Cheers for the feed back Armin, those are fair points. I agree that the weathering could be heavier, especially as many P-40s operated in very rough conditions. I've never been happy with how my attempts at heavy weathering have turned out (especially with paint chipping) but I guess the only way to get better at it is to work at it As for the panel lines and rivets, it's hard to say. I do find that my taste in them varies from project to project, when I look at my Spitfire skins I sometimes feel I made them too strong, especially on the undersides; yet no doubt I'll feel differently again in the future

Harry

I think heavier panel lines look better (more realistic) on unpainted planes, but not on painted ones. Access hatches, doors, etc. are a different matter. Also, I've started to do more "touch-up" painting and moisture staining around heavy wear lines to help bring them out on camo'ed planes.
As an example, look at the panel lines below the cockpit on this A-20:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Douglas_A-20G_Havoc.jpg

Here's a good shot for P-40 wing weathering!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Curtiss_P-40Fs_near_Moore_AAF_1943.jpg

Jim, not to get OT, but that A-20 pic has convinced me that time travel is possible. Obviously, it was an IL-2 skinner who traveled back in time, and hoping to start a trend, had the serial number stenciled on only one side of the vertical stabilizer; so skinners would not have to deal with the alignment issues when spanning onto the rudder. I always wondered what ever became of AeroShodonjo... hmmmm.

That's a great P-40 shot too; looks like a lot of boots went over those cat-walks. Those frame-lines would be a great effect to replicate into a skin.

HB, that's a nice piece of work with the dirt in the knobby tire tread. I love little details like that; nice job! ..of course you did get a soil sample first to determine the correct color, right?

Looking forward to your updates; keep up the great work!

Thanks guys, and thanks for the links Jarink. Last night I started having a go at doing some repaints/stains as well as paint chipping on the walkways and will post some pics once I have something worth showing.

HB

Righty oh, here're some weathering wip pics... I went a bit overboard but it'll be easy enough to tone it back. Just a few things to note; on the underside of the fuselage one side is darker than the other so I'll need to fix that, the green is my take on RAAF Foliage Green and the massive liquid stain on the port side was inspired by the first pic on this page: http://www.thescale.info/news/publish/rnzaf-p-40s.shtml









HB

Looking good. The wing root and wing surfaces look really convincing. Can't see much of the rest on my phone but no doubt it's equally good. You don't happen to have any USAAF schemes for say, Tunisia in, oh, I don't know, maybe early 1943, lined up do you, perchance?

Looking good HB!

Although I'd consider reducing the intensity of the ejection-port stains.. at least by half as much as what's featured aft of the muzzles. Maybe eliminate the large stain aft of the ports, but keep the narrow stains. M2's are indeed a filthy weapons system after firing a few hundred rounds, and a pain to clean; but from what I've seen, they don't produce quite that much gunk.

Speaking of which, I just learned something. Wikipedia (I know, not much of a technical authority), says the P-40N's were armed with only 4 M2's. But after digging a little deeper, I learned that beginning with the P-40N-5's, they featured 6 M2's... http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/1999/09/stuff_eng_p40.htm btw; there's also some serial number info on that page that might be useful. Anyway, I thought you might want that tid-bit for your readme, in case you encounter any 'muzzle-counters' or 'nay-sayers'

I think you did an excellent job of reproducing the cat-walk wear, seen in the previously linked photo; very convincing. In fact, once I return to skinning something with metal covered wings, I'll likely try to incorporate that same effect.

Nice work mate!

@ FSM: Sorry mate but I haven't come across any references to the P-40N (a.k.a Kittyhawk IV) being used by any of the Allies in North Africa. I don't know the exact dates but I figure it arrived too late, so far as I can tell they didn't appear at front line units untill mid '43. I have seen some photos though of RAF/RAAF IVs being used as fighter-bombers in Italy.

@ Rudi_Jaeger: Thanks! And thanks for the tips on the M2 stains. I've already come across that link before and a nice little reference it is to, especially the serial numbers at the end.
Indeed the N-1 was manufactured as a 4 gun fighter however provision was kept for 6 guns and apparently an extra pair of M2s were included with each when they were crated up so they could be converted to 6 guns at unit level, which most of them were... which makes them impossible to tell from the M unless one has the serial number! Incidently the 4 gun armament appeared again in the N-10, a winterized version to be used in the Aleutians.
I should be safe from the muzzle-counters though as I'm only skinning Ns that I can find decent photos of

Another update, here's a screenie of what is probably the most "famous" RNZAF fighter of WW2, NZ3220 "Gloria Lyons" of No.4 SU, mid to late 1944. She survived the war and the scrapheap and is in private storage somewhere near the town of Nelson. She was the third "Gloria Lyons" and so far as I'm aware wore three different schemes during her life, this being the first. As you can see I've given her Medium Green splotches on the wing edges which are vary rarely, if ever, portrayed on models and profiles of RNZAF P-40s... and I can only recall seeing one other skin with them.
Yet I figure they must've been there as once the Kiwis started receiving P-40s from the Americans in OD/Neutral Grey all they did was paint over the stars'n'bars and add the white theater markings. I haven't found a really good shot of the upper wing surfaces of a NZ P-40N (they're all shot either at a very flat angle or too far away) so I'm willing to bet that the Kiwis, like the Aussies, wouldn't have wasted time and paint erasing the splotches.

Oh oh, just realized I haven't added the tail flash, doh!



Just to go slightly off topic, one of my favorite things about skinning is the research, I like learning about not just the aircraft's paint scheme but the also the related and periphery bits that go with it and this skin is a prime example. When I was searching for info on the correct blue of the RNZAF roundel I learned the answer to something that had been bugging me for a little while. I'd been wondering why RNZAF aircraft in the pacific could look so scruffy yet have a reputation for being very well looked after by the SUs, in particular why there were such strong spills and streaks of liquid staining (such as in the link in my second previous post). Apparently the reason, apart from the usual suspects of sun, rain and 'sand blasting', was that it was very important to clean off coral dust as it could build up and have the same effect as ice on the aircraft's handling. However coral dust could be quite sticky so the best way of removing it was to use aviation fuel! Maybe that's common knowledge but learning stuff like that is one of the best bits of skinning for me

looking good Harry, keep them coming