Comet P-40E Tiger Shark F/F Kit

When I got this Comet Super Stars P−40E Tiger Shark kit #3649 I assumed it was like the one I built as a kid in the late 1960s or early 1970s, but after seeing it I'm thinking maybe I had the Guillow's P−40 Warhawk kit. Unlike the kit I had which included injection molded plastic parts for only the complex parts like the spinner and engine exhaust manifold, this one uses plastic for a large portion of the fuselage. Comet dubs it "SuperXSpeed Construction." The entire area for the top and underside of the fuselage / wing intersection is now plastic. It takes a lot of work out of the building process and probably makes covering that area with Jap tissue easier. Wing ribs are configured in a geodetic manner, which adds great rigidity to the wing, particularly for preventing spanwise twist. It is a fairly large model for rubber power. A cool feature of this kit is that the plans text is printed in both English and German.

The box top and instructions say the P−40E Tiger Shark can be built for either rubber-powered, Cox .020 (1/4A)−powered or Cox .049−powered (1/2A) free flight (F/F), control line (C/L) flight, or radio control (R/C) flight.

The OuterZone website has a downloadable set of Comet P-40E Tiger Shark plans suitable for building. There are photos there of one built for R/C and an .049 engine, but does not mention what, if any, modifications were made to the airframe (other than moveable control surfaces).

Wingspan = 31" | Length = 26" | Power = Rubber or 1/4A (.020)

Posted September 1, 2019