Need ideas to start

good one rangerj, thankyou sooo much for the tips for my plane and if I have anymore ?'s for you I will surely ask you . you're tips really did help me out

lq2,

you are right, we jumped the gun and went right to the finishinf touches before youo have even begun the assembly.

OK, lets back up the bus guys. From what I remember of the kit it fits fairly decent. It has been arround a long time so you may have some flash to contend with. Start by cleaning up any mold flash. Then start dry fitting the parts, for ecample the fuselage booms, the center pod, the wings, etc.

The dry fitting allows you to determine where the seems do, or do not, fit well. You can sand as necessary to get a nice tight fit. I find it necessary to remove the alignment pins that do not allow the halves to fit correctly.

Once you have the main asemblies fitted, still dry, that is no glue, you can start dry fitting the things that will fit in between the "halves", such as the wheel wells in the booms and the cockpit on nose gear well in the center fuselage,or pod.

The idea is to make sure that everything is going to fit correctly, and has been "cleaned up", say of any "flash" before you start applying glue. You may find it helpful to label an envelope or plastic bags "left", "right", etc. so the parts do not get mixed up.

Once you are comfortable with the "fit", you can start looking at the parts that will need to be painted before you put things together. This should get you started.

As you come up with questions just throw them out. This is a very knowledgable and experienced group that is very willing to help, especially a "Sheila". There are a couple of Austrailian modelers holding their side and rolling on the floor about now ! Sorry but I couldn't resist. rangerj

wow thankyou for all of the weathering tips, but before I start to paint and all do I need to smooth the edges of the plane , like the wings and the main body seams. I'm just a little nervous about doing a plane since I'm used to doing armor.

try mixing a bit of yellow in the olive drab for the weathered look, a few drops will do the job. Drybrush with brown or Pactras weathering color. Good results....

If you're heavily weathering the plane, you may want to take the decals into consideration. Factory-fresh markings on a weathered plane will probably not be too convincing. Using light gray pastel chalks (NOT oil pastels) over the markings after the dullcoat will help blend them to the rest of the plane.
Hope this helps.

rangerj ia correct, Aluminum does not rust but corrodes over time. If you look at the inside of early world war two planes, the paint will be all cormite green, a paint that prevents corrosion. Drybrushing(wiping amost all the paint from your brush and painting raised areas) on the leading edges of the wings and tale looks good.

Lizardqueen2,

Do you mean "rusted" look, or "rustic"? Aluminum does corrode, but it does not rust. Iron, and/or iron alloys rust. Do you really mean that you want to give it a weathered and/or worn look?

The exagerated raised rivets on the Monogram kit lend themselves to "dry brushing" very handily. An Olive Drab finish with a lot of dry brushed aluminum rivets in the areas where wear occures looks nice, and authentic. Wash out the OD with some white, as it faded very badly. Paint a few panels with pure OD to represent repairs and fresh paint.

Just as a warning, the P-38 had counter rotating propellers, so be careful to pay attention to Right and Left. The Revell/Monogram P-38 F/G/H is the Hasagawa kit packaged under license. It is a beauty of the earlier variation of the P-38.

Lastly, WELCOME Sheila. rangerj

hey lizardqeen2
try asking pixilater...if his me262 is anything to go by, he'll be the man to sort you out on the painting and weathering front.
i've just got revell/monogram's pro-modeller p-38 on evilbay () and can't wait to see what decals and schemes it comes with....please keep us informed of your progress!!!
regards,
nick