Kit: No. VF2402
Scale: 1/24
Manufacturer: Vintage Fighter Series, from Squadron Mail Order, 972-242- 8663, www.squadron.com
Price: $119.98
Comments: Injection-molded, 223 parts (7 photoetched, 3 vinyl, 1 photo film), decals
Pros: Jumbo scale, good engine detail
Cons: Thick wing, odd proportions, thick trailing edges, wide panel lines, undersize cockpit detail, no way to fully display engine, poor fit of wing to fuselage
Building Vintage Fighter Series’ P-40 was a case of déjà vu. The parts breakdown and many of the features and details are similar to Trumpeter’s 1/32 P-40 that I built for an April 2004 Workbench Review. But just scaling up from a smaller kit doesn’t necessarily make a great model, and can enlarge some of the errors. In addition, this kit has taken on some toylike features. The wing and all the trailing edges are too thick. Recessed panel detail is overstated.
The best part of the kit is the fine representation of the Allison engine, with its separate two-part exhaust stacks for each cylinder, engine bearers, accessories, and radiators. It’s a pity it’s buried inside the nose. Leaving the upper cowl panel off will expose the topside of the engine and the machine guns.
The cockpit has adequate detail, but the tub is too shallow, and many details, including the seat, are too small for the scale. Because the floor sits too high in the fuselage, the opening for the pilot’s legs to reach the rudder pedals under the instrument panel is much too narrow. The gauges are printed on photo film, but the holes in the panel are too small for the scale. Although a seat harness is shown in the instruction diagram, none is provided.
The landing gear can be posed up or down – just delete the retraction struts and glue the gear up if you want the model to be posed in flight. I found the vinyl tires wouldn’t fit easily over the main-wheel hubs. I ended up using an artist’s clay sculpting tool as a tire iron to mount the tires. The tail wheel doors are molded with large, curved mounting tabs that fit into big housings glued inside the fuselage.
The flaps and control surfaces are hinged, but the fit was so snug there was little room for movement; I just glued them in place.
Most of the parts fit pretty well, but when I attached the wing assembly to the fuselage, I was faced with a 3/32″ gap to fill at the front behind the cowl flaps.
The clear parts are molded well, and Vintage got the one-piece, formed windscreen correct, but, like Trumpeter’s P-40, Vintage molded unsightly mounts for the bullet-resistant panel into the windscreen. The rear-vision panels lack the circular cutouts for the fuselage fuel-tank fillers. A huge shelf is molded on each side of the fuselage to hold the canopy in the open position. If you want the canopy closed, you should cut off the shelves. Another oddity: The drop tank is covered with huge bumps that look nothing like rivets.
Painting the model was simple for the early war scheme: olive drab over neutral gray. There weren’t many decals for this machine, and they went down without trouble. Two one-piece pilot figures are included in the kit, but they were poorly sculpted, and I didn’t bother painting one.
I put in 27 hours on the big P-40. Modeler’s with average skills can build the model, but P-40 aficionados will likely be disappointed in Vintage’s toylike approach to this old classic.
– Larry Schramm