P-38 fowler flaps

Don,

The one picture of the inside area of the flaps I found was black and white and the bird had a grey undersides so it was impossible to tell if it was natural metal or painted grey.  It wasn't interior green for sure.  I would guess early variants had interior green and later birds were natural metal and maybe same as undersides on painted birds.  Oh, only Navy birds used red for inside surfaces of slats and flaps.  I did find one pictue of a bunch of P-38s being assembled outside the Burbank plant in 1942 showing the flaps partially extended and the some of the tops of the flaps were green and others either painted silver or natural metal.  They were even mixed on the birds in the picture.  Sorry not much help!  I think you could "get away" with whatever you chose to do.   

Well Don I built this kit a while back and I can only say what a disapointment it was . I also thought it would make a nice display with the flaps in the down position. I did alot of research only to find out that while parked on the ground the flaps would never be left extended. If I remember correctly I think the engines needed to be running for the flaps to work. I wanted mine to be accurate so I but it flaps up. I you still want to build it flaps down it will be tough finding alot of pics due to the fact that they were only extented in flight. If I did mine down I would paint the exposed are NMF. Just my opinion though.

                                                                                Soulcrusher

http://www.cybermodeler.net/aircraft/p-38/images/nasm_p-38_03.jpg

http://www.cybermodeler.net/aircraft/p-38/images/nasm_p-38_04.jpg

These are a museum bird, but it looks like they matched whatever the lower surface color was.

Thank you gentlemen.  I'll go with the underbelly color and give them a oil wash to highlight detail. 

Soulcrusher:  You are correct; the flaps would only be fully extended in flight when landing.  But they look cool in the extended position and I hate to cover up nice PE detail.  Same with the flaps on many Corsair models; they're usually shown dropped on static models but they were probably not left that way after the plane touched ground.  But an F4U just looks cool with the flaps dropped.  Same reason that I'm planning to model the P-38 dive brakes engaged, although they never would be on the tarmac.  To me, it adds visual interest; and simply because I can....

 Don

Speaking of Corsairs, try this one... "Flying the F4U".. I just love watching these training films..

http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/F4U.html

Same with the flaps on many Corsair models; they're usually shown dropped on static models but they were probably not left that way after the plane touched ground.  But an F4U just looks cool with the flaps dropped.

Early Corsairs need the flaps down for the pilot to board without a ladder.  The cut-out in the right inboard flap section is for the pilot's foot... But, I don't have a Pilot's Handbook for the Corsair, so I don't know whether the flaps have to up or down on later models...  However, I always build them with the flaps down because I too think that it looks best with everything "Down & Dirty"...

Hans von Hammer wrote:

Early Corsairs need the flaps down for the pilot to board without a ladder.  The cut-out in the right inboard flap section is for the pilot's foot...

Ah, learn something new every day!  But not the case with the P-38 because it had the retractable boarding ladder.  Nonetheless, the extended flaps look sharp.  Enhanced lift and increased drag... sounds like the Wonder Bra!!!!

 Don

Yeah, that boarding ladder is a hoot...  Ya oughtta see some of the, shall we say, "stockier" CAF pilots trying to use it, lol...  Most prefer the step-ladder in the "Follow Me" jeep, lol..

Hans von Hammer wrote:

Yeah, that boarding ladder is a hoot...  Ya oughtta see some of the, shall we say, "stockier" CAF pilots trying to use it, lol...

Yeah, but isn't that what forklifts were for?

 Don

From what  I have seen, mechanical areas could be yellow zinc, interrior green, or green zinc possibly even aluminum.  I haven't seen a reference to the flap interrior being the undersurface color, but there really isn't much info there.  Yellow or green zinc would help this area to pop out but this is the point at which I usually go with what looks best to me.  Have fun building.

The Trumpeter P38 you're working on was the last model I finished. You're right, it is a bit of a bear and I spent a lot of time sanding, filling and putting rivet detail back. A big tip from me is to pay attention to weight. You need a LOT of it to keep the nose on the ground once you're done. I packed the engines full and forget displaying the gun bay open you need to put weight in there too.

