FEATURE ARTICLE

Airfix 1:48 Curtiss Tomahawk Mk.II • Kit No: A05133A

Spencer Pollard builds the reissued Airfix P-40, this time offered as a Tomahawk Mk.II. This time the twist is the chance to build an aircraft that would have flown over his hometown during the Second World War, a chance to build a locally-based machine being too good to pass up!

s

Airfix has expanded its collection of 1:48 Curtiss P-40B variants with a an interesting reissue that replicates the Tomahawk Mk.II. As such, it differs very little from the 2016 release of the P-40B, all plastic and much of the instructions, being identical. A new box, colour scheme drawings and a fine new decal sheet are the tantalising factors this time around, the latter offering two neat choices, one RAF and the other, Turkish.

What follows is my introduction from my earlier 2016 build. As the comments apply equally here, I’m simply reproducing them as written 8 years ago.

“As a kit to build, this is about as straightforward as it gets. Airfix has resisted the temptation to embellish the contents with unnecessary flourishes, so you are presented with little more than 100 parts to build the aircraft in miniature.

Overall, the shape of the aircraft has been translated well, the only areas of seeming concern being the shape and size of the ventral keel. Discussions Online appear to have concluded that this areas is slightly undernourished and should therefore be larger around its front end where it blends in with the fuselage around the undernose radiator flaps. Having read the discussions, I have a tendency to agree with this conclusion, though it made little difference to me personally, this part of the model being unseen under the completed model. If it does bother you, you could take some time to bulk out the keel with materials such as Lilliput, if not, leave well alone!

Moving on, the detail is nicely rendered across the model, panel lines being sharp and well-defined, smaller features such as the cockpit and undercarriage pleasing and the overall feel of authenticity, high. The cockpit is the first areas to examine, the delicately framed construction of the original being well-captured. Two versions of this aircraft are offered in the kit (P-40B Warhawk and Hawk 81-A-2) and so you have too different seats and their frames, along with different windscreens (one with mirror, one without).

Examining the parts further, reveals some very delicate detail and it’s only when you apply paint that that detail really starts to pop. This was particularly so with some of the smaller controls that are moulded as part of the cockpit frames, their embellishments beings so small, that these old eyes could not see them whilst in bare plastic!