The C-variant of the Curtiss P-40 is perhaps most known for its career with the 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) at China, better known as the Flying Tigers. The variant also served with the British commonwealth forces. However, a small fraction of the C-variants also saw service with the US air force during the early stages of the war. This model depicts a machine use with the 51st Fighter Squadron based at France Field in Panama (wich later became Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport) in orderto defend the Panama canal.
The kit used was the Academy P-40C Tomahawk, which has very beautifull box-art depicting several Flying tigers P-40C’s taking off from a makeshift airfield. The kit came together quite well with almost no problems. The only thing that bothered me is the one problem all Academy kits seem to have, a very basic looking cockpit. This could however be easily solved with some scratchbuild parts or buying some aftermarket material. I used no decals except for the ones on the propelors, which are barely visible at all. The serial number on the tail and all the insignias were cut out of masking tape and airbrushed.
The base is a little photo-frame which I bought at a local store, I painted it black as usual and used some Vallejo sandy paste to depict the mud. After I painted the sandy paste I painted it in different tones of brown and brushed some Tamiya Diorama texture paint ‘Grass effect’ on top. I didn’t really like the result of that so I sprinkled some different sorts of Berka grass on it until I felt somewhat satisfied.
Ninetalis 