1:32 P-40E

The shark that flew on every front

The Curtiss P-40E was among the most widespread American fighters of the first half of the war. It was neither the fastest nor the most agile, but there were plenty of them, it took rough handling and it stayed in the air even in the dusty conditions of North Africa and Burma. It is to this machine that the most famous toothed mouth painted on the radiator under the nose belongs.

A greenhouse of many panels

While later fighters were heading toward teardrop canopies without frames, this machine goes exactly the other way. Above the pilot is a sliding section divided by frames, behind it a fixed glazed spine continues, and at the sides of the cockpit are drop-down side panes that could be lowered like a car window. Together that gives markedly more separate panels than any other item in this line. Every panel has its own frame, every frame its own width, and taping such a broken-up part by hand stretches to a whole evening. Pre-cut shapes reduce the work to laying the pieces on, and that is that.

The scope of the set

The package covers the glazing from the face as well as from inside, which with this many frames shows most of all, because a whole row of them is visible in the cockpit through the clear plastic. National insignia and decals are not included, as this is the manufacturer's most basic version.

What the cut was based on

The pattern was the kit released in 1:32 by Revell. Before you peel the parts off the backing, lay them on the clear plastic dry and go over the spacing of the frames. On densely divided cockpits the deviation between firms shows more than anywhere else, and a mask that misses by half a millimeter ruins a whole panel.