LawDog this is a fantastic looking build. Incredible work.

Wow! I'd missed this thread for awhile and somehow just stumbled back on it. Really nice job on the craft. With Max's clean builds I'm always envious of the experts detail work! Great! Nice history also which is always a cool part of modeling. Keep up the good work!

Max

Gamera

 

BTW: Joe, you might consider drilling a small hole in the front wheel and another in the base and insert a small metal rod like a piece cut from a paper clip. If you get the hole the right size the friction should hold it in without glueing it. 

 

Thanks guys!  Gamera, that's a great idea.  Thank you.   

Niiiiiccccccccceeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!! She turned out as awesome as I figured she would! 

BTW: Joe, you might consider drilling a small hole in the front wheel and another in the base and insert a small metal rod like a piece cut from a paper clip. If you get the hole the right size the friction should hold it in without glueing it. 

What a fantastic build.  Your details just jumps out of you.

Toshi

Another beauty lawdog! Always love seeing your builds come together!

You're hitting all on cyclinders with your 38 builds now. You're definitley in the zone. You are the king of OD as far as I'm concerned and when was the last time FSM had Lanphiers very famous, but lesser known Lightning spotlighted? I'll say never.

Congrats

Your builds are always top of the line stuff Joe and this one isn't any different at all. Great work!! What really draws my attention to your builds is the lightning quick way you get them done and still pull off the quality work. Awesome show buddy!

Brandon, Mike...thanks. I'm glad it will be helpful.

I'm bookmarking this build for whenever I get around to my Eduard Pacific Lightnings kit. I must second Mike B's compliment - gorgeous work!

Fantastic Joe, simply STUNNING !!  WOW !!!!  

BK

DROP. DEAD. GORGEOUS.

I love the way she sits, Lawdog. Its unfortunate that you didn't consider the weight shift, but I'm sure most of us would've also missed that.

Live and learn. Indeed.  :)

Thanks for the kind words.  Gamera, it takes practice.  The tough part is not overdoing it.  I go for barely noticeable.

I finished this guy last night.  Now that I've built the Hasegawa and Eduard (Academy) kits back-to-back, I can say they are both challenging and even lacking, just in different ways.  Here's the stuff I felt was worth mentioning: 

*I'll give the Hasegawa kit the nod because the surface detail is much better.  I suppose this is why Eduard threw a ton of PE and resin at the Academy kit to improve things in overall appearance. I don't particularly like the raised rivets on the Academy kit.  

*Hasegawa's kit is tricky with boom alignment and it has underside wing root issues.  On the Academy kit, the boom to wing alignment was fairly painless with no wing root to deal with due to the kit design.  It's just a matter of gluing the upper piece to the lower piece.  Both gun bay nose assemblies were a lousy fit with lots of sanding and scribing.    

*Hasegawa's glass is thinner and more detailed but the Academy glass, particularly the windscreen, fit better, at least to me. I've never liked the fit of Hasegawa's windscreen. 

*If it was not for the PE fret offered by Eduard, the landing gear bays on the Academy kit would have no detail.

So on conclusion, factoring everything in, I'd still have to go with the Hasegawa kit with a few add on goodies.  Eduard did do a nice job updating the Academy basic kit and is no slouch either.  I doubt I would bother with the basic Academy kit but your mileage may vary.  I do hope to try out the Hobby Boss Lightning some day.   

My personal additions were Quickboost gun barrels and brake lines. I didn't particularly like the flat table-like stance, as most parked P-38s I've seen tilted slightly backwards. Since I had PE scissor links, I decided to fix this by replacing the front oleo strut with a longer piece and then using the said supplied PE scissor. I like the look but it did not go without consquence.  I discovered it was now a tail sitter as I failed to compensate for the weight shift......  Unfortunately this one will need to be fixed to a base by the front wheel.  We live an we learn.  I will however be doing this on all future P-38 builds.            

Here is my rendition of "Phobe", #122, flown by Thomas Lanphier Jr. on the Yamamoto Mission.  In all, Lanphier was credited with 9 kills, 8 damaged, and a Destroyer sunk.   

As much as I love this subject, I'm officially Lightning'ed out.  Time for something easy.  How about a Tamiya Wildcat?

Thanks for following.  Comments or criticizms are always welcome.....

Very, very sharp work! 

I've tried the streaking but can't get it to look anywhere as good as yours. 

Wow Joe, such an incredible build you have here. I love all the PE touches, but the paint ideas are just nothing short of amazing. LOVE IT !!!

BK

Looking very good dog. The paint looks extra smooth. Is Gunze lacquer? If so where did you get them?

Good lookin' build so far good buddy!

