P-38 Lightning group build - Are we there yet???

Daddy1 WOW!!!!!!!!! that is one dirty used up P-38. As was said above" AWESOME"

That is one awesome P-38.  Weathering is great!

Vance- Been using the Powershot cameras for a number of years , even some earlier 35mm film types. Great cameras. I've wanted an SLR for ages to bring my photo skills up a few notches. They always seemed out of my range too. Finally , I decided this was the year. Actually ,the T1i is one of Canons less expensive DSLRs.  A very good beginning DSLR.

 Funny thing is with everything electronic getting smaller. I like that the DSLRs have more heft. Makes them easier to hold steady, and looking through the viewfinder is the best way to track a moving subject.

Mostly , it'll be a camera that can grow with my skills taking pictures. I feel that scale modeling gives all of us the basics of good photography, an eye for detail, good composition , and a natural feel for what looks right.

But I digress, on to the completed pics of Oriole.

If you look close you'll see the ring and bead sight ,scratchbuilt from thin sheet plastic , using a hole punch with fine stretched sprue for the cross hairs. Also used small ovals of aluminum foil , applied with Micro-scale adhesive for the mirrors on the inboard of the nacelles.

 The Lightning is one beautiful ,very art deco design . Hats off to Kelly Johnson . 

Howard

That camera will do a great job for you once you get used to it Howard. I just picked up a new Canon a few weeks back - the Rebel was out of my range though, I ended up with a very capable (for what I need) Canon Powershot. Take lots of shots, mark down your settings for the first few sessions. I would not be surprised to see the Oriole in print!

Goodness180

Vance:  Looking amazing!!!!

I also like the black finish. Has me thinking of building the night fighter when I get around to the Revellogram 38 in my stash. Looks very cool.

 I have completed Oriole , and hoping to post pics tonight. Still learning my Canon Rebel T1i DSLR after being used to point and shoot. I've put together a take down studio of sorts following FSM how tos and am dialing in my lighting and exposure and such for the beauty shots. Will most likely submit to the mag for publication in the readers gallery.  

Howard 

Goodness180

Vance:  Looking amazing!!!!

Thanks, I'm really liking this in the all-black finish! I'll give it a good looking over tonight before I remove the masking & start working the flaps etc.

Vance:  Looking amazing!!!!

I'm starting to think there are two kinds of aircraft modelers... those who have built a P38, and those who haven't! Tal Afar Dave, no problem accepting late-comers if you're interested in throwing your name in the hat here as well - we've extended our deadline to the end of May. (If nothing else we can track you down in the Monogram thread!)

Great builds, guys. Thanks for sharing the great pictures.  Currently working on a Monogram P38 for the Monogram GB.  I feel your pain for this particular kit, but hope to make a presentable recon Lightning (using the included parts not called out for in the Revell instruction sheet,  of course!), your work is truly inspirational!

Paint! I'm laying down paint!!! OK, as I've said before, I've never built a P38 before so this whole "where to hold the thing while I'm painting it" thing is still kinda awkward to me! But now that I'm getting closer to the finish line, I'm liking this bird in the all-black NF finish. Started with primer of course, pure flat black in areas I wanted darker, and now my finish coat is going on. I'm using Tamiya semigloss black mixed about 10:1 with royal blue, just to take the edge off the black. AFter seeing it dried in daylight this morning I probably could have lightened a little more but I still love the look...

Still need to do the underside, drop tanks and prop/spinners. I also need to try to buff out a cat hair on the right forward engine nacelle - of course! And after "all the painting" is done, I still need to attach the flaps & remaining canopy pieces & antenna wires.

Exactly my point...

Goodness180

 

p38jl:

 

 

Sparrowhyperion:

Yup.  You have to watch what curves you handle...

 

 

p38jl:

handlin' a -38 is like handlin' a fine lady......

 

 

 

 

  oooh.. but she has such nice curves to handle....

 

 

Touch in the wrong spot though and you get smacked!!! 

p38jl

Sparrowhyperion:

Yup.  You have to watch what curves you handle...

 

p38jl:

handlin' a -38 is like handlin' a fine lady......

