Warbird Information Exchange

Here's the real question: WTF is up with the P-40C "paintjob"??? A preservative wax? Can't Allen afford to give it a real paint job?

Randy,

How can you tell its that cheesy? You have a high rez photo, cuz the FHC pic is pretty small!!

FHC doesn't permit display of photos of their schtuff, right Mike?

regards,

t~

regarding the P40 paint...

I was told on my tour in May that the P40 is "scheduled for restoration" and the a/c was being displayed "as is" until that time.

(Boy, snippy comments about paint...still a nice a/c IMHO)

I saw the aircraft in person last weekend at the Arlington airshow. The "paint" looks okay until you look aft of the exhaust stacks where the heat has melted the wax, and on the left side where the fuel filler cap is loacted the fuel has caused the paint to run.

It struck me as a very strange way to finish off a restoration. Anyone know the reason why "they" chose to paint it this way instead of using real paint?

Restoration? I thought The Fighter Collection restored this aircraft already. I'm confused

regards,

t~

The aircraft, or a large part of it, was restored by POF for TFC. I imagine the paint job may have been a temporary one done by POF with the actual paint work to be done by TFC once it arrived in the UK which, of course, never happened. That's just a guess on my part however.

The paint job was done in the temporary paint,(Which is used when aircraft are used during movie work.) I think it is a water based emulsion.
The paint job was done for a photo shoot, prior to the aircraft leaving Chino. I think the markings were for Tex Hill's aircraft.
Obviously the plane went to FHC still with this paint still on it.
I had read somewhere, that this aircraft would be re restored again to the FHC standard.

MRP

The Fighter Collection had this aircraft restored by Steve Hinton's Fighter Rebuilders at Chino. When the aircraft was finished Fighter Rebuilders painted her in the markings of Erik Schilling, of AVG fame, with a temporary, easily removed wax coating. Erik was a great friend of the guys at Chino, and the paint job was in his honor. They were going to use this temporary livery for the photo-flights, and then repaint her with markings of TFC's choice prior to delivery in the UK.

However, before the aircraft could be delivered to the UK, she was bought by Paul Allen. I don't know what happened to the aircraft in those blacked out periods of FHC's history, but I guess she sat in a hangar for a good long time, perhaps with the occasional run-up, while FHC focussed on the more pressing restorations. I am sure that she will return to the shop at some point for a going over, and a repaint. Perhaps the initial restoration wasn't as stock as FHC wanted. It wouldn't make sense to spend the money on a repaint only to have to re-do it again, at considerable expense, following additional re-work to the airframe.

Cheers,
Richard

I have not seen this airplane since it was restored or with the temporary paint. I am familiar with this type of "paint" and I suspect that it probably matches what these aircraft looked like when they left the factory. I'm sure I would not paint an airplane with this stuff for the long term but let's face it, they probably did not shine back in 1941 like they do on the Oshkosh warbird ramp.

_________________
Albert Stix Jr.
"Work is the curse of the drinking class"

Probably painted with tinted "Mop-N-Glo" floor wax. At least that's what I used when my Stearman was used in a fast food commercial.

I'm currently building a page on my site dealing with this particular Hawk... here's some images which will be included:







Photos by Matt Cawby, Sept 2005


I have a couple closer shots showing the sharkmouth and it's quite evident that the scheme and markings were not only temporary but also applied somewhat hurriedly; tape/stencil overspray from the painting of the teeth are still very much in evidence. Come to think of it, looking at the shape of the mouth in the images above reveals that it was indeed done 'in a hurry'.


Fade to Black...

I think the paint job is cool. Gives it the rough, combat-worn WWII look. If you look at pictures of the real Flying Tigers, their shark-toothed paint jobs were far from perfect. You can't expect much from paint that is applied in a combat zone.

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