full scale P40 Warhawk front end

[carlisle1926]

I made this full scale P40 model out of the front half of a Lockheed Jetstar fuel tank. I used parts off of several aircraft as well as fabricated a lot of parts. The exhaust pipes were made from the 90 degree elbows out of several school bus exhaust systems. The propeller was pulled from a crop duster that crashed.http://s1122.photobucket.com/albums/l523/cjasonbarnett/WWII%20P40%20Warhawk%20full%20scale%20replica/

Last edited by carlisle1926 on Fri Jul 29, 2011 12:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

[bdk]

That's really cool!

[TAdan]

As a P-40 nut I whole heartedly approve! Very nice work.

I'd love to hear more about the fabrication process if you have the time.

[Django]

I've seen pics of that popping up in various places. Pretty cool!!

[carlisle1926]

As a P-40 nut I whole heartedly approve! Very nice work.

I'd love to hear more about the fabrication process if you have the time.

When I started collecting parts to build this P40 replica, my intentions were to make the entire fuselage and make a full scale replica that I could drive down the highway. I wanted it to look like an airplane had just crashed landed on the interstate and that I was still rolling down the road with the wings clipped off. After I built the front end, I decided that it was going to be a rediculous amount of work to build the rest of the fuselage. You can see in the pictures the front end of the fuel tank that I started with. Originally the tank was about 17ft long! I lobbed off just the nose section of the fuel tank and started from there. I went up to the Cavanaugh flight museum in Addison TX and measured off of their real P40 a few times to get everything to scale. I spent years collecting up parts. The bottom of the "Jaw" is made from a jet engine cowling off of a Hawker private jet. The chin is made from an air intake from a helicopter. The nose cone tip was off of a modern plane. I did have to fabricate most of the nose cone however. The propeller was just a junk ground strike off of a crop duster. I used stainless steel pop rivets to fasten it together. The prop spins on a huge shaft that is mounted on huge bearings. The slightest gust of wind and it is off and running.