1/48 Eduard ProfiPack P-40

Gallery Article by Alan Williamson on July 5 2003

 

This is my 1/48 Eduard Profipack P-40N that I built last year. 

Construction 
The over all construction took about two months to build giving up to eight hours a day on some occasions, I found this model to be quite a challenge to build and acquired a fare bit of model putty and sanding. Mainly due to the fit of the resin parts that came with the kit, or maybe it were I, however I spent many late nights filling and sanding and filling and sanding, and watching Pearl Harbor. The problem parts consisted of the resin cockpit floor, which required a lot of sanding to make it thin enough to fit into the fuselage halves. Even after it was quite thin I still had trouble getting the fuselage halves together this is were the first job of having to use putty comes to hand, well for me it did. The second problem parts were that of the resin wheel wells, which also had to be sanded quite thin in order to fit. I sanded the top of the wheel wells so thin that I broke throw, but even as thin as they were I still had difficulty joining the two wing halves on both wings with the wheel wells inside. This resulted in immense pressure having to be applied to both top and bottom of the wing halves in order to seal the seams. However I was left with a huge lump on both wing were the wheel wells were situated inside the wing halves. The conclusion a hell of a lot of sanding, to remove the humps and bums. The final problem I found that after getting the wings looking good it came time to join the wings to the fuselage this resulted in gaps were the top of the wings were to meet up with the fuselage, this was fixed with yep putty and some more sanding. Although the rest of the model you will be happy to hear went together with out well a hitch for a less of words. 

 

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Painting 
The model was finished off with humbrol paints, consisting of metal cote for the base cote, followed with a clear cote, and then the green and gray. Yet another clear cote was put for the decals and then the decals were sealed with a fine clear cote, last but no lease a dull clear cote was sprayed over the entire model to give it that dull look. There you have it. 

Finish 
The finish was completed with a rub pastel over the model for panel lines, were and tear and that of exhaust stains this also required to be sealed as not to rub off so a little more dull clear was required to do the job.

Conclusion 
This kit however the problems I seem to have run into is a nice kit with crisp panel lines and a great deal of detail. The extra parts included in the kit consisting of the resin and metal etch parts add to the great detail that Eduard has put together all in this one package.

Alan Williamson

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Photos and text © by Alan Williamson