 As for the flaps my first plan was to have the fowler flaps closed and the other flaps extended so I put in the long flap brackets. But after the model was painted I decided it looked WAY better with the flaps retracted. They just broke up the lines too much. I did a NMF on mine and it looked way sleaker and meaner flaps up so I changed it at the last minute. What do you think?

MaxPower wrote:

... it is a bit of a bear and I spent a lot of time sanding, filling and putting rivet detail back. A big tip from me is to pay attention to weight. You need a LOT of it to keep the nose on the ground once you're done. I packed the engines full and forget displaying the gun bay open you need to put weight in there too.  As for the flaps my first plan was to have the fowler flaps closed and the other flaps extended so I put in the long flap brackets. But after the model was painted I decided it looked WAY better with the flaps retracted. They just broke up the lines too much. I did a NMF on mine and it looked way sleaker and meaner flaps up so I changed it at the last minute. What do you think?

OK, some very useful information here.  First, your P-38 looks great; I hope mine comes out as well.  But my flaps are down and they're staying that way.    I too loaded the engines up with lead weights.  After gluing the booms on (won't mention the seams that have to be filled on the underside...), it almost sits upright.  But I've still  got to add the radiators which will make it a bit more tail heavy, so it will need more weight up front.  I've been looking at the gun bay and trying to see where one could add weight and still leave the option to have the bay doors open.  I'm still looking...

One last thing; when assembling the radiators, the front and rear halves are glued together and the resulting seam looks like it represents a panel line.   The rivot pattern is also consistent with this.  Did you fill that seam of leave it as is?

Finally, how did you do your NMF?

 Don

Hehe yup I remember the seam on the inside under the wing by the boom! I had to fill mine with a plastic shim and then cut/sand smooth. Gah it's all coming back to me!! I did not enjoy the contruction of this one, but the painting got me off. ;)

What I had to do with my radiator housings was sand the foreward most mating face underneath and sand a fair bit of plastic to get it to sit mostly flush.I had to sand back a bit too as this changes the shape of the housing a little. I finished it off by sanding them flat once glued. I left the seam you mention here as there is one there on the real plane. However one of them was way to large so I had to fill, sand and then gently scribe the seam back into my filler just so it looked in scale. Not sure if that makes sense? A lot of rivets to redo here. As you mention the houing does have rivets along the bottom.

For my NMF I primed with gloss black Krylon paint decanted from a rattle can. Then I used Alclad2 pollished aluminum, white aluminum and dark aluminum. I used museum photos as reference as this was the look I was going for. I think my flaps looked not so great down because of the shininess. It was just too much. Like I said down was the plan and if I'd done a wartime bird with weathering I think it might have looked better.

 I put a fair bit of weight in the gun bay. I got very lucky here I thought my CG was good. It is... but just barely. It's just balanced foreward and if you tip it back it stays there. 60g is stupid. Thats about 25 pennies.

What is the plan for yours? Using kit decals? 

Edit: re-read your post and I think I misunderstood what you were asking. Yes I just left the seam from the two halves... I thought you meant the seam of the housing to the boom.

MaxPower wrote:

What is the plan for yours? Using kit decals?

Nope.  Going to be a fantasy bird from the 459th FS Twin Dragons of the Burma Banshees.

 Don

This is a 6 year old thread!

Great Rolling Stones song.

Scroll down about halfway down this page forum.warthunder.com/index.php and you'll  find a picture of Richard Bong (described as "the guy in the hat on") with a civilian, presumably from Lockheed, inspecting a dive spoiler.  The Fowler flaps just behind Bong are down.  From this picture, I would surmise the interior was painted silver lacquer, just like the gear bay interiors.

The civilian is Lockheed test pilot Milo Burcham.

Funny thread all that chatting about how to use keys on a game, as if they were flight controls.