1:48 P-40 B

The fighter that made its name with a shark's mouth

At the beginning of the war the Curtiss P-40B was among the things the US Army Air Forces really had at hand. The Allison V12 did not allow it to excel at great altitudes, but it withstood hard handling low over the ground. In the winter of 1941 the volunteers fighting over southern China won it a reputation that no one has taken from the machine since, and the painted mouth around the radiator became one of the most frequently built motifs of all. British squadrons ran the same type under the name Tomahawk and in North Africa attacked mainly ground targets with it.

Why a sprayed marking beats a decal here

A decal is a thin layer of paint carried by a transparent film. For that film to disappear, it needs a smooth gloss beneath it. On a matte or roughened shade air is caught under it and the edge whitens. Paint sprayed through a stencil does not have this problem, because it lies directly in the surface of the model. On an aircraft that is most often built in a dusty field finish that is an essential difference: the star then comes across as part of the paintwork, not as a sticker.

What the envelope contains

The films are cut to the shape of the frames of a particular kit, so nothing is traced or tried out dry. Alongside the outer parts, pieces for the inner side of the glazing are enclosed, which you will appreciate if the frame of the cockpit is to be in a different shade inside. The second part of the envelope is stencils of the national markings. The package contains films only; neither paints nor plastic parts are in it. The set therefore assumes that you have an airbrush or at least a spray can and the shade in which the marking is sprayed.