Is a P-38 really that hard to manufacture?

Tojo72

They make the Missouri,doesnt get worse then having to surrender on her deck right in Tokyo Harbor,with all those rising suns painted on her.

 

Historically speaking, the Missouri was just the locale, and not the cause of that moment. Just as the French railway car of the WWI Armistace signature was not the source of Armistace. USS Missouri did not single handedly destroy entire cities with single shots (which she could easily do many times over in her last fitting), or shoot down and kill Japan’s most revered admiral since Admiral Togo. 

Not too long ago, one of the Japanese model companies released a dual kit of USS Indianapolis with I-58, the sub that sank her. A nice historical pairing, but.... I’m still waiting for them to release a matching paired set of USS Cavala and Shokaku or USS Albacore and Taiho. After all, Revell once issued their USS Arizona kit paired with a Kate and a Detail and Scale book about the Pearl Harbor Attack.

I am  doing an Academy 1/48 P-38 now and the booms and wings were untwisted and assembled just fine. it's all the other parts that where ill fitting. I can't tell you how many hours I have in filling and sanding and i am still not done. Sigh... this part is my least favorite ,tedious to say the least. This thing is worse than my old Monogram B-26  but i endeavor to perservere.

I want a Tamiya P-38 

I agree with you, dealing with bad seams is a real pain. It takes all of the fun out of moideling. I am working on a Monogram 1/48 B-58 and there are a couple of seams that are 1/8" wide. Filling, sanding, filling, sanding, filling, sanding. What a drag.

Ok, so I was messing around with my Hasegawa P-38 theother day just to put my money where my mouth is. The forward fuselage seam goes right through the gun access doors, and the panel line doesn't totally line up. Maybe Meng will make one like they did their P-51D where all major components are separate parts so the seam cleanup is almost nil.

-BD-

BrandonD

Ok, so I was messing around with my Hasegawa P-38 theother day just to put my money where my mouth is. The forward fuselage seam goes right through the gun access doors, and the panel line doesn't totally line up. 

 

Thats kind of funny. Monogram way back in the dark ages engineered their P-38 fuselage to divide at the gun bay panel lines. I’m not saying it’s a better kit, because it’s not. But Hasegawa has taken some questionable molding shortcuts before. I believe that Academy took a modular approach there in the nose as well due to kitting the recon and pathfinder variants. Now I need to look at mine in the stash to confirm.