AMtech

1/48 P-40K-5/Kittyhawk III (Round Tail) model kit

Product # 489213

Product Article by Steve Bamford on May 2  2005

 

 

 

 
This kit from AMtech is of the 1/48 P-40K-5/Kittyhawk III.  This kit was originally tooled as a P-40E by AMT/ERTL and issued by AMtech.   

This kit is a different version of the AMtech P-40 kit with a resin tail made for AMtech by Black Box.  It includes 5 sprues of light gray styrene, one of clear styrene parts, enough decals to make one of four different P-40K-5/Kittyhawk III's.  There are also additional markings for P-40E's should you choose to not build this as a P-40K and save the resin tail in your kit stash for a later date. 

The first thing I always consider when buying a kit is quality of the moulding.  This kit has delicate recessed panel lines although a few of the panel lines will need a tiny bit of rescribing due to release pin marks on the fuselage in easy to get at locations.....but these marks are VERY, VERY tiny and will not slow you down in the least.  Don't be put off by this....the beautifully done panel lines will impress you. 

The review sample I got contained a second set of fuselage halves....these are identical to the other set in the kit......I can only guess they give you an extra set of fuselage halves incase you really muck-up cutting the fuselage when trying to install the larger resin tail.  I can't really imagine many people having problems, but it is always nice to have a spare fuselage set. 

The main landing gear  wheel well bays look good and contain a minimal amount of detail.  The shell ejection holes on the underside of the wing are opened up and look very crisp and well moulded.  One thing you can't see in the photo is the impressive recessed detail of the panel lines etc on the top and bottom sides of the finished wing.  This is one very sweet looking kit and the panel line detail is sure to please anyone that buys it. 

Click on images below to see larger images

The decal options are for 4 different aircraft flown by the US and Australians.  

Decal option #1 is a P-40E-1 41-36504 flown by an unknown American Training squadron out of Randolph Field, Texas in mid 1943.  This aircraft is overall Olive Drab on top and neutral grey on the underside with a red and white prop spinner.  This aircraft has no artwork. 

Decal option #2 is a Kittyhawk Mk. III flown by No. 450 Squadron during 1942 with the RAAF.   This aircraft is a Middle Stone/Dark Earth camo pattern with Azure Blue on the underside with a red prop spinner.  Artwork on this aircraft includes a Kangaroo with boxing gloves wearing a classic Aussie hat.  

Decal option #3 is "Death on Wings" which is a P-40K-5 flown by the 64th Fighter Squadron of the 57th Fighter Group out of Egypt in late 1942.  This aircraft is overall Sand on top and neutral grey on the underside with a red prop spinner.  Artwork includes a black scorpion on a white background on both sides of the tail and a skulls head with wings on the left side of the engine cowling with the text "Death on Wings".  The text "Death on Wings" is provided in white and yellow....due to the lack of a confirmation of the correct colour for this text.

Decal option #4 is a Kiyyhawk Mk.III with No. 450 Squadron, RAAF out of Libya in 1942.  This aircraft is Dark Earth and Dark Green camo on top and Sky grey of Sky Blue on the underside with a red prop spinner.  Artwork includes a red crest with a white dog and a swastika on it on both sides of the lower engine cowling.  

The decal sheet for the P-40E AMtech kit is included which gives you more decal options if you want to build the earlier P-40, but no instructions were included for these markings and I suspect this decal sheet was included for the National insignias than for the alternate early P-40 artwork markings.

 

Canopy parts include 4 pieces.....The glass is very clear and has nice delicate framing.  This will look excellent once it's masked and painted. 
crystal clear canopy packed in a separate bag to avoid canopy scratches

Below are some details photos of various cockpit parts.  Detail is quite good and will respond well to drybrushing.  The seat even has very fine seatbelts molded on them, but I would be tempted to make some out of masking tape belts or use photo etch belts.  Side panel detail is good and I'd have little need to improve upon it.

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 instrument panels seat cockpit sides

All panel lines are beautifully done finely recessed lines....not too deep or wide.....just right.  The landing gear is well done and simple.....just like on the real P-40.

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fuselage side showing rivet and panel line detail landing gear leg
This is a side view of the resin tail show it's beauty.  There is some paper thin flashing in the hinge joint that needs to be cleaned out....which will takes seconds with a shape X-Acto blade.  The resin tail fits inside the existing fuselage after you cut off the tail from the styrene fuselage halves.  You will need to thin the inside of the fuselage to get the resin tail to fit......not a big deal and particularly easy if you have a dremel.
resin tail

I did some dryfitting of the main parts and the fit at critical areas such as the fuselage halves and the fuselage to wing root joint was very good and will require little if any filler and I expect this kit to build up quite well.  

The instruction sheets includes 9 pages of instructions.  Line drawings are clearly laid out and include painting instructions.  Plus details about where to cut the tail off the fuselage halves and how to fit the resin tail.

It's good to see this release from AMtech of this later P-40.

Click on images below to see larger images

P-40K  --  DEATH on Wings markings

Kittyhawk III  -- Kangaroo markings

 

Now the important part.  

This is a limited-availability kit and will ONLY be available in the US at Hobby Lobby shops in the coming weeks.  So don't delay if you want a copy of this model. 

The kit WILL be available to our international distributors, but in very small numbers. In the US you can only get it at Hobby Lobby. If there is no Hobby Lobby nearby, modelers can purchase the kit directly from AMtech for US$29.98 (kit plus shipping via Priority Mail USPS).

I'd like to thank AMtech for the review sample.

Steve

Photos and text © by Steve Bamford