1:32 P-40 Warhawks

Painted Warhawks from the Mediterranean

With the 79th Fighter Group nose art became a hallmark, and one man stood behind it: Corporal Joseph E. Pumphrey. He painted it straight on the field airfields in North Africa and in Italy, where the group supported the advance of the Allied armies in 1943. This sheet in 1:32 scale carries two of his works onto a model.

The first machine is the aircraft with the fuselage number X21 and the art called Fifinella, which flew with the 86th Fighter Squadron. The second, X43 of the 85th Fighter Squadron, bore the name Miss Memphis. Both aircraft belonged to the version powered by an engine of licensed manufacture, which American units in the Mediterranean received as a priority, and their numbers were painted large and in white so as to be legible from the ground.

Artwork on a dusty machine

Aircraft from field airfields had their finish eaten away by sand and sun, so a model is usually built heavily worn. The markings, however, have to be applied to a smooth and untouched surface, otherwise bubbles will appear under the printing. The procedure is therefore the reverse of what seems logical: first paint and gloss varnish, then the decals, and only at the very end dust, chipping and traces of service around them.

The large scale makes it possible to take the artwork further still: once dry, the edges of a motif can be accented with the shade of the base color, so that the transition between printing and paint disappears completely. That is exactly what sets an ordinary model apart from one where the viewer is not sure whether the nose art is a decal or brush work. The set offers both aircraft at once, so they can be built as a pair from one airfield.