Who hasn’t watched John Wayne clearing the Chinese skies of the dreaded foe in the “Flying Tigers” movie? There he is, sitting in a cockpit the size of a CEO’s corner office, endlessly turning inside Mitsubishi Type 96 (Claude) fighters, out climbing them in spiral turns while firing guns with an endless supply of ammunition.

Have you ever looked inside a P-40 cockpit? Forget climbing in if you are over 180 lb. The P-40N model, most similar to this model, had 14 seconds of ammunition, could barely climb over 2,200 fpm, fell out of climbing spirals after 500 ft. and couldn’t turn inside a “96” if it was tied to its tail. Aren’t Hollywood airplanes always the best!

In real life, the P-40 was our front line fighter when the war began. It, and the men who flew them, held the line, even gaining some ground, until more capable airplanes became available. The 13,000+ P-40’s served with nine countries and flew in every combat theater. It is definitely an airplane worth modeling and flying. And, it looks great in the air or on the ground.

Engine trouble forced this P-40 down in the Aleutians, February 15, 1943. A private recovery expedition is planned for the summer of 2008. (Nah! But the model looks good enough for it to have been true!)

Building

Photo 1

The Thunder Tiger P-40 kit is very complete including decals for either Chinese or American versions. You will need lots of new, sharp #11 razor blades to cut out all those nicely painted plastic parts.

The Thunder Tiger P-40 ARF is a worthwhile version of this legendary airplane. Its all-foam construction and easy assembly will help you gain air superiority in any park or small flying field. Although flying will be described later, this fighter has a surprising ability to fly safely inside very tight areas.

The Thunder Tiger P-40 Warhawk meets all the aircraft requirements of the Academy of Model Aeronautics’ (AMA) Park Pilot Program. The aircraft weighs less than 2 pounds (the Program’s upper weight limit) and has a level top speed under 60 mph (the Program’s upper speed limit). For complete Park Pilot aircraft details, follow this link.

The AMA Park Pilot Program offers non-AMA members the opportunity to become AMA members at a much reduced cost. Park Pilot membership includes a great magazine “Park Pilot”, $500,000 personal liability insurance, $2.5 million liability insurance for the flying field owner (see insurance details) and membership in the world’s largest sport aviation association – the AMA. For complete information and details about Park Pilot membership, just click here.

The Thunder Tiger P-40 Warhawk was originally reviewed in Park Pilot magazine. Park Pilot is the magazine included with membership in the AMA’s Park Pilot Program. Space limitations in the print magazine prevented publishing this fully detailed review. The complete review is published here, Sport Aviator style (meaning in excruciating detail); to provide newer pilots a better understanding of assembly techniques and flight abilities.

Two small errors crept into the Park Pilot article due to the extensive editing process required to shrink the full article down to just one-page. This kit has only a 3-bladed propeller. A 4-bladed propeller is not available. The elevator pushrod does exit on the correct side. But the interior fuselage former’s push rod hole is drilled incorrectly. A new one must be drilled as detailed in this article.

The fuselage halves must fit tightly together. Rotate the firewall in place as needed for a perfect fit. Mark a few places as shown so that everything is the same when it is time to epoxy.

But to fly it, we need to first build it. The first step is to assemble the plywood motor mount. Trial fit the pieces together to ensure everything fits. Check the photo and make sure that all the identifying lines “line up” as shown. Once everything fits, apply some thin CAA to the joints. After a short wait, build fillets around all the glue joints using medium CAA and Accelerator.

Trial fit the firewall assembly into place and then test to make sure that both fuselage halves fit together perfectly. Rotate the firewall to get a perfect fit. Tolerances are tight as they must be when positioning the power system. Once everything fits together, mark the inside of the fuselage and firewall as shown in photo 3 so that it can be replaced in the exact same spot once the adhesive has been applied.

Note the new hole drilled in the former to allow the elevator pushrod to reach the back. The factory hole (half covered by foam) was on the wrong side.

The elevator control rod hole is cut into the wrong side of the interior fuselage brace, shown in photo 4. Drill a new hole as shown, 5/8 in. from the square end of the former.

This is how the interior of P-40 fuselage should look before joining the fuselage halves.

Apply 12-minute epoxy to one fuselage side and to the firewall and former brace grooves. Leave the outside 1/16 in. area free of adhesive to prevent excess epoxy from being squeezed onto the surface. The included epoxy sets too fast (3 min.) to be useful. Save it for field repairs.

Hold the fuselage halves together with #64 rubber bands. Do not use smaller or thinner bands as that will dent the foam.

Position the halves together and hold them with #64 rubber bands. Be careful not to damage the soft foam.

Carefully cut out the sides of the ailerons. A hobby razor saw is best for this if one is available.

While the fuselage is curing, finish the wing. Using a very sharp blade or a razor saw, cut out the ailerons. Do not bend the ailerons downwards more than the allowed upwards movement to prevent splitting the hinge. Apply transparent tape to the underside of the hinge joint as directed.

Aileron torque rods are enclosed in blue plastic to match the wing underside. Although the tail wheel was installed (a P-40’s did not retract), this airplane sported the faux retract gear for looks and to prevent constantly nosing over on grass landings.

Install the torque tubes in the wing, photo 8, and choose whether to use the included wheels or the faux retracts. If you are flying from a grass runway, I strongly suggest using the faux gear. Wheels must be used when operating from a paved surface. Here are two tips that will help:

Inject a small amount of plastic-safe oil into the torque tube to prevent any binding should epoxy leak inside the tube.

Use sandpaper to roughen the unpainted surface of the aileron torque tube hold down and epoxy in place with clamps.