Eduard 1/48 P-38H Lightning WIP

Ohh, sweet! I'm watchin. Shouldn't need any aftermarket with this one. The box is already packed with resin.

Der Gaberschwanz Teufel! Very nice.  I'm looking forward to this one.  

Joe

Did a little building tonight.  The panel lines of the kit look nice, body seems pretty good with the rough mock up I've done.  All the Eduard pieces are very nice as well, lots of detail.  Everything advertised on Eduard's website is in the box and the instruction manual is excellent with full color paint diagrams for all versions.  Instructions are available as PDF on Eduard's website if anyone is curious.  Here's a pic of the office half glued together and ready for some paint as well as the body mock up.  To the right of the mock up, you will see the version I plan on building.  Thanks for looking.

I just love the resin in this kit!

Couple of office shots, not totally done yet.

Also the kit comes with some PE mesh for the tails.  I can't find a close up of the P-38H but the P-38J close ups I have seen have the grille recessed unlike the intructions which make it look like they are flush (and when in place flush, the PE looks to be cut to fit that way).  To fix this I've recessed the PE and I'm just scratch-building around them.  

Very nice work. Excellent cockpit so far.

Nice work so far....I like the ruler as a scale reference.  

Joe

Hey Christian.  Nice build so far.  I actually just starting working on the P 38J from Academy for a NMF group build.  I really like what I see from the kit, but there are a few things I noticed that I'm cleaning up.  The doors at the back of the radiators need thinning, and they're are some intakes for the intercooler and oil cooler that can be opened and thinned as well as the intakes for the turbochargers.  Your Brassin parts may negate some of that if you replace them.  I was looking to get my hands on it, but it seems they don't sell it without the kit.

Hope that's of some help to you on your build.  Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. =]   Which paint scheme have you picked out?

Good call on the radiators, the rear doors were a little thick.  I thinned them out a little but since you mention it I've been looking at more pictures of the H-version and I need to thin front and back a little more.  The intake for the charger is replaced with a Brassin part that I  haven't attached yet and the oil cooler/intercooler intakes don't seem to be a problem on the H.

I'm adding this after the fact: All ModelMaster acryl except for what you see in silver which is MM enamel and my wash.  First coat was MM Acryl flat black, then green zinc chromate.  Just that alone gives a nice effect but to highligh more details I washed everything with heavily thinned enamel burnt umber.  When I do this I don't try to wipe away excess that isn't highlighting details because it gives a stained, dirty look to everything.  

Just as a note to anyone planning on trying this in the future, I've had multiple hobby shop clerks tell me that this method will dissolve the acryl.  It has yet to happen to me but I don't try to rub off the excess like most people do with panel line washes, I just leave it.

Man, that looks great!  Well done indeed; waiting to see more of this fine work.

Gary

Gorgeous cockpit!  Now I'm convinced I need to get one. =]

Great work!

Question for the group if anyone knows. I need to paint the wheel wells, instructions call for "interior green"/green zinc chromate.  All the images I can find seem to have the landing gear bay as unpainted aluminum and normally I would go with plain zinc chromate for wheel wells.  My question is which is correct?  I dont know if maybe the P-38H is different than the J.  If anyone has any info or good references it would be much appreciated.

Really nice cockpit. looking forward to the rest of it.

Regarding the comment about enamel washes over acryl dissolving the finish, I haven't had issues with it either. I use testors brush cleaner to thin the enamel, not airbrush thinner, though.

Here's something I reference quite often.  Give it a try:

www.ipmsstockholm.org/.../stuff_eng_interior_colours_us_part2.htm

I should mention that references like this are often a great place to start, but a better resource would be learning where the aircraft you're making went to.  If you knew where it was based and flew from and what time period, then you may learn from a little digging the habits and assets available to that FG.  Sometimes folks just used what they had to maintain their ships/vehicles/etc.  With a little investigation, you might uncover something different.  =]

bvallot - great reference thanks, definitely going to keep it bookmarked.  The history tid-bits are really interesting about the different paints.

The version you are doing.  The Twin Tailed Dragon. I did a J in the yellow dragon.  Used the Hasegawa kit.  The cockpit looks incredible on yours.

Great looking build. These Eduard kits certainly seem popular and I can see why.

Here's some progress.  Been having some fit issues with the canopy over the instrument panel.  I might have placed the cockpit about 0.5mm too far farward but at the time I was concerned about how the armor plate and the rear glass lined up....hence the putty on the front windscreen.  One thing that I will make note of is that the side windows fit perfectly between the front and rear glass which makes me think the problem is more due to  the original kit  than the Eduard cockpit.

That 'Pit is fantastic Christian.  The sidewall detail is quite impressive.  The frame is coming together nice too.  From the areas you have puttied, Its seems both the Academy and Hasegawa example have the same fit issues.  Reference the gear bays, my research when I built Rex Barber's mount with the Hasegawa kit revealed that early Lightnings came from the factory with Neutral Gray gear bays, doors and legs.  They weren't done in ZC until the J model.  Also, the supercharger exhaust tube in the bay should be a blueish color from the heat.   

Joe