Special Hobby 1/72 P-40D Warhawk/Kittyhawk Mk.I ‘Four Guns’ Plastic Model Kit

At the beginning of war, the Curtiss company was supplying both the USAAF and the air forces of the Allies with the P-40B/C Hawk/Tomahawk Mk.I/II fighter aeroplanes. The type, however, was deemed rather inferior to other British fighters and most importantly was not a match to its German counterparts. To improve the vital performance of thein type, the Curtiss reworked the design and also equipped it with a later version of Allison V-1710-39 power plant. The new aeroplane was designated Curtiss P-40D Warhawk/Kittyhawk Mk.I and was the first of the second generation of Curtiss' P-40s. The type was first armed with four guns in the wing and later was replaced by the mass produced P-40E Warhawk/Kittyhawk Mk.Ia with three guns on ether side. Although the production gave only a small number of the P-40D airframes, these remain very attractive for the modeller. Our kit offers various colour schemes, among which is the machine flown by the top scoring RAF pilot in the MTO Neville Duke, wearing a distinctive shark mouth on the nose, then we have No.3 Sqn RAAF machine as well from the Mediterranean, a highly unusual one is the P-40D captured by the Japanese on the island of Mindanao, Philippines, that was adorned with yellow on the nose, a shark mouth too and japanese meat balls instead of US stars. The final of the offered schemes is an immediately pre-war USAAF machine taking part in a military exercise and bearing temporary markings over the standard ones.