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P-40M/N "Lulu Belle" WIP

Bomber_12th

Bomber_12th

SOH-CM-2025
Someone was asking for a repaint of this aircraft a while back (and I was too), and I've finally gotten to work on it. The repaint, for Flight Replica's P-40N-1, depicts both an original wartime early P-40N-1 and a restored P-40M, which is owned and operated by Peter Teichman/Hangar 11 Collection (G-KITT). The P-40M and early P-40N-1 are practically identical from the exterior, and this is one of the reasons why this particular paint scheme was chosen for the Hangar 11 Collection P-40M (although it is officially a P-40M, it has showed up on various registries over the years as a P-40N). There were two "Lulu Belle's", flown by 2nd Lieutenant Philip Adair (89th FS, 80th FG), a P-40N-1 (birdcage canopy) and a P-40N-5 (later/typical "N-model" canopy). If you do a photo search for the original aircraft, you'll most likely find photos of the N-5 example, which, being a different aircraft, had different markings than the N-1. All of the photos available of Lt. Adair's P-40N-1, and only the N-1, were used to reproduce the paint scheme on the Hangar 11 Collection P-40M. (The skull artwork was also hand-drawn/painted on each example, so the skull artwork was never the same from one P-40 to the next, and the skull artwork depicted is exactly as how it was on this particular aircraft.) In the past, some have, not knowingly, combined aspects of the different markings of both "Lulu Belle's" into one, thus producing a set of markings that never existed together on any particular aircraft.

In trying to reproduce the markings as they are to be, the only 'issue' (if it can be called that) that I ran into was the wheel rim, which if painted red on the exterior of the tire, as it should be, the rim also shows up red on the inner-side. There are a few things I want to play around with a bit more yet (not to mention I need to brighten the pitot tube silver). This repaint would not be possible without Mike's paintkit!







 
Looks fantastic John!

There was an article in Flypast Magazine a few months ago about Philip Adair and 'Lulu Belle', and the 89th FS, 80th FG, with plenty of pictures.

Very much looking forward to this one.

Cheers

Paul
 
Thank you YoYo (sorry, no P-39 update quite yet), and thank you Paul! The most recent issue of "Flight Journal" also had a similar article with pictures of the aircraft. A lot of photos from its initial unveiling, here: http://globalaviationresource.com/v...lections-p-40m-kittyhawk-new-scheme-unveiled/

The "Hangar 11 Collection" is very near complete now on my system, just now in need of the Hurribomber:


Tomorrow, after work, I'll make sure to get "Lulu Belle" uploaded (a couple more things still to adjust).

 
I have to admit that when I first saw the title of this thread, I thought someone had worked up a livery for Greg Boyington's AAV P-40.

LOL!!

Anyway, what an awesome livery!

Ken
 
That was me doing the asking!

All I can say is WOW, utterly beautiful work :applause:

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Hey guys,

Thank you very much for the compliments on the repaint! I ended up adjusting most of the colors and tones for more accuracy, and also re-did some elements of the skull artwork on the starboard-side, as it differs a bit compared to the port-side.

The repaint has been uploaded to the SOH library, and I hope those who try it will like it!







 
Wonderful work John, after a solid state drive crash and rebuilding my system, she will be one of the first on the runway. :medals:
 
Thank you, Huub, Tom, and Mike! I have since found a few items that needed to be updated, so I'll have an update available for the repaint soon.

I had some fun flying "Lulu Belle" together with one of its Hangar 11 Collection stablemates.



 
I have just uploaded the update, which includes a new prop spinning texture (to match the prop textures I had made for the repaint - you can now see the yellow tips and Curtiss-Electric stickers, spun, and they stand out a bit more in general), and added spinning wheel textures to match the static wheel textures (having forgotten about that element).

I think the P-40 is one of the most photogenic warbirds - as can be easily realized by how much they have been photographed since WWII, shown in calendars and magazine photo shoots, etc. The FR model, being built from the actual P-40N blueprints, allows this to carry through into the sim - all of the accurate contours, proportions, angles, curves, wing dihedral, etc.




 
Reply...

Bomber_12th.

I combined the update with the original package and moved it back to the front of the line. I hope you don't mind!
 
That one is sweet! Like the way Peter Teichmann presents those birds, too. A real slow barrel roll in a Hurricane, or a swift low height loop is pretty much awesome to see!

One question: I don´t have the FR P-40 yet, but am quite interested, partially because of this paint. Do you need the full package for it, or is it compatible with one of the extracts? Money is a little tight right now, so I´d probably go for one model, but not for the whole deal.
 
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