1:72 Curtiss P40N-10/N-15 Middle Kittyhawk IV

Instrument panel for the middle blocks of the P-40N in 1:72 scale

This is not a kit but a stand-alone finished part for the cockpit from Yahu Models. The panel has the instruments in raised relief and color printing from the factory, so in the model it is simply fitted in place of the plastic part.

Let us be honest about the size: a fighter panel in 1:72 scale is genuinely tiny, and working with it calls for tweezers, good light and quite possibly a magnifier. At the same time that is the reason a finished panel is worth most in this scale. Hand painting of the dial faces on such a surface almost always ends up as a suggestion, a decal seats worse and has to be softened. A finished part has the relief and the color in a single piece and is fitted dry.

The real subject

The Curtiss P-40N was the last large production version of the P-40; in British and Allied nomenclature it was designated Kittyhawk Mk.IV. The N-10 and N-15 production blocks belong to the middle part of the series and differed from the early lightened N-1 and N-5 blocks in equipment and in details of the cockpit. The brand therefore keeps the panels for the early, middle and late blocks apart, and it is worth looking into the documentation for your kit beforehand to see which block you are actually building.

Setting it into the cockpit

Thin or remove the plastic panel from the kit. Work with tweezers over a mat from which you will find the small part should you drop it. It is glued in spots with cyanoacrylate or with a flexible glue for photo-etched parts; dose it with a pin. Finish and paint the interior in advance and do not spray matte varnish over the panel.

Who the set is for

• For builders of the middle P-40N blocks in 1:72 scale.
• For modelers who do not want to paint dials by hand in this scale.
• For builds with the canopy slid back, where the cockpit can be seen into.
• For those who build several P-40 versions and want to tell them apart inside too.