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Tally Ho! 1/48 Red Stars on P-40Es

By Chris Banyai-Riepl

This sheet is a well-researched look into the operations of the Curtiss P-40E in Soviet service during the Second World War.  There is a total of four options on the sheet, three of which are aces.  All four are finished in roughly the same camouflage pattern, being dark green and dark earth over medium sea gray.  The former British roundels and fin flashes have been painted out, with the upper surface areas using AMT-4 and AMT-1 and the lower surface areas using AMT-17.    All four have white spinners and roughly painted white numbers on the fuselage sides.

The first example is the mount of G. V. Gromov, numbered white 70.  This plane has fifteen stars on an AMT-4 section.  Most of the stars are white outlines, with only four of them filled with red.  Stars are present on the fuselage sides and lower wings.

The second example is the plane of P. Pokrychev of the 154 IAP, flying out of the Leningrad area towards the end of 1942.  This plane has a crude white 50 on the fuselage sides and fifteen stars behind the canopy.  Some of these are yellow outlined in white while the rest are red outlined in white.  The third example also is from the154 IAP, this one being the plane of A. A. Matvejev.  This plane has a rough white 65 on the sides, and it too has fifteen stars on the fuselage, again some in yellow and some in red.

The final example, also from the 154 IAP, is one seen flying out of Plekhanovo airfield in the Leningrad territory in the summer of 1942.  This plane has no kill markings but does have a crude white 73 on the fuselage sides.

If you're wanting to build some interesting P-40Es, this sheet is definitely for you.  In addition to providing a full set of stars for each of these schemes, there is also a complete set of stencilling for one plane, making this an excellent sheet of Warhawk aficionados out there.