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

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  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Indiana
Posted by hkshooter on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 12:59 PM

Maybe he'll be carrying a tube of glue to toss in the corner while he delivers the mail. That should keep me occupied.

  • Member since
    January 2003
  • From: Hancock, Me USA
Posted by p38jl on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 1:06 PM

it'll kinda be like Dagwood ramming Beasley the Mailman..Smile Burger.lol..

[Photobucket]

  • Member since
    September 2009
  • From: Frisco, TX
Posted by B17Pilot on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 1:24 PM

I can see the headline now:

"Mailman run over by impatient scale model bilder looking for parts"

  

  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Indiana
Posted by hkshooter on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 1:28 PM

LMAO!!!

Nah, I'm never home when the post arrives. Good thing for him though! Or her..... whoever......

  • Member since
    January 2003
  • From: Hancock, Me USA
Posted by p38jl on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 1:37 PM

B17Pilot

I can see the headline now:

"Mailman run over by impatient scale model bilder looking for parts"

LIFETIME Movie channel will RIP the headlines and turn it into a love triangle... Scale Modeler while impatiantly waiting for his parts, falls head over heals for jogging blonde,, runs down mailman in fit of resin fueled rage.. BFF Jill, of jogging blonde, who does not play for the right team( not that there's anything wrong with that) poisons Builder with Tamiya Extra Thin, in a behind the back play for the jogging Blonde.. while the local PD sorts out the mess,, JeffW makes a beeline the LHS.. Yes

tune in next week for the stunning conclusion...Indifferent

[Photobucket]

  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Indiana
Posted by hkshooter on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 1:45 PM

That got a snicker until I got to the jeffw part. Than I fell off my chair LOL. Bow Down

  • Member since
    September 2009
  • From: Frisco, TX
Posted by B17Pilot on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 4:55 PM

p38jl

tune in next week for the stunning conclusion...Indifferent

..when the jogging blonde falls for JeffW

  

  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Indiana
Posted by hkshooter on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 8:18 PM

Happy day!!! The wheels arrived today. They are painted and ready to go on when dry. Aside from that, tonight I did some more small stuff. Finished the decals and glossed the kit again, scratched some marking lights and installed them since I sanded off all the originals. And installed all the gear doors.
Next will be small stuff like actuators for the doors, pitot, antenna mast under the nose, antenna wire to the tail, flat coat and marker light painting. Just about there!

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Virginia
Posted by Wingman_kz on Thursday, January 20, 2011 1:35 AM

Glad they finally showed up hk. Can't wait to see it.

I sent Megan a message and she fixed whatever the problem was. Then I went in my profile and turned off all notifications. No little box to uncheck now. Been so long since I looked at it I forgot I could. Thanks for the tip Vance.

Haven't had much time to work on my build but will this weekend. SSS...

Tony

 

            

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Australia
Posted by Helo H-34 on Thursday, January 20, 2011 4:32 AM

Hi everyone ;

I'll make a start on the 1/72 Revell P-38M Night fighter

Tomorrow I'll airbrush some interior green over the cockpit pieces and some steel metalic on the nose guns .

       John .

  • Member since
    January 2007
  • From: Cleveland, OH
Posted by Clebode on Thursday, January 20, 2011 6:50 AM

Adding my 2 cents to the thread discussing tire color I use a model railroad Polly Scale acryl color called Grimy Black.  It is really a deep gray with very slight tints of brown and green.  It airbrushes very nicely. 

Hugh

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Rothesay, NB Canada
Posted by VanceCrozier on Thursday, January 20, 2011 7:15 AM

Good news hkshooter, your local postal worker can now approach your house safely! Helo - the lower wing section of your kit is divided in 3? How's the fit looking there?

On the bench: Airfix 1/72 Wildcat; Airfix 1/72 Vampire T11; Airfix 1/72 Fouga Magister

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Australia
Posted by Helo H-34 on Thursday, January 20, 2011 9:35 PM

I airbrushed some interior green on a few parts ....

The three piece wing section dry fits together nicely , I just hope there won't be any gaps when I fit the twin booms in around the wings .

Revell suggest 7 grams of weight in the forward under cockpit floor section , there doesn't seem to be all that much room for any weight . I guess I'll have to squash the lead sinkers up nice and flat and try and get them in where I can .

                           John .

  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Indiana
Posted by hkshooter on Thursday, January 20, 2011 9:53 PM

Mock the plane up with tape and add weight until it sits on the nose. I use lead shot in a baggie like some others around here. Once the planes sits on it's nose that's how much weight you need. If there isn't room in the nose for all of it you can put it in the engine nacelles forward of the main wheel. Closer to the front the better.

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Rothesay, NB Canada
Posted by VanceCrozier on Friday, January 21, 2011 7:02 AM

hkshooter

Mock the plane up with tape and add weight until it sits on the nose. I use lead shot in a baggie like some others around here. Once the planes sits on it's nose that's how much weight you need. If there isn't room in the nose for all of it you can put it in the engine nacelles forward of the main wheel. Closer to the front the better.

Ditto I used lead weights in the nacelles only, packed in with a wood putty that I'm trying out for the first time (picked up for a scratchbuild that I'm attempting). I was on the phone with my brother as I was packin' lead, I think I may have actually put more in there than I needed to - good thing I sprung for those metal landing gear on this one!

Two items worked on last night, nothing exciting enough to post pics of though, a little cleanup inside the landing gear bays, I trimmed out some thin brass rod to clutter them up as well. I also finished separating the elevator, cleaned that up as well. A little problem there though as my cutting was a little rough, lots of sanding. I'm hoping it won't be too obvious after I reposition it.

On the bench: Airfix 1/72 Wildcat; Airfix 1/72 Vampire T11; Airfix 1/72 Fouga Magister

  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Indiana
Posted by hkshooter on Friday, January 21, 2011 8:12 AM

Looking forward to pics, vance.

I'm at that point where the kit is almost done but don't want to take pics of it until the final tiny things are completed. I may be able to complete it tonight. Obviously, if I do I'll post some pics.

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Australia
Posted by Helo H-34 on Friday, January 21, 2011 4:37 PM

Revell provide two nice engines with open access panels as well as open access panels for the nose gun section .

I can squash two lead fishing sinkers inside each engine half and two more between the cockpit instrument panel and the rear of the nose gun unit .

I'm thinking of leaving the pilots out of the cockpit and replace them with standing pilot figures and adding Academy's tow vehicle from the 'Ambulance/tow vehicle set' and attach the tow-boom to the front landing gear strut and back to the tow vehicle .

I like the idea of open engine access panels , so I'll add some ground crew as well .

                                 John .

  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Indiana
Posted by hkshooter on Friday, January 21, 2011 9:04 PM

Finally done. 1/48 Monogram P-38J. There's to much to list so I'll hit the best and worst of it.
Clear parts suck. If I ever build another (likely) I'm going the vac canopy route as this is the kits worst part. In spite of my attempts to totally seal it I still got some paint fogging on the inside.

Next most ill fitting area is the horizontal tail where it goes through the booms. Bad design, hard to correct so I simply filled the void and went with it. The rest of the kit don't fit to bad really. Minor modeling skills required.

Those keeping track of the WIP threads know about various scratch built items and additions. Wheel wells, while not correct, look much better than the blank well the kit provides. Somehow my ref pics left out a huge feature in there that I didn't add. Later pics I found revealed this but it's to late now. The cockpit received some additional detail also.

All the various vents and intakes in the nacelles were opened up and the inlets on the chins were reshaped and oil coolers added.

Ebay provided decals, another of the old kits worst features. I faded the paint some but it kinda disappeared under the Future. I'll live with it. Panel lines were done with a wash of Tamiya neutral gray.

Besides the decals the only aftermarket part I used on the plane were Ultracasts lovely wheels.

The radiator outlet doors were thinned considerably, radiators were built and added, and block off plates were added to the radiator inlets. Spent a good amount of time here. I initially sprayed the engine nacelles Alclad polished aluminum. I used two small ovals of Tamiya tape and applied them to the inside of the cowlings according to refs.

Once the painting was completed I removed the ovals to reveal the reflective areas the pilot used to check position of the nose gear. Paint is MM enamels throughout. Flat is Tamiya flat base and Future. The kit was rescribed but only because I wanted to get rid of rivets. Monogram covered the kit with raised rivets which is only correct in a couple of places on this plane. They had to go and the raised panel lines went with them in the process. 

The kit superchargers and exhausts really don't look to bad. A resin plug may be of some benefit to help provide detail around the exhausts inside the nacelle but the kit parts do well enough. Covers used on some P-38 exhausts are not provided in the kit.

I thought I'd give my skills and an old classic a go and see what would happen. This is what I ended up with. I found that my skills need some refining, seems I've done to many modern kits lately and gotten spoiled and lazy.
Comments welcome, thanks for looking.

Go Packers!

 

 

  • Member since
    March 2010
Posted by shoot&scoot on Friday, January 21, 2011 9:36 PM

SWEET!  Nice clean build.  Love the 'pit and landing gear bay details.  The nose art really sets it off.  Thanks for sharing.

                                                                                                 Pat. 

  • Member since
    December 2010
  • From: SE MO
Posted by AndrewMcC on Friday, January 21, 2011 11:12 PM

Well done hkshooter. Always a treat to see a monogram classic.

Monogram Mafia member

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Virginia
Posted by Wingman_kz on Saturday, January 22, 2011 1:48 AM

Well done hk! That's a nice looking build. All that extra work was worth it. Now I'm wishing I had sanded off those rivets and done some scribing, that really helped. Yes

Tony

            

  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Indiana
Posted by hkshooter on Saturday, January 22, 2011 7:20 AM

Thanks guys. After looking at the pics I can see I still need to do something with the formation lights and add the retraction ram for the forward gear bay door.

  • Member since
    November 2010
  • From: Ohio
Posted by P-38 Guy on Saturday, January 22, 2011 8:22 AM

Great job! Just goes to show that with a little work these old kits can still look great when done.

Mike

  • Member since
    February 2007
  • From: Brunswick, Ohio
Posted by Buckeye on Saturday, January 22, 2011 9:48 AM

Very nice job! Yes

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Rothesay, NB Canada
Posted by VanceCrozier on Saturday, January 22, 2011 11:39 AM

hkshooter - Black Market Babe is looking good, congrats! I'll add to the completed list up front.

On the bench: Airfix 1/72 Wildcat; Airfix 1/72 Vampire T11; Airfix 1/72 Fouga Magister

  • Member since
    January 2003
  • From: 40 klicks east of the Gateway
Posted by yardbird78 on Saturday, January 22, 2011 5:27 PM

Troy,

Absolutely gorgeous work on the "Forked Tailed Devil".  Your modeling skills are equal to anyone I have seen on the various modeling forums.

Darwin, O.F.  Alien

 ,,

The B-52 and me, we have grown old, gray and overweight together.

  • Member since
    September 2009
  • From: Frisco, TX
Posted by B17Pilot on Saturday, January 22, 2011 6:38 PM

WOW, what a great looking P-38! YesYes.  Nice job!

  

  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Indiana
Posted by hkshooter on Saturday, January 22, 2011 8:29 PM

Thanks guys.

I don't think I'd go that far, Darwin. But thanks for the kind words.Toast

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Australia
Posted by Helo H-34 on Saturday, January 22, 2011 10:19 PM

Excellent P-38 build Toast

I also really like the walk around style pic's you posted of the completed build , I think their equally as good as the build .

Well done Sir .

                  John .

  • Member since
    April 2010
Posted by Theuns on Sunday, January 23, 2011 10:45 AM

Hi Lads.

Eventually I managed to complete my 1/72 old Hasegawa kit. Must say that I got very little enjoyment from this kit and am just happy it's done. I realy hate to just leave a half built kit allone, but this one came close to that.Angry

Raised lines that I absolutely dispize I sanded off and drew them on with a fine pencil.The UC bays had no detail what soever. The fit was also not good, but I beat it into submition with lots of filler.

This one is going way in the back of the cabinet LOL!

Sorry for the poor quality pix.As you can see from the painting, 72 scale is realy not my strongpointEmbarrassed

Hasegawa 1/72 P-38

Theuns

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