The P-40K in 1/32nd Scale is Back!

Hasegawa has just re-released their beautiful Warhawk kit in 1/32. This

new boxing has parts for both the P-40E and filleted tail for the P-40K.

Hi Guys.

 The Hasegawa P-40K was only available for a short time when it was initially released a few years ago. As with most Hasegawa kits, the decals that come with the kits are well researched and beautifully printed, but are very thick and sometimes difficult to work with.

Barracuda Studios followed up the release of this kit with a dedicated P-40K decal sheet in 1/32nd scale. It may well still be the only aftermarket decal sheet available for the filleted K model Warhawk. The sheet contains markings for 3 interesting and important aircraft.

http://barracudacals.com/proddetail.php?prod=BC32007

Curtiss P-40K Warhawk “White 13” 
64th FS/57th FG. Flown by 1st Lieutenant Robert Johnson ‘Jay’ Overcash
Based at Hadi Main, Tunisia. May, 1943.

Curtiss P-40K-1 Warhawk “White 171”
75th FS/23rd FG; Flown by Major Elmer Richardson
Hengyang, China. Late 1943

Curtiss P-40K-1 Warhawk “White 29”
7th FS/ 49th FG; Flown by 2nd Lieutenant Arland Stanton
Port Moresby, New Guinea. March 1943

Overcash's P-40 White 13 has been done before in decal form, but this is the first time that the markings have been complete and correct. Note the Fez on the rudder with the inscription SAVOY, and the unique scorpion marking on the nose, which is different from all the other similar markings on aircraft in this squadron.

Note the morse code "three dots and a dash" signifying V for Victory and the white outlined black scorpion on the nose. The detailed and decidedly evil looking skull and 5 swastikas under the windscreen round out Overcash's personal markings. The dull, dusty, sandblasted camouflage of Sand over Neutral grey makes this a very different and interesting P-40. 

Just a heads up for those of you who have been lamenting the lack of availablity of the 32nd Hasegawa P-40K. It's back, and the decals are here, waiting for you! They won't be here forever. Once they are sold out, they are gone for good, then you will have to pay some yahoo on eBay $395 for the sheet. Don't say I didn't warn you. :-)

Another blog update will be posted here tomorrow. It will be announcing the start of presales of 5 new products from Barracuda Studios. Yup. For reals!  This will be followed by another batch of new products in about 3 weeks. 

Happy modelling!  Roy

A Great New Feature on the Website!

Its true, Barry! Barracuda Studios now takes Plastic.

Yes, in addition to Paypal payments, we now accept Visa, Mastercard, Amex and Discover... just... like... before! So, whats the big news? 

Well it seems that the credit card payment option was not very obvious, and many have missed it.

On the home page, we have now added a little graphic showing that we take credit cards. Underneath it, there is a link in blue stating: Click for more information. Guess what you do next? Yes! Right! You click on that link and it takes you to this page:

http://www.barracudacals.com/creditcard.php

This will walk you through the very easy credit card payment protocol. Please note that you do NOT need to have a Paypal account in order to pay via credit cards. Our shopping cart is encrypted and secure. Shop with confidence. Your credit card company also has you covered for anything nasty that could possibly happen. But relax, we have completed thousands of transactions without a problem. If you ever have a problem, email us and we will do whatever we can to get it resolved. We stand behind our products, which is probably not a good idea if you work for a company that makes wood chippers or jet engines.  

Also, please be aware that we now can accept most credit cards in person at shows, so if you are a little short on cash, no worries!

Finally, a quick note about new releases. We have 5 new 1/32nd products that will be going up for presale in the next few days. There are a whole pile of 1/48th scale products coming in early June, and the Hell Hawks decals in all 3 major scales are coming soon as well.

Thanks for stopping by, and happy modelling!  Roy

Important news regarding 1/32 P-51 Cockpit sidewall set

BR32012 P-51 Mustang Cockpit Sidewall set.

Hi Guys.


It has come to my attention in the last few days that the installation instructions for the above mentioned BarracudaCast set are missing an important assembly note.


The kit cockpit floor needs to be slightly modified to fit to the new resin starboard sidewall properly. Without the modification, the fuselage sidewalls will be spread too wide, leading to problems when installing the wings.

The above image shows the extent of the modification to the kit floor.

The modification is quite simple and can be done with side cutters and a sanding stick in about 3-5 minutes. Just test fit the sidewall as you go, when the ribs on the sidewall meet with the bottom of the slots in the floor, you are done. You might want to slightly bevel the edge by scraping with a hobby knife to impart a slight radius to the top edge. Easy peasy.

The rest of the installation then follows the installation instructions for the Barracuda sidewalls and then back to Tamiya's kit instructions.

This view shows the modification complete and the two parts assembled.

What to do if you already have the fuselage assembled

If you have already past this point, do not panic. With some careful work, you can fix the resultant fit problem. Carefully mask off and cut along the line shown in the figure below. This may take a few minutes. Work carefully and slowly. When you get close to cutting through, you may wish to switch to a hobby knife and carefully score repeatedly until you just break through. Carefully break free the purple section and gently carve away any excess plastic until the ribs on the sidewall fit all the way into the slots on the kit floor.

You can download the complete instructions, including the addendum on the Barracuda Studios website. The link can be found on the P-51 Cockpit Sidewall product page, near the bottom of the page.

http://barracudacals.com/proddetail.php?prod=BR32012

We pride ourselves on producing parts that fit, and we hope that this correction will allow anyone who has already assembled the fuselage to get the build back on track so that you can enjoy the superb engineering of Tamiya's gorgeous P-51D Mustang. For those of you who haven't started yet... what are you waiting for?

Happy modelling!  Roy