The Poor Man's P-40

[K5054NZ]

Hey guys.



After the prototype P-40H "Kittiwake" had been offered for sale, I and several others formed a syndicate to purchase and restore her. Unfortunately, due to financial issues I decided to sell my share before she was completed.

I felt very confident with wooden replicas and homebuilts (the Jurca MJ.100 Spitfire being the biggie) and I thus decided to attempt a full-scale, wooden P-40 replica.



The aircraft has been designated "P-40R", as R was the next model letter unused (as the P-40Q was the short-lived bubbletop variant) and R can also stand for Replica, Reproduction etc.

She is designed to be constructed as any P-40 variant, B to N, fairly easily. As I still wanted to have my own Kittiwake, and knowing none would come up for sale anytime soon, I decided that the prototype would be a P-40H.



This meant a four-bladed prop, mockup arrestor hook, beefier-looking u/c, dummy 20mm Hispano cannon and the 20" fuselage extension (if you remember the prototype H was originally from the N production line). I am considering clipping the wings at some point to make her a dead-ringer, but due to aerodynamics issues that bridge must remain uncrossed. For now.

Some rigorous calculations showed that the wooden-framed aircraft wouldn't stand up to having a Rolls-Royce Griffon installed (as in the real H), so I have to make do with an Allison V1710 - coincidentally, the engine that powered most other P-40 marks.



There were several key reasons behind a wooden P-40: easier to build (a real weekend, garage project); less hassle with ever-decreasing stocks of spares; and the cost of insurance would be much, much lower. All in all, a real poor man's warbird.

She has yet to take to the air (as you can see the wings still need to be attached and the fabric applied), but when she's structurally complete I'll post some nice pics. I'm also deep into research on an appropriate colour scheme - as WA040 has been represented at least four times, I'm looking for something new. I'm leaning towards an RAN example, but I'll let you know.


Feel free to make any comments. And yes, that is me in the cockpit, Lana was kind enough to take the accompanying pics.

[Chap]

Zac,

    That really looks fantastic.  Those Guillows are always a fun build. If those dope fumes are too much, some people are using Future Floor Finish as a substitute. I have yet to try it.

Here's a link:
Floor Finish as a Dope Substitute

~Steve

[John Howling Mouse]

Looks promising, Zac.  

You may have suckered me into vacforms but I am NOT going to follow you into balsa!      

[The Rat]

I started a few balsa jobs and never finished any, but you've got me twitching now! What glue is the best these days?

[Brian da Basher]

Absolutely incrediblefantasticamazing work Zacster!!! I am beyond impressed with your achievement on this balsa kit! Those look very difficult indeed. You're showing unbelievable skill with this one, young Zacwalker!

Brian da Basher

[matrixone]

Zac,

Nice work on your Guillows P-40, I built at least ten of those Guillows kits when I was younger. They all flew but did not perform that well.
I learned to trim away a lot of the fuselage bulkheads and parts that make up the tail sections and use lightweight balsa where ever possible to make the airframe as light as I could, then they flew pretty good. The balsa that comes with the Guillow kits is too heavy to make for a good flying FF model.

Matrixone  

[Shasper]

Rat, DONT use CA! the wood absorbs that stuff like no other. back when I was in my model rocketry days I used either Elmers white glue or sparing amounts of 2 part epoxys. (Shas Sr used that stuff when he was into RC a/c, so I know it works   )


Shas B)

[philp]

Zac,
that will keep you busy for a while.
I built a Balsa Neuport 17 when I was in my teens, my one and only.  Worked on if for days, got the dope on and everything.  Course, you gotta fly them when they are done (rubber band powered prop).  First flight she hit the ground and the top wing snapped off tearing the fabric.  Don't think I ever repaired it.

Looking forward to your completed build.

[cthulhu77]

I love those balsa kits!  And half the fun is the smell of the doping...I never tried to fly any of mine, but they were damaged over the years none the less.
 Looking forward to seeing more of this one.

[matrixone]

Rat,

There are three different types of CA, instant, medium, and slow. If you are going to build a Guillows kit I would suggest the medium grade CA because it gives you a few seconds to make sure you have your parts lined up just right before the bond is permament. What Shasper says about the CA is true if you are using the instant (thin) stuff, it tends to wick into the wood very quickly and is not that strong when it is dry.

When building my RC planes I used all three grades of CA.
Thin CA was very helpfull when tacking down balsa sheeting when building fuselages or wings, meduim CA was then used to glue the balsa sheeting to the stringers of the fuselage and wing ribs. The slow setting CA was used where high strength was needed such as the engine firewall area or landing gear mounts, epoxy was also when mounting the firewall the the fuselage.

Use the Zap brand CA instead of the cheap stuff you find at the hardware stores.


Matrixone

[The Rat]

Sounds easy enough now. I simply walk into my local radio control store and ask the guy behind the counter for the best stuff. He gets a sale, and my airplane stays together after he flogs me something costing twice as much as need be.

Everybody's happy!    

[Eddie M.]

Great job Zac! You're a braver man than I ! I'll stick with the easy, plastic stuff.
   Eddie

[K5054NZ]

Eddie, that's what you two modelling gods don't seem to understand - this IS easy! Separate the pre-cut parts, glue to other separated parts. Dead easy! Like I said, it took about two hours to do the centresection, left wing and right wing.

Pick one up, these Guillow ones are well-detailed and fairly cheap, just go for it! Pick one up, you can seriously get the structure done as a weekend project!

[BlackOps]

Zac, no way your going to convince me that's easier than plastic! I've seen myself in action and I'm pretty sure I could fowl that up pretty good. Looks to fragile for my bumble fingers!

[John Howling Mouse]

Eddie, that's what you two modelling gods don't seem to understand - this IS easy! Separate the pre-cut parts, glue to other separated parts. Dead easy! Like I said, it took about two hours to do the centresection, left wing and right wing.

Pick one up, these Guillow ones are well-detailed and fairly cheap, just go for it! Pick one up, you can seriously get the structure done as a weekend project!

Sure, sure.  This is how the NZ Kid sucked me into to doing a vacform, too!