P-38 GB

Screaminhelo looks good. I was able to get some work done on my 1/48 Revell Droop Snoot. Here's the cockpit. I used the wheel left over from the Hasegawa P-38F kit, Added the frame behind the seat and some Eduard belts.

You are putting more into the office than I did, it looks great.  This one will be hanging from a 2-year-old's ceiling soon enough and it will hopefully be a good warm up for the main event.

Looks great, both of you, sscreaminhelo, keep posting WIP shots.

David

Hey guys, sorry to interrupt! Sounds like you all are having fun!

Are any of you building a Hasegawa P-38 wheels up? Somehow, one of my landing gear parts (R3 to be exact) has gone the way of the do-do bird. If anyone has a spare, or knows where I can find one, I'd be very appreciative! Thanks guys, and keep up the good work on your Gabelschwanzteufels!

Nice work there Screaminhelo.  Nice to see that I am not the only one to have nose fit issues with my "M" conversion.  I had just as much problem with my F-5 conversion as well.

I got alot of building done this weekend on my P-38s (this GB and the South Pacific GB {which I am overdue on}).  Will try to post some photos later this week.

Finally, I have started.  I don't have any photos just yet, but then again, I don't have a lot to photograph at this point either.

I've started off by grinding away the molded wiring details in the cockpit and replacing with real wire from my supplies box.  I also added brake lines to the main landing gear.  I'm going to try again to scratch-build seatbelts since this kit doesn't come with them, even with a decal.

Hows everyones coming along?

Does anyone know of a site that has a list of all the squadrons that operated Lightnings?

Did the Navy ever try to land or takeoff and a Lightning off a carrier and did the Marines ever opertate them?

Thanks,

David

Hey David just google P-38 Squadrons and you find alot.

As for my progress,  I started my first year of college on Wednesday, and my airbrush parts still have not arrived  So my Hobby time is reduced but I will try to get a little bit of time in.

Chris

Ok, now some photos of my progress.  (Thanks to Tropical Storm Erin today, I decided to work from home and managed to sneak out to the workshop for a little modeling ... shhhh, don't tell my boss )

Any way, photos include mostly cockpit details, in addition to the nose landing gear.  I put a small strip of regular household foil on the gear oleo rather than use silver paint.  The remainder of the gear is painted aluminum.

Instrument panel - looks like I got a bit too much yellow paint on the tip of a filed down toothpick I used to do the dial faces. 

Cockpit in progress with seat, control column, IP and pedals installed.  Used a silver graphite pencil to effect the wear and tear on the floorboard.

Side panels to show off the 3D effect of real wiring as opposed to the molded on wiring.

Cockpit with one of the side walls installed.

Nose gear strut.

Lookin good, does that kit come with a pilot figure?

Keep posting pics,

David

No pilot with the Pro-Modeler kit, which is just as well since I rarely use them.  (Kinda funny to look at any of the finished kits I have built wheels up to hang from the ceiling, but there's no one at the controls!)

Today I did a little seam work, basic sanding and put down some primer for the wing tips and spinners that I will later paint red, and the propellor tips which will of course be yellow.  I'm hoping to make steady progress this week and start putting on the olive drab/neutral gray scheme this weekend.

Well I stumbled upon some of the kits short comings today while attaching the coolers on the booms. The fit leaves alot to be desired. It is time to break out the standing sticks and putty. I guess it was inevitable on a kit this complex. Nothing that can not be handled though it is a pain to sand and fill in the boom area without loosin detaiil. Starting on the nose wheelbay and nose guns next will post progress pics soon.

                                                                            Soulcrusher

Well, I managed to get the major components together and painted today.  No photos as yet.  I was surprised at the fit of this Pro-Modeler kit, though, with particular attention to one boom and the underside of the wing attaching to that boom.

The boom didn't fit real smooth like the other side did, and I was unfortunately not able to get it into proper alignment with the wing root.  A little putty took care of the problem, mostly. 

The wing underