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

B17Pilot

 Wonder if the 1/32 Trumpeter kit has the same alignment issues.

Hey, I'm not part of this GB but I can answer that question...  

Yup!!  The Trumpy kit has one step in the instructions (step 30; I remember it clearly ) where you are supposed to align the booms, add the rear horizontal stabilizer and glue the bottom halves of the main wing assemblies all in one step.  Simply cannot be done without 6 hands .  It leaves gaps everywhere but nothing that can't be filled with plastic strip, patience and sanding.  When I built the kit, my approach was to try to keep everything aligned and damn the gaps.  Easier to fill gaps than to straighten an off-kilter boom.  Here's a photo

Kudos to the maufacturer that markets a kit that doesn't require some correction when aligning the booms (like to see a Tamiya kit).  But I'm not sure that it can be done in a cost effective way.

Don

Interesting, I guess any kit of the P-38 is going to have alignment issues.

Well I got the cockpit all together and installed in the wing.  If you are going to put a Ultracast seat in the Academy kit, you will need to cut off the post for the seat kit.  Nothing minor but don't forget to do it.  I also put the wing halves together and then its time to move on to the booms.

Update phots:

B17Pilot

Well I got the cockpit all together and installed in the wing.  If you are going to put a Ultracast seat in the Academy kit, you will need to cut off the post for the seat kit.  Nothing minor but don't forget to do it.  I also put the wing halves together and then its time to move on to the booms.

Looking good! I'm assuming this is the J kit by the steering yoke and radio gear?

I had to file the seat post on the cockpit floor down a ways (and trim down the frame legs on the Ultracast seat) to get everything to line up. Hopefully I'll be assembling the cockpit tonight...been spending the past few nights on various bits. Seatbelts, installing some levers for the throttle, etc. Not as happy with these belts as with the last one I did, but I did manage a pretty cool "belt dangling off the seat" look. 

Finished the cockpit up and got it mounted to the fuselage tonight! I do wish there was more detail in the office. What's there is workable, but could certainly be improved. I scratched some levers for the throttle with brass wire and CA knobs. Belts out of Tamiya tape with Eduard buckles. Also added some wiring in the radio area. Other than that, straight OOB.

I also did the mesh for all the intakes tonight. I'm a bit surprised that Academy didn't open up the intake holes up near the props. Oh well. My good friend Mr. Dremel did it for me...

Doogs - what did you use for the mesh and where did you get it?  I need to find some and don't know where to look. 

Thanks, dante821

DoogsATX

I'm assuming this is the J kit by the steering yoke and radio gear?

All nuts, I wasn't paying attention to the part number and installed the wrong ones.  I doing Glacier Girl so, I will need to go fix that, its going to suck cause I've already put the wing together.  Thanks for the correction and for spotting it before i got too much farther.

Hey Vance, not sure if you want to do this or not, but one thing i like to do (and see) in a GB is put the completed photos on page one. Helps us lurkers out so were not spending ages trolling through page after page looking for completed photos (especially after the builds ended)

Just my 2c.

Good news the radio stack came out very easy, so I don't expect the correct one to be much trouble going in.  With that said, I should have the correct radio stack and yoke installed in the next couple of days

Ok I decided what I'm going to build. P-38G-15-LO 43-2312 "Wabbit" 388th FS, 55th FG.

This photo was taken stateside 6/4/43 McChord Field, Washington..

Promodeler 1/48 P-38F/G Lightning (Hasegawa kit). MSAP decals, Ultracast wheels and seat. Eduard photo etched.

Mike

dante821

Doogs - what did you use for the mesh and where did you get it?  I need to find some and don't know where to look. 

Thanks, dante821

It's a brass mesh I picked up at the LHS. Not sure the brand - I'll look when I'm at the bench tonight. I've tried finding similar at Hobby Lobby after hearing mentions, but I have yet to find anything close...

B17Pilot

Good news the radio stack came out very easy, so I don't expect the correct one to be much trouble going in.  With that said, I should have the correct radio stack and yoke installed in the next couple of days

Dude, way to go! I'd have probably just said f- it, and kept going, especially if you already had the wing together!

This also totally reminded me that I need to drill out the holes for the lights and rocket stubs, since I'm doing mine up Oriole-style.

Chaps I've finally got everything together for my P38F so I hope to make a start soon. I'm enjoying watching your builds come along fellas, some nice stuff.

Cheers...

(Where did this weekend go??) Hey gang, lost most of this weekend traveling and dealing with the mother-in-law's surprise b-day party. Didn't even have time to check in on the thread until now.

DoogsATX - cockpit looks good, now you've got me thinking about taking the control column out of mine & separating the control yoke from the column itself…
The mesh looks good too, I think that may be my next step, tracking down something useful there.

Theuns - that 1/72 kit is shaping up quickly. Good luck on the panel lines - I suppose if you've lost a lot to sanding already, yo may want to take them all off & re-scribe. Let us know how that goes!

B17Pilot - grate details on your cockpit as well. I agree with the somment on the Ultracst seat, I grabbed one for my build as well, looks grate painted up.

Scorpiomikey - thanks for speaking up for the lurkers out there! Yes, good idea with a completed pic up front, maybe a note about where to find the remaining "finished" pics as well.

Mike (P-38 Guy) - you've got to love having reference photos to work with, and I suspect you've got a library full! Looking forward to seeing Wabbit!

Spike190 - go for it buddy! See you soon,

DoogsATX

This also totally reminded me that I need to drill out the holes for the lights and rocket stubs, since I'm doing mine up Oriole-style.

Don't forget the two slots for the boarding ladder.  I almost forgot to cut that out before joining the wing.

Hello! as for your fellow slacker co-host ,, DITTO on Vance's comments guys..

I am not done with just the Revellogram P-38M, I have other -38's in the pipeline, just gotta  finish a few other things then onto one of them..

Keep em flying !!!

B17Pilot

 

DoogsATX:

 

This also totally reminded me that I need to drill out the holes for the lights and rocket stubs, since I'm doing mine up Oriole-style.

 

 

Don't forget the two slots for the boarding ladder.  I almost forgot to cut that out before joining the wing.

That too!

I KNEW there was a reason I spent most of last night futzing with the P-47 instead!

Crap. I've been making googly eyes at the Trumpy 1/32 Lightning. 

Do I dare?

DoogsATX

Crap. I've been making googly eyes at the Trumpy 1/32 Lightning. 

Do I dare?

Doogs... no comment, other than see the "229" thread, or any varients... lol

Doogs if you like the Trumpeter P38 you may like this

http://www.network54.com/Forum/620142/message/1221774492/P-38+Lightning++%28Trumpeter+1-32%29

One of the sets I got for my P38 was this (sorry about dodgy iphone pic)

They do a second set also. I've done the seat this afternoon, got it all in shape and added a back piece off the Eduard set then I dipped it in future to glue it all, I'll give it a coat of primer and see how it looks. Also included is the buckles, think I'll give them ago but they are tiny, always got the Eduard set as backup .

Cheers...

Ok, since I just pulled a Monogram P-38 outta the stash I feel I might as well jump in. 1/48th. I have no idea what the plane is going to be yet. The decals are going directly to the trash can and I'm in the market for new ones. Once I get started I'll get some pics up.
Good looking work going on here guys!

Been doing a lot of under the hood work on the gear bays, getting everything primed and painted with Alclad, etc. Finally assembled them last night and did an epic test fit.

I'm noticing some minor boom alignment issues, but honestly they seem more the fault of the main wing's angle than the booms themselves. Also not very excited about how the gear bays fit into the booms. Hard to get a good sense of fit.

I've always had trouble where the rear of the wing meets the boom. Just do a lot of dry fitting and you can get rid of most of the gaps.

The best thing I've found for the wheel wells is to build them and drop them in from the top. I also dry fit it in place then fit the boom on and see if there's any problems.

Mike

OK I got my little error fixed.

Got her sitting on her wheels last night. One nice thing about the Academy -F is that it's really easy to pack weight into the booms.

I'm also pretty happy with the boom alignment. Haven't welded the booms to the wings yet, or the boom halves together past just aft of the landing gear. Figure I want the solid connection to the rear stabilizer FIRST, so it's getting a full day to cure before I swing back to finish up the booms.

Yeah, basically it's a very lazy version of the boom alignment solution posted on Swanny's site. Seems to be working so far though.

Doogs, B-17, both are looking read good.  Those ultracast wheels looks really good!

Cheers,

Greg

I havent got much done since last week with being out of town and having my son this weekend but I've been able to add some detail to the cockpit. Once the pit is ready to go into the plane I'll post some pics.

Well, I wrapped main assembly last night.

All I can say is...ugh.

It's been weird building this alongside Tamiya's P-47. With that one I'm near-constant awe of the engineering choices, of the way that everything fits together and fits well. 

The P-38 has been the opposite. There's nothing that makes it unbuildable, but I think maybe in direct contrast to one of the slickest kits I've ever built, a lot of sloppy decisions become really apparent.

I actually didn't really have many problems with wing/boom alignment. I think getting the front of the booms and the rear stabilizer secured first helped a lot. But joining the booms to the wing things started to get weird. You could either have a decent fit up top and massive gaps underneath, or overall chaos. But I'm willing to give on that. It's a tough join with four different curves to deal with. 

The most disappointing aspects were the lower nacelles and pretty much everything forward of the cockpit. Poor fit compounded by an absolute lack of not only locator pins, but anything to aid in positive location. If I were assembling it again, I'd seriously consider using sheet styrene to add an inner "lip" to help locate things.

In the end I managed to get everything more or less in place, and from three feet it totally looks like a Lightning, but given the amount of putty I'm going to need on the boom/wing joins, nacelles, and gun doors, I probably could have skipped weighting the booms...

Tonight I arrived at the point that I needed to get the cockpit in the plane to test fit and so I could see what can be seen once it's together. Then out of the blue, as I'm staring at the upper wing trying to figure out what I can about the cockpit opening, I find a sanding stick and a scribe in my hand. In a couple of hours I have the detail removed and have rescribed half the upper wing.
Silly me. I think I just added a couple of weeks to this build. 

Build pics...

The vertical stabilizers are a bit out of alignment, but it's so minor I'm not worrying about it...

A look at some of the super-cludgy seams around the booms/wings/nacelles...

The boom nasties make the cockpit pod stuff look tame by comparison...

And...even though the tires need to be repainted after the NMF treatment, the Ultracast wheels are already full of win. Love these things.

Looks like I'm going to have trouble as well.  Haven't got to adding the booms, but man not looking forward to it now.  I got the main wheel bays put together and modified the landing gear to be able to add them after paint.