At the beginning of WWII in the Pacific the USAAF only had a couple of modern fighters to choose from. Those were the P-39 and the P-40. The P-39s were not as available as the latest P-40E so most of the aircraft sent into the war zones were Warhawks. The P-40E saw most of its early action in the Pacific in Northern Australia, the Dutch East Indies, and New Guinea as well as in the Aleutians. These were hurried into those areas after the initial assaults by the Japanese had made it impossible to do anything in the Philippines.

These aircraft were not as nimble as the lighter JAAF and JNAF fighters, but were more heavily armed and able to take much more punishment. They were also heavier, but that meant good diving speed. Using hit and run tactics, the P-40s were able to knock down their fair share of Japanese aircraft.

This sheet has three early war aircraft. Superscale has provided enough stencil markings to do two of the three aircraft, or if you don't care about stencils, all three.

The first one is from the 7th FS, 49th FG in Australia/New Guinea. This aircraft is painted overall medium green with a neutral grey underside. I used this scheme with my AMT P-40E mini-conversion and it looks quite nice.

Next is another 49th FG aircraft, this one from the 8 FS. The camo is Dark Earth and Medium Green over Neutral Grey. The instructions tell you that Neutral Grey is FS 16440, but let me tell you, it isn't, so don't use it or it will be much too light.

Finally, the lone 11 FS, 343 FG aircraft from the Aleutians. This is the plane of Maj. John Chennault, brother of the leader of the flying tigers. Naturally his plane has a tiger head. It is painted in Olive Drab uppers with Neutral Grey undersides.

Any one of these three schemes will make into a very nice model. All we need now is an up-to-date P-40E in 1/48!

Review copy courtesy of me and my wallet! 

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