hole previously drilled in the bracket on the rudder and the ends secured with super glue. I filed tiny notches in the antenna mast, tied a loose knot in a long piece of thread and drew it tight over the notches, leaving about two inches on one end, and applied a drop of super glue. When that was dry enough I super glued the mast to the top of the fuselage. I then threaded the longer piece of thread through the hole in the bracket, pulled it snug and wrapped it around the thread going to the wing tips and applied a drop of super glue. The extra lengths were cut off and the two-inch piece was stuffed into the hole in the fuselage followed by another drop of super glue.

Conclusion Well now, another fine kit from Hasegawa. Despite the fit issues I still like this kit. Total build time for me was about eight days. I couldn't begin to estimate the time involved. I am retired so it really doesn't matter. I would like to extend a big THANK YOU to Dragon Models USA for offering the kit to the IPMS/USA Reviewer Corps. Be sure to visit the web site at http://www.dragonmodelsusa.com