Beautiful work so far. Your AB skills are second to none, a level to aspire to.

I have an Academy 1/48 P-38 in the stash and am saving this WIP for future referance.  TY for posting this ,as always, informative and interesting WIP. 

Looking absolutly stellar. Super nice work.

BK

Such a beautiful paint job! I've got to grab a bottle of lacquer thinner next time I'm at the hobby shop and see how it works. Do you always thin the acyrlics with the lacquer thinner? Looking forward to seeing it decaled up!

Thanks PJ. It's my understanding that even NMF lightnings could have had either silver lacquer or neutral grey gear bays, depending on the level of corrosion in there when it reached overseas. I guess they didn't use ZC because it was too hard to come by. Neutral grey was apparently readily available.  Apparently the landing gears themselves were neutral grey too which is what I might go with. 

That P-38 is looking awesome dog. The paint shading looks just right.

I read somwhere that OD P-38s had light grey wheel bays and NMF ones were left unpainted. I ran into that info while building an Academy P-38 but can't recall where.

After the F-86 I'm back in the saddle here.  Out came the sandpaper, super glue, silver Sharpie and of course Net Flix to keep my sanity.  The worst fitting area is the gunbay seam clamshell.  Lots of sanding and rescribing.  In my opinion this is one of Hasegawa's worse fitting kits.  Dare I say it's very Monogram-like.  Anyways I muddled through it.  The seams were checked with Alclad primer.

I intend to depict CC with full invasion stripes right around D-day. At this point I painted everything that needed to be white X-2 Gloss White as I was completely out of their flat. This being a nose ring, the stripes, then the white tail triangle.  

Here I taped off everything that will stay white.

I painted the stripes black, taped the area off, them sprayed the engine fronts XF-3 Flat Yellow with a few drops of XF-7 Flat Red to brighten it up.  

CC was an Olive Drab over Neutral Grey machine.  Next came the XF-53.  I thinned it with Tamiya lacquer thinner which makes their paint spray like silk.  My research showed that the gearbays on the Lightning were Neutral Grey after 1942.  Not having to mask these was welcome surprise!

Now the frame was streaked with lightened XF-53 and the control surfaces lightened as well.  Then it got a postshade of diluted XF-1 Flat Black and XF-64 Red Brown cut with 91% Isoprohyl Alcohol.  It will probably get more later.

Olive Drab time.  I used Blue Tac to mask off the demarcation line. This stuff leaves a nice feathered edge.

Straight Gunze Aqueous Olive Drab.  I have yet to find a better shade to my eye.  I wish Gunze paints weren't so translucent.  It takes alot of paint to get it to the right consistency.

I gave the uppers the same weathering treatment then removed all the tape.  The Tamiya tape performed flawlessly as usual.  I know that the real invasion stripes were slopped on with brushes, but I just can't bring myself around to doing that.  On a side note, I read that the noses on the 20th FG P-38s were left in aluminum and the tips polished to fool the Germans into thinking they were unarmed recon Lightnings.  I simulated this look with Alclad Duraluminum and the tip in Polished Aluminum...

I replicated the supercharger heat and exhaust with XF-57 Buff then some light XF-1 down the center.  I'm pleased with how it turned out.  

I hope to be decaling soon.  Now on to those canopies.......ugh...  

Looking excellent as always, Joe. And you seem to be building everything I have in my stash, so thanks for all the inspiration!

-BD-

Another beautiful start lawdog! Can't wait to see that airbrush go to work

I have this very kit in the stash. I'm glad to see it in the hands of the master. I am certainly watching this one with keen interest.

BK

The P-38 was my favorite fighter as a kid and one of my first 'seroius' kits was the old Monogram one. Funny that I've started two of the same Hasegawa ones like yours and not liking where they were going finished neither of them.  

Wow, I'm impresssed on your lightning, can't wait to see the finished product. 

Joe, thanks.  The only P-38 I have experience with is this one.  I've built three so far.  I've actually heard the opposite, that this one is better in regards to detail, however, the Academy version is supposed to be an easier build.  The new Eduard boxing of the Academy mold with all the extra goodies has caught my attention though.  I would need that price of 70 bones to come down south of 50 before I were to pounce.  

Toshi, thanks but your better than you think you are.  You have come leaps and bounds from the first models you've shown here and those weren't slouches either.  Please send some of that Toshi magic over to Parma as I have to have an F-86 done and shipped to Texas by July 1st and I have yet to start that turkey  

PJ, thanks for the kind words and glad to have you along.  

Bob,  Thanks, but there will be alot of sanding...lots.  Fortunately I'll have Net Flix to keep me distracted.

Great looking pit dog. Can't wait to see more.

I don't know lawdog114, you did that pretty fast for one sitting and with much better technique and skill than I have sir!  What you have so far built is something I'm trying to and finding hard to achieve.  The skills, techniques, styles, and reader research information are beyond my comprehension.  

I'll be bumbling for a few decades before I can even get at the level many of you talented forum members are at.  Thank you for sharing your build of this magnificent and unique aircraft.

Toshi

I will really enjoy following along on your P-38 Joe. You've certainly done some fine work so far. The cockpit, per your usual, is aces. Have you tackled on of the Academy P-38's yet? That's what I mostly have in my stash and research tends to favor the Academy kit over the Hasegawa.

Slapping another one together, eh? 

Not only am I impressed by the attention to detail of your builds, but you're also fast! Perhaps not "Toshie" fast, but PDQ!  

Thanks for posting your builds here, lawdog!  They are certainly fun to follow.

Gary