 

 

  oooh.. but she has such nice curves to handle....

Touch in the wrong spot though and you get smacked!!! 

Sparrowhyperion

Yup.  You have to watch what curves you handle...

 

p38jl:

handlin' a -38 is like handlin' a fine lady......

 

  oooh.. but she has such nice curves to handle....

Yup.  You have to watch what curves you handle...

p38jl

handlin' a -38 is like handlin' a fine lady......

handlin' a -38 is like handlin' a fine lady......

daddy1

It's getting there Vance. Looking great.

One thing I've found with building a P-38 is how awkward it is to handle , especially during finishing and weathering. The twin booms have a habit of getting in the way sometimes. 

 I've got the gear doors on Oriole, Seems to be the trickiest fit of the whole Academy kit. I've made little door hinges for the mains . Not really accurate , but a fair representation. I've got the day off tomorrow and am going to try and pull a mini marathon build day to get all the last little items done and post pics tomorrow night. 

Howard

Awkward - that's the word! It's a little difficult getting an even coverage on the inside of the booms while holding the whole thing by a wingtip - good thing I'm using quick-drying acrylics. There were several times where I had to rotate the thing & thought "oops, put my fingers on a wet spot", but it had dried enough to not make any difference. (With flat paint anyway, gotta be more careful on the glossy final coats.)

It's getting there Vance. Looking great.

One thing I've found with building a P-38 is how awkward it is to handle , especially during finishing and weathering. The twin booms have a habit of getting in the way sometimes. 

 I've got the gear doors on Oriole, Seems to be the trickiest fit of the whole Academy kit. I've made little door hinges for the mains . Not really accurate , but a fair representation. I've got the day off tomorrow and am going to try and pull a mini marathon build day to get all the last little items done and post pics tomorrow night. 

Howard

VanceCrozier

Goodness180:

Vance:  Any thought about extending this build out a bit????  Especially for the people like me in the big "Model Slump"

 

What can I say, I have a soft spot for those in a slump. (I feel your pain right now!) Let's go ahead & ad another month to the festivities. No pics right now, but I've got my primer coat laid down as of this morning, outside on a pleasant spring morning. Nothing says Easter Sunday like a good coat of primer!

Nice!!! Thank you. 

There, borrowed a cable from someone, here come some pics. Lots of putty on the right side of the nose, glass mostly in place...

wow - I'm liking the new camera's abilities in close!

The view from above. Pleas not my re-purposed coffee cup holder, great for supporting 1/48 kits before all the gear is added!

The fuselage section just ahead of the windscreen was still sitting too proud. (Or the glass isn't long enough??) I protected the surrounding areas & sanded it down, raised rivets & all. The gun bay is going to stay fairly clean, I'll give it a little dusting with Tamiya's pastels.

Primer on, first coat or flat black...

And a little darker underneath.

More tonight!

A-HA!!! Despite the family commitments that come with a long weekend, I managed to make my last (hopefully) putty touchups on the P38; mask the cockpit, gear bays & areas I sliced open for the flaps; primer coat the whole airframe & various drop tanks & gear bay covers; apply a first coat of pure flat black to a great deal of the underside & some of the areas I want to appear darker on the topside. Semigloss black is next up, lightened with a little blue I think, see if I can get some of my rough pre-shading to show through.

I'm using Tamiya acrylics over a coat of their lacquer-based primer. I love the quick turnaround & cleanup on acrylics - does anyone know of a good acrylic primer??

Pics will have to wait until tonight or tomorrow, just realized that I left the camera cable at home.

Thanks for the extension.  The long winter and the kids struggle with school work this year took up most of my free time so I only have the pit finished so far.  Hope to make some more progress this week and will post some pictures.   

Goodness180

Vance:  Any thought about extending this build out a bit????  Especially for the people like me in the big "Model Slump"

What can I say, I have a soft spot for those in a slump. (I feel your pain right now!) Let's go ahead & ad another month to the festivities. No pics right now, but I've got my primer coat laid down as of this morning, outside on a pleasant spring morning. Nothing says Easter Sunday like a good coat of primer!

FLash ! HIGH PRIORITY !

