I'm enjoying this thread a lot!

I'm very anxious to see some pictures illustrating your progress with the bare metal foil. I have some BMF but am just too chicken to try it yet. It'll be broken out when I get to my Tamiya 1/48 P-47M. I hope to learn something about the process by following your WIP.

A couple of days ago I glued up the two bombs. I wanted the painted finish to look rough in texture, so I used rattle cans. The nice things about rattle cans is that if you slightly push on the nozzel, the paint will sputter. I held the can about three feet from the bombs. The sputtering paint provided a rough texture to the bomb. First  sputtered flat black, then I sputtered olive drab. Lastly, a sputtering of silver from five feet away.

Next I used a new set of acrylic washes that I just purchased. These washes can be reactivared with water after they have dried and they are supposed to dry dead flat. They are the consistancy of ketchup so they should last a long time. I have never used these, so let's see what happens. First I tried something similar to a pin wash. I didn't like the results so I removed the wash with water and a rag.

Next, I barely touched the tip of the brush to the wash and dabbed it on the bomb. Using a damp brush I smeared the wash around. I liked the results. The two bombs look nice and dirty.

Based on the few photos that I could find, I drilled three holes in the nose of the cowling to represent round ducts.

Next I glued some mesh ribbon to the inside of the cowling. I think the final result is a reasonable representation of the real thing.

Bvallot,

You are correct. Paint colors can vary. I am going to finish this model in Bare Metal Foil. The yellow wheel wells and blue pipe will be a nice contrast to the silver finish.

Johnny, keep in mind that some of these photos are from refirbs and not always actual wartime aircraft. Some times updated parts will come in different colors or what not and may not accurately reflect what was on the bird you're building. Just an FYI. 

I was dry fitting the fuselage together and noticed that something is missing from the wheelwells. The engines are in front of the wheel well and the radiators are behind the wheel well. A steel pipe is located in the wheel well that connects the engines to the radiators. The pipe is a prominent detail and is missing from this kit.

This is a page from the "P-38 bible". It shows a blue coolent pipe located in the wheel well. Also note that the wheel wells are painted chromate yello primer for anti-corrosion. Just something else to think about.

Loving this build! I have an Accademy P38F waiting in the stash plus goodies including an Eduard cockpit, which I am going to build as one of the RAAF aircraft using the Red Roo conversion, and I am sure I will end up using details from this build to improve mine

BVallot,

You are 100% correct! There are round ducts in the snoot of the engine cowlings.

It is really difficult to find closeup pictures of the engine cowlings.

Time to start on the cockpit. 

There are a number of parts that make up the cockpit. It should look pretty good. I might used the pins for levers, such as flap controls and throttle. 

They're intakes for the intercooler...(center is radiator and the left and right are for the oil coolers) I've got some pictures of how I treated this area. Sorry these pictures are terrible. And terribly old now.

image by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

image by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

image by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

You should open those up and replace them with screening. If you're up to the task, and you seem like you are =], you ought to make quick work of something simple like this.

She's looking terrific so far. Love the rust on the superchargers. 

I'd guess those areas on the cowling are intakes though not 100% sure. I think I'd just open them and place some screens in there as well. 

Here are the four radiator pods with the ribbon grills. 

Does anyone know what goes on with these three areas of the engine cowlings? Are they just opened up 100% for airflow?

Very cool! I really like the trick with the ribbon. I've struggled to find a scale replication of textures that tiny for screens and the like. Keep cranking it out. =]

Jay Jay

It's not nuts at all. I think we all benefit from the posting of your research and I for one apreciate it greatly.  Those turbos for instance can be used on my B-17 project etc.

 

Great job!  It’s not nuts to do the research.  You always need a reference.

Your FrieNd Toshi. 

It's not nuts at all. I think we all benefit from the posting of your research and I for one apreciate it greatly.  Those turbos for instance can be used on my B-17 project etc.

I know that this sounds nuts, but I like to do a lot of reference work before starting on my models. Just one of my oddities 

Thanks. I think that I need to tone down the black a little bit.

Cool work on the superchargers - great use of the photo-references! Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

The guns are molded into the nose. Maybe I should see if there are aftermarket guns available.

The top photo is the exhaust/supercharge system on a 1:1 P-38. I used that as a guide for painting the kit's exhaust system.

YES, the PE seatbelts arrived today!!

Okay, one of the radiator pods is finished. I like the look of the radiator grill. It was easy to do and adds a nice amount of detail.

I have this kit in my stash and am looking forward to seeing the rest of the build. I like your idea for the grill, but I use the mesh screen from automotive paint filters. 

I'm eager to follow your build, too.  I'm curious to see how this HB kit goes together.

That's a great idea, about the mesh ribbon!  I've got builds where I can use something like that.  I have to see if the other craft stores carry something like it, too.

Thanks Johnny! I've built a few of the Monogram and Hasegawa P-38s and found them good if not outstanding. I've heard the Academy kit has it's own issues. This one looks really good so far even with the radiator problems. Looking forward to more! 

The radiator pods on the 1:1 aircraft have movable flaps that allow the pilot to adjust the engine temperature. These flaps were usualy closed during flight and when the plane was on the ground.. What I find interesting about this picture is how crudely built the airplane is. Big dimples in the skin at the rivets, and wrinkled skin in general.

The radiator pods that came with the kit lack the flaps, so I made flaps from a thin sheet of plastic.

It took a little bit of sanding, but I finally got the flaps to fit properly.

On the 1:1 plane, a grill was fastened in front of the radiator to prevent damage to the radiator from flying objects. 

The kit's radiator pod does not include a grill. I thought that it would look good if I added a grill, but where would I find a mesh that would approximate the appearance of a grill. I went to Hobby Lobby and found a wire mesh ribbon. It will be interesting to see how this works.

I’ll be keeping an eye on this build, very interested to see how these kits build out. I’ve got three Hasegawa Lightnings, and I’ve built one. I managed to survive the alignment and satisfy my eye, but it certainly did take some work!

I’ll be interested to see your BMF job, as well. 

I stand corrected - only the ones at the tail boom seem to be raised rivets, and easily seen in pictures. The rest seem to be flush-riveted.

The real P-38 has many, many raised rivets, especially where the vertical stabilizers meet the tail booms - really big rivets right there.