Medallion Models 1/48 P-40B Upgrade Set First Look

by Michael Benolkin

First Look

Mark's Models (Starfighter Decals) has acquired the resin masters for the Medallion Models series of aftermarket detail sets and has started reissuing them. If the name Medallion Models doesn't seem familiar, it was an aftermarket detail company that existed well before the brand names we know today, and before the advanced resin casting we expect today. Mark's Models has taken the masters and brought them into the 21st Century and you can see in the image below that these castings are now what we expect.

Cast in gray resin, this set is designed for the Revell/Monogram 1/48 P-40B Warhawk kit. It provides a new resin cockpit, new main wheel wells, new chin radiators, and a new spinner. The instructions show you how to modify the kit parts to accept these new enhancements and you'll have a more detailed P-40B out of the standard Revell/Monogram kit.

One minor point which is common to many P-40 kits and detail sets, the cockpit floor is flat in this set. In the real P-40, the 'floor' in the cockpit was actually the upper surface of the wing center section (as was common to many other aircraft of the era). The floor should be curved to match the contour of the wing. Many modelers won't know or care about this, but you can either heat and shape the resin floor or make a curved floor from sheet styrene and use these nice detail parts to build up the rest of the cockpit.

You can purchase this detail set directly from Medallion Models on their website.

My sincere thanks to Mark's Modelsfor this review sample!