Message decoded as follows: From Kelly Johnson, location; Skunk Works: I have been lurking in this GB for some time now and am pleased with the results. I have contacted your Host via secret Agent( meow) and have urged him to extend this build. He is currently in an undisclosed location in the Canadian Maritimes on a secret mission and not able to access the net, he instructed me to contact the co-host. He has agreed, REPEAT agreed to extend this build for at least one month. Repeat 1 month.

Once has returned( hopefully alive ) he will conduct a poll and have further review.

END Transmission..

As an unofficial slacking co-host,, I would be agreeable, as I have a -38 in mind with secret decals.. !

Vance:  Any thought about extending this build out a bit????  Especially for the people like me in the big "Model Slump"

I hate to say it guys but I'm not going to make it. Got a bunch done that I never posted pics for and after my last post I mounted the gun tray, nose and gun bay doors, shot primer and started work on the seams. BUT, thanks to Ken Schlotfeld at Badger, I got some new airbrushes to play with. If you know anything about me then you know I love airbrushes. lol He sent a 100LG, 105 Patriot and Omni 400 along with quick disconnects so I could swap between them very quickly. They're all very shiney so I was immediately distracted. Then I had to plug them all in and try them. Find their likes and dislikes. Well, you get the picture...

That was around 5 weeks ago. The next week, as if that weren't wonderous enough, I got a job! Three weeks shy of being unemployed for two years. And have been working 10 - 12 hour days, six days a week since. Great to be employed again but quite a shock to the mind and body. I'm plumbing hydraulics on big trucks and climbing in, over, under and around ain't easy. lol And, I'm also trying to finish school with exams starting next week...

So, my apologies for the way things have turned out and not being able to finish on time. I will get it done and post the results here when it is.

A big to all of you who have completed your builds. From what I've learned during this build, there currently is no easy way to end up with a great looking P-38 but everyone has. Great work guys! I really regret not being able to join you here at the end.

Tony

Nice looking builds !

Shoot!! If only I enlisted on this forum/site a wee bit earlier....

I have Trumpeter's 1:32 P38 lying around with LOADS of aftermaket (Eduard BigEd, resin cockpit, resin guntubes, metal undercarriage).

This thread is a wealth of info for me....

Grtz, John.

Oooops ! Darn thing tried to do a duplicate post.

Spike190

Vance when I did my first attempt at dot filters I used far to many dots, when I began moving the paint about it looked a bit of a mess.... but I'd done it over a gloss coat and simply wiped 80% off no problem. Not done it over black but can't see why it wouldn't work.

Cheers...

 To many dots is still my problem, but since almost all is wiped off, it still works out. Spike, the main reasons I haven't tried using artist oils  is the cost of those paints and since I've a rack full of MM enamels , they're there. Will break down and use the oils one day though, because I like the effect of filters, and it's actually a fairly easy technique.

 Vance - I hear you about being kept away from the bench. But , I do have update pics.

Down to the final assembly stuff.

Paint chipping with silver Prismacolor pencil. Still need to do a few chips with some aluminum paint and fine tip brush. 

Weathered the turbos, starting with a base coat of MM chrome silver allowed to dry overnight. Then followed with successive washes of acrylic blue, add a touch of red to the blue for the purplish tones, and then add yellow to the mix for the brown tones. I also added some Model Makerz  burnt sienna pigment to the wash to start bringing up the rust tones. Finally a light dusting of rubble dust and burnt seinna dry pigment , finishing up with a very light dry brushing of MM steel. 

After a spray with dull coat , I made a wash of ground pastels to give the vinyl tires more realistic color. They looked to black. Will apply some mud during final weathering.

 Here's the installed turbos. Can't really tell in the pic, but the under lying chrome base and all the washes do so a hint of color and shine through the rust.

Finally have legs under her. 

The formation lights under the fuse. I carved out a bit with a small round Dremel cutter chucked in a pin vise. Then I base coated all nav lights with crome silver to give a hint of reflectors under a mix of Future and drops of the appropriate colors . Then go over the chrome silver lights with the mixtures. When dry they have and underlying shine.   

Hope to have this bird wrapped up in a day or two. 

Howard