Kyosho makes the flaps and retract set-up a snap.
The flap linkage is pre-bent and soldered for you.
The 90-degree rotating landing gear provides scale
realism and is very robust.
and has music wire ends secured by a screw,
which allows for easy adjustment. Make
sure to use thread-locker on these screws.
The Magnum . 52 four-stroke engine was
easy to install and fit within the large cowl.
It was nice to see the engine mounting bolts
were cap head screws instead of the Phillips
head found in so many ARFs. I made
cutouts for the muffler, needle valve and a
cooling exit hole. The spinner has one slot
for the prop blade and you cut out the other
one depending on if you choose a two- or
three-bladed prop. The firewall is fuel-proofed, but the inside tank compartment
is not, so I fuel-proofed whatever areas I
could reach. The tailwheel assembly, while
not very sophisticated, is perfectly functional and works well. I added a Hangar 9
WARRIOR TO THE END
The P- 40 Warhawk will never be enshrined in the Hall of Fame of Fantastic Fighters. It
was too slow, couldn’t turn tight enough, was hard to handle on the ground and had
nasty stall characteristics. Further, its hydraulic system was too complicated, its landing
gear too rudimentary and its Allison V- 12 too anemic. If the foregoing is all true, then
why, when you get a bunch of WW II vets together who were in uniform on that
December day in 1941, do they speak of the P- 40 in such reverent terms?
On the very first day of combat, it was P-40s over Pearl that made at least a few
Japanese pilots sorry they’d picked a fight that day. The few bright lights in a very dark
December came from the exploits of P- 40 pilots, including those who went on to gain
legendary status as the American Volunteer Group, or Flying Tigers.
The P- 40 could absorb a terrific amount of punishment and, as long as the coolant
system was still intact, bring its pilot home. The Warhawk could also dive as if it
invented gravity. When they had the altitude advantage, Warhawk pilots would fall upon
their prey like enraged cougars, slash through them unscathed and convert all that
speed and energy into a high-speed zoom that put them back above their enemy again.
It’s unfortunate that the P- 40 will forever in the eyes of America wear the shark’s
mouth paint job of the AVG because the airplane was so much more than that. The P- 40
was the hard-working fighter of WW II, always there, always doing what was asked of it.
— Budd Davisson
VISIT BUDD ON THE WEB AT WWW.AIRBUM.COM
( horizonhobby.com) 1⁄7-scale WW II pilot
figure (the plane is actually about ⁄
8 scale).
1
The radio installation is straightforward
and there’s plenty of room inside the fuse-
lage. I balanced the P- 40 in the middle of
the recommended range by placing the JR
1500mAh battery underneath the fuel tank.
The radio compartment is very well laid out and there’s plenty of room for all the components.
CONCLUSION
While the finished product looks like
many hours were spent building and finishing it, I only spent about 20 hours. I was
amazed that with seven servos, retracts
and flaps, the P- 40 weighed just under 6
pounds. The Warhawk makes a great first
warbird as it doesn’t have any of the nasty
tendencies that some of the more heavily
loaded ones do. Its convenient size also
makes it a great choice for any intermediate or advanced pilot to take to the field for
everyday flying.
