Hello, here's my example of what the German folk called  "Der Gabelshwanz Teufel", or "Forked Tail devil".  Its done in the markings of Robin Olds 479th FG P-38J. Olds was a 12 kill ace and on August 25th 1944, he actually shot down a 109 in this very plane while in glide mode.  He was closing in on the 109 and both his engines quit because he forgot to flip the switches to the other fuel tanks. He gave the 109 a belly full of lead anyways which then sent it down in flames.  He then restarted his engines and continued about his business.  Its stories like this that inspire me to build certain subjects.  Anyways, here are some WIP and completed pics of the Hasegawa P-38J I built for the Twin Boom Group build.  Since not everyone follows the GB's, I figured there would be enough interest in the subject to post it here. 

The Hasegawa P-38 is no walk in the park, but by no means unbuildable either.  With a little sanding here, rescribing there, patience and some good old fashioned modeling skills, it makes into a fairly nice P-38.  I built the Pro Modeler (Hasegawa mold) G last year (Rex Barber's mount...elsewhere on the forum) so I had a pretty good idea how to tackle this thing.  I'm also hoping that this build will inspire others to try this kit.  I was able to avoid alot of the mistakes I made last time and I pointed them out as I went.  I used a True Details cockpit Ultracast wheels, Quickboost gun barrels, and Kits World Decals for Olds markings.  I found the decals to be a rip off. For the price, they should have come with more than just the plane specific stuff (more ranting here later). Well, lets dig in.

I started with the True Details Cockpit.  Its definitely an improvement over the kit parts.  I like TD because they are nicely detailed and cheap.  Truthfully I don't know how Aires stays in business while TD is around.  Maybe I'm just a cheapskate.  Anyways, It took me about an hour just to saw the pour stub off the bottom of the pit (lot of cussing).  Once done removing all the stubs, I began test fitting the pit to the plane.

I recalled an issue I had on the G with the back glass canopy not fitting right over the headrest.  I was able to get the pit to fit beautifully, but once it came time to attach the canopies, the armor plate top prevented the canopy from sitting properly.  I had to unfortunately shave off quite a bit of the head rest to fix this.  This time around I test fitted the pit with the glass taped in place and carved plastic and resin until everything fit as intended (darn resin).

Once I was satisfied that all would fit properly, I commenced to painting the cockpit and instrument panel were painted in XF1 Flat Black.  The pit was then painted with Gunze Aqueous Interior Green.   I then pick out the various boxes with XF-69 Nato Black.  I painted the O2 hose XF-61 Deep Green and the seat belts XF-57 Buff mixed with XF-49 Khaki.  Silver details were picked out with a silver Sharpie.  I added some red and yellow on various buttons to add interest.  I then drybrushed everything with Floquil Old Silver.  Once done, it was sprayed with Testor's Gloss coat and after about an hour, it was washed with "The Detailer" wash.  A quick blast with Testor's Dull coat and it was done.  Here's how it turned out.

It was then time to assemble the cockpit and add it to the upper fuselage/pod half.  After another test fit to make sure everything fit, I super-glued it in place.  The P-38 is a tail sitter so you can either use the kit provided clear rod to prop the tail  up, or weight is needed in the nose.  I opted for the latter and used a fishing weight epoxied into the roof of the gun chamber.

Onward towards construction.  Lets face it, there's really no easy way to build this airframe.  Alot of it is just Kelly's Johnson's unique design which isn't easy to duplicate in plastic.  That aside, the fit is just downright bad in certain areas, most notably where the booms meet the upper wing by the supercharger and the seams on the side of the gun access panels to the wing root.  I can only compare the latter it to assembling the engine nacelles on the Monogram B-17 (for those who've built that).  That said though, if you dry-fit, do a little chopping here and filling there, alot of the issues can be dealt with.  Here's how I did it:

1.  First I closed the pilot/gun center pod and sealed it with Tenax, my glue of choice.  Sorry, but I forgot to take pictures of this process here but I'll explain it thoroughly. Its pretty much modeling 101.  The pod closes like a clamshell with a seam that starts at the nose and goes all the way through to the wingroot.  The resulting seem here is pretty bad and will need alot of sanding and filling.  Once all glue was dry, preferably overnight, I masked off as much detail as possible then used 180 grit paper in the seam.  I like Tamiya's sandpaper.  This is a nice course grit and evens things out quickly. Follow it with 320 grit which starts to smooth it out

2.  I then run over the seam with a silver Sharpie.  This works like a charm and reveals any seam issues.  Actually, I use this trick on all my builds.  I then fix gaps or holes with super and accelerator. Then sand flush.  Repeat as necessary.

3.  Once satisfied, I rescribed any lost detail.  On this guy, I ended up rescribing the gun access panels because they were fairly soft anyways.   

Its now time assemble the booms and add the "J" version inserts.  Just like Hasegawa P-40 series, the plugs dont fall on panel lines so there was alot of sanding and filling. It was just a matter of "precision" sanding using the above process.  The panel lines on belly of the engines were soft too and needed rescribed.  I then added the gear bay guts and then attach the booms to the pod.

Now for some pictures.  Here is where most of the alignment problems with the Hasegawa P-38 start.  Thye culprit is the landing gear box rear roof and sides.  This is what it looks like from the top and where most of the boom alighment problems start.

Now...I'm convinced the green circled area (below) is where the fit problems start.  The piece indicated by the red arrow in the second picture seems to be the main culprit.

The remedy?  Well, I just sanded out as much of this plastic as I could then chopped quite a bit off the plastic indicated by the red arrow (both sides of boom) with an Exacto knife.  Now the booms sat as intended.  Don't get me wrong, the area will still need lots of the above outlined sanding and some rescribing, (4 hours worth to give an estimate) but at least the crooked boom problem will be solved.

The rest of it went together in typical Hasegawa fashion. 

The version of Olds Plane I decided on carried the Invasion stripes.  Here's how I do mine.  I preshaded all the panel lines with Flat Black (XF-1) then sprayed the area where the stripes would go with Flat White (XF-2).  Since there will be alot of taping, I cut this with Tamiya Lacquer thinner for extra bite.

I then sprayed the black stripes with Flat Black (XF-1).  For this I cut the black with 91% Isopropyl since it dries almost immediately on contact which alleviates the possibility of bleed under.  Try it...it works.  These were then taped off.  The rudders were sprayed XF-7 Flat Red and taped off.

After taping off the black stripes, It was then time for the Neutral Grey bottom.  I took XF-53 Neutral Grey and added a bit of XF-2 Flat White for scale (Tamiya's Neutral Grey just seems a bit dark to me).  I then lightened it more and added condensation streaks along the bottom from front to back.  I use low pressure and high speed.

Once I was satisfied with the effect, I went back with a diluted mixture of XF-69 NATO Black and XF-64 Red Brown and highlighted some panel lines.  This is done now then it will be done again later to add depth to the paint.

I used Blue Tac rolled up into worms to mask off the demarcation lines.  This stuff works great for this task and leaves a nice feathered edge.  Since the diagram on the Kit's World sheet is so small (sigh), I used the instruction sheet's drab bird as a rough reference. I figured most drab Lightnings were painted the same way.

This was my first experience with Gunze Aqueous Olive Drab.  I loved it. Its the perfect balance between green and brown.  I cut it with Tamiya X-20 and it started off a bit translucent but once I got the ratio right, it was like silk.

After streaking effect.  I think this looks about right..

I removed all the tape and here's how she turned out and I was pleased.  No bleed under anywhere.  My paint trick in conjunction with Tamiya tape works everytime.  I added some more post shading and the distinctive supercharger exhaust staining along the booms.  In pictures this looks chalky white.  For this I used diluted Buff XF-57 lightened with a touch of Flat White XF-2.  I then used diluted NATO Black XF-69 and added a few thin streaks from the exhaust pipe to add depth. 

I gave the airframe a coat of Alclad Gloss Coat for decals.  This stuff is great and dries quickly.  You could probably start decaling in few hours but I usually let it cure overnight to be safe......or in other words, forget Future.  The Kits World decals worked well but only a handful were applicable to my subject, the plane specific ones, the "no step" window frame warnings, and the prop logos.  The rest I sourced from an old Superscale sheet.  This burns me, I shouldn't have to do this for what this sheet cost, its just silly (end of Kit's World dig).   Anyways, I'm ready to start assembly. Props are assembled and ready to go too.

Now for some negatives. I had trouble getting the main landing gear doors on.  This is a poor design and they just don't like to stay glued on.  I ultimately used Gorilla super glue and they seem to be holding for now.  Also, the canopies, collectively, are another weak area of the kit.  They just don't fit right.  After fiddling for quite some time with their positioning, I went with "good enough". 

Here's the finished product after a Flory wash and a dusting of Testor's Dull Coat.

I suppose I should have grunged it up a bit I've read that Olds was meticulous about his plane(s) and even spent time waxing them with he crew to get a bit more speed out of them.  Anyways, in conclusion, I hope this build thread will inspire some of you guys to yank that Hasegawa P-38 out of the stash and give it whirl. 

Joe