Thanks Toshi, Wildcat and Gamera...way too kind.  

I left off where I assembled the frame.  I got everything sanded and scribed to where I thought it was acceptable.  I can say this one was easier to assemble than the Hasegawa kit.  Eduard offers resin supercharger parts and some PE, so I used them.  The slightly darker grey pieces are resin.

On my last Lightning I thought the Tamiya Neutral Grey was a bit dark, so this time I went witn XF-66 Light Grey.  I then weathered it with streaking and a dirty postshade.  The real Phobe looked pretty grungy so I went heavy-handed, hopefully not too much.  

I used blue tac to mark off the demarcation lines in preparation of the Olive Drab.  This stuff is highly recommended for this purpose as it leaves a nice feathered edge.  

Most Quadalcanal Lightnings that I've seen in pictures have lighter colored stripes on the nose, engines and especially on the panel lines.  I've never been able to find a definitive answer to why.  I'm guessing shipping tape markings of some sort coupled with sun fading.  Anyways, I decided to replicate this.  I sprayed the nose and engines XF-57 Buff mixed with XF-49 Khaki thusly...

I then cut strips of Tamiya tape and placed them where I wanted the markings to be.  I didnt want to get too carried away.  

Then I laid down the Gunze Olive Drab.  In my opinion the best paint for this color.  

I lightened the drab with some buff and added some streaks.  I also lightened the control surfaces.

I like the way it turned out.  

I'll post shade it soon then gloss it for decals....stay tuned.

Looks great!!! 

I know what you mean though, you'd think if the cockpit was made for the kit it'd fit better! I've had to get crazy with the Dremel tool too. And those landing gear bays- ouch! 

Your the BEST lightning builder on FSM. Period!!!!

as always, you're moving right along and everything is just superb!

Toshi

Life has remained hectic lately, I guess you'll have have that.  Anyways, thanks for the kind words all.

Gamera, I never knew that about Yamamoto.  It has always annoyed me that he was educated in the US.   

GH, I can't believe anyone in their right mind would fly under a bridge in an airplane, unless they were chasing a Messerschmitt like Bill Overstreet.  Oh, that was the Effel Tower 

Ray, I use Gunze Aqueous but I find it somewhat translucent and needs a higher paint ratio than Tamiya.  Also it's semi-gloss and takes longer to dry.  They do make the best shade of Olive Drab in my opinion. I thin it with their own thinner, Mr.400 or whatever it's called.  I have no experience with their lacquers.

Trey, thats neat info.  Canning was the one who first spotted Yamamoto's flight.  He apparently had fantastic eyesight.  I believe he is still alive yeah?

Well, I did get some work in on the kit.  Unfortunately I had issues getting the resin pit sandwiched between the wings in the pod.  The instructions were vague on its location so it took alot of fiddling.  I eventually had to break out the Dremel and carve plastic and resin away until I could close it.  Wasn't this pit designed for this kit.............sigh..

Good news.......at least it looks like the canopies will fit

The Academy gear wells are plain without detail.  Eduard provided a nice PE set to dress these up.  

To keep this from being a tail dragger, I added some fishing weights to the nose.  I also added some styrene stock strips as positive locators to aid me in attaching the nose piece.   

I got the booms glued together without issues and I'm ready for the dreaded attachment.

The boom fit was much better than the Hasegawa kit without lower wing/boom root issues.  My biggest gripe is the overall lack of detail compared to the Hasegawa kit.  It has raised "dots" to represent where rivets should be......very Monogram like.  I was going to sand them off and drill them out.....but I would still be there doing it.  

Check out how crappy the landing gear boxes fit inside there?.......wtf?  I have to find a way to fix that...

Joe the office looks amazing , up to your usual high quality ! Really great history behind this build as well. Doug Canning ,who also flew on the mission, was a member at a local RC flying club here in Orlando and it was a great honor to get to actually talk to him first hand about this historical event. Looking forward to the next update! cheers Trey

Knowing the story, I agree with you. Everyone involved with that mission, from the code breakers to mechanics and the pilots ought to get credit for the kill. That is one thing that Civil Air Patrol has gone to doing that I like. If a "find" is issued, everyone responsible for that find, from the folks that work mission base to the ground teams and/or aircrews recieve credit. They have realized it is all a team effort start to finish.

Looks like you're off to a fantastic start on your Lightning! What's your thoughts on Gunze? I have a local dealer that sells it almost exclusively. I've been using Tamiya and Testor's Mastors Acrylics... but it looks like people are getting some real good results with Gunze... any special requirements? Raymond 

No one does a better Lightning build on FSM than you bro.

=]