The early brunt of the war, at least for the US, was taken by the P-40 of various marks. It was the most available type in the inventory so was shipped to all theaters of the war. You could find them in Australian/New Guinea, in the CBI (China/Burma/India), in the Aleutians, and in the North African desert. Once replaced in front line service, they soldiered on with Allies and in second line and training squadrons.

Aeromaster has created a sheet that has a number of interesting aircraft on it. It is for the P-40E and P-40K aircraft. Kits in this scale are not difficult to find for the P-40E. The best on the market is the Hasegawa P-40E. Though a bit old, it is still a very well done kit that needs only some interior work to bring it up to standards. The P-40K is only done by Vista in this scale and from what I have heard, is not up the the quality of the Hasegawa P-40E. You can make a K by adding the fin fillet to any E model. The sheet also shows a long-tailed, non-filleted P-40K. Not sure if this isn't supposed to be a P-40M or not. However, if it is accurate, you can use the recent Academy P-40M/N to model this version. As always, check your references. Often decal sheets are mistaken when identifying aircraft types.

On this particular sheet are five very interesting aircraft, four of which have sharkmouths!

First is a South African P-40K from 2 Sq SAAF, as operated in North Africa. It is painted in RAF Dark Earth and Midstone over Azure blue with a red spinner (the red spinner was an Allies in North Africa ID marking). Aeromaster gives the orange discs for the center of the roundel to replace the red RAF ones if you wish. There is no hard evidence as to which was carried on this aircraft.

Next is the relatively common Aleutian tiger P-40E of the 11th FS in the Aleutians. This aircraft is in OD over Neutral Grey. Interestingly the fuselage insignia have no dark blue background as one would expect.

The Dark Earth and Dark Green over light blue P-40E that is next is from the 16th FS in China. All CBI aircraft has the serial numbers overpainted for some reason and it wasn't until very late in the war when that practice ceased.

From the India part of the CBI is this 25 FS P-40K with a most unusual shark mouth. It is in standard OD/Neutral Grey colors and has a light blue spinner.

Finally, a very gaudy P-40K from the AAF Technical Center in Orlando, circa 1943. This is in standard colors with medium green patches on the tail. I would suspect that the patches are also on the wings as that was standard practice, but check your references to make sure.

Again, a very nice sheet that will look good on any of your small scale Warhawks.

Review copy courtesy of me and my wallet! 

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