What a beauty! Thanks for sharing (and inspiring!).

Beautiful build!  

Ultra nice, thanks for pointing out the difficulties and solutions.

I love a good P-38 build. Nice job on a great plane.

Thanks folks for the compliments.  F-8, thats interesting and I didn't think of that.  I may have to go back and cut down the port side window.  It should be easy enough to achieve this.  Was there not a way to button up a P-38 from the outside?

Joe

Wow, fantastic build!!  

If I may offer one thought to those who would build a P-38, the side windows on the cockpit would not be in the up position on the ground unless the pilot was inside the plane.  Those side windows needed to be rolled down so that the pilot could climb inside.  With them up, the pilot has no way to enter the cockpit.  IIRC, at least one--usually the left side--would be left down, even if the other was up.  Also, if you intend to put a pilot in the aircraft, for dioramas, etc etc, the side windows had to be in the full up position for takeoff--they disturbed the air flow to the tail if they were left open on the takeoff run, and this made it very hard to impossible for the plane to leave the ground.

Great job there, Joe!  Perfect execution of a legendary warrior's mount....My compliments, sir!

Color me...Inspired!  Thank you for sharing your techniques.  Beautiful job

I was going to say that Olds served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam but rangerj beat me to it. Great model, I never got around to building a p-38 and this makes me want to.Great Job !!

Thanks John.  I appreciate it.  Ranger, this is interesting info and thanks for sharing.  Also, thanks for the compliment and I'm glad you will find use for this thread.  I was hoping it would inspire someone to give this kit a try.  Granted its tricky, but if you know the kit's quirks itsnot that bad.  Please post some pics when you start Bong's P-38.  I'd love to see it    

Joe

IIR the General flew combat in Korea also. (He retired from the USAF at the rank of General). A little known fact is that his daughter was a USAF Academy graduate and was a Captain on assignment in Riad during the 1st gulf war. The building she was working in (or living in - I cannot recall which at the (senior)_moment) was hit by a SCUD missal and she was killed. That is sacrifice. The P-38 is a great build. Thanks for sharing it with us. I intend to do that model in Maj. R I Bongs markings and your narrative is a big help. I did an F-4 in Col. Old's markings.

Awesome work Joe! Very nicely done!

Just came across this Joe, all I can say is WOW!  Excellent finish and detail as always.

Wow! So simple to use! Do they ship outside the UK?

Thanks for the compliments.  Andrew, I eventually intend to read his book too.  

Joe

lawdog thats amazing. me and my friend are very impressed! keep it up

really outstanding job,love your work on the office.

AndrewW

Stunning work, Lawdog.  I would love to be able to paint and finish this nicely.  In Canada, we have 'the History Channel', and they have a show called 'Air Aces'.  A few months back, they ran a show devoted to Olds and his service in Vietnam (yes, Nathan, he was an ace, in fact a double ace - Europe and Vietnam, if I remember correctly), quite an impressive pilot and quite an impressive build.

He had enough of an edge to him that he never made general officer rank.

Very nice work!

Stunning work, Lawdog.  I would love to be able to paint and finish this nicely.  In Canada, we have 'the History Channel', and they have a show called 'Air Aces'.  A few months back, they ran a show devoted to Olds and his service in Vietnam (yes, Nathan, he was an ace, in fact a double ace - Europe and Vietnam, if I remember correctly), quite an impressive pilot and quite an impressive build.

Lawdog, holy-moly is that SWEET!    It's just awesome from every angle, inside and out.

It is an absolutely beautiful model! The finish is superb.

That's beautiful Joe! Love everything about her!

Robin Olds commanded the 8th TAC Fighter Wing in 1966-67. He was credited with 4Migs shot down. As was typical at that time, he fired a bunch of missiles that didn't work properly and didn't hit.

Thanks for all the compliments everyone.  GM, thanks for that tidbit of information.  That's clever.  I always wondered where he came up with that name.  I figured it was some sort of nickname or inside joke.  

Joe

Whoa, stunning build Joe!! Absolutely nothing not to like on this one! I just watched the episode of Dogfights the other day about Olds and they talked a fair bit about his powerless kill. Pretty impressive!

Very nice. Scat was the nickname of his room mate at West Point, who washed out of flight school. Olds saw to it that he "flew" anyhow.

I think Olds got to Scat XXVII (an F-4C) although I do not think he flew all of the ones in between.

Nice build, and very helpful post.

dcp2798

 Did Robin Olds fight in the Vietnam War also?

Yes sir. Ace in Nam too right??

Nice work on a tough kit Joe. Flawless painting everytime.