Hasegawa

1/32 P-40K Warhawk

Kit Number: 08188

Reviewed by  Fred A. Amos, IPMS# 6672

MSRP: $72.95 Review kit provided by Dragon USA: Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com The Curtiss P-40 series of aircraft was possibly the best the U.S. Army Air Corps had to offer in the early stages of WW II. Constant improvements were made to the aircraft to try to keep it competitive with enemy aircraft. One of the modifications was to correct serious yaw problems on take off created the torque of the newer Allison V-1710-73 engine. The modification was made on the leading edge of the rudder and is the only externally visible detail difference from the earlier P-40 E and F series airframe. A later improvement was the extended tail seen on the -N and other P-40's. This kit is the second of Hasegawa's line of P-40's in 1/32 scale, the first being the excellent P-40 E. The difference between it and this is of course only the new tail with the modified rudder and new decals. One of the main problems with this and the first kit is the fit of the new tail to the fuselage. It leaves a slight step that has to be filled in. I think if I ever get the opportunity to build another one I will place a shim of thin plastic between the two and sand it to shape. The cockpit is very impressive when complete but I would advise the builder not to glue the instrument panel in place, just let it lay loose. The reason is that if you glue it in you will squeeze the two sidewalls together and then when you place the cockpit into the fuselage the front of the sidewalls will leave a gap.

The fit of the model is excellent with no flash or sinks. The kit comes with individual one piece fish tail style exhaust pipes, a vast improvement over the earlier two-piece round pipes on the first release. Be sure to paint the exhausts before you cut them from the sprue. The pieces are numbered and will not fit left and right both. Another area of concern is the fit of the leading edge gun barrels to the wings. I have always had to putty the seams on this type of assembly and this one is no exception.

I absolutely love the way Hasegawa addressed the clear parts on this kit. The area behind the cockpit is a fuel tank with a window over it. Until now when building a P-40 you were required to glue the clear window part into the side of the fuselage and take a serious chance of leaving visible glue marks. On this kit the exterior part of the fuel tank is installed first and then painted. (I can see the possibility of a P-40-N variant coming). Then the clear parts with the window panels clearly visible go over the fuel tank. Then simply mask the window panels and paint. See the photos for a visual explanation.

Decals in the kit are for a P-40 K flown by Maj. Edward Nollmeyer in China, Dec 1943 (I am sure you have seen the photo of this aircraft with a Curtiss C-46 on landing approach in the background) and an anonymous P-40 K serving in Hawaii in 42 and 43. The decals are flawless, with perfect registry and vibrant colors. They are very thin and the user must be very careful, they will fold over on them selves in a heartbeat. I had no problems using Micro Scale or Champ products on them. How ever I don't trust long thin decals from Hasegawa so I painted the yellow parts on the model.

I recently bought up a deceased modelers supply of paints with a lot of Floquil Military and Railroad colors so that's what I used. I used RR Rail box Yellow, RR R12 Reefer Gray for the Neutral Gray, Military Colors British Dark Earth and British Dark green. This stuff is fantastic, I wish it were still in production and available. So all in all this is typical Hasegawa quality. Very accurate, simple and easy to build and unfortunately very expensive. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. I highly recommend this kit for the serious model builder. And I am looking forward to Hasegawa expanding this kit lineage to include the P-40-M and -N as well as the Merlin powered -L variant. My thanks to Dragon USA for providing this kit to the IPMS Reviewer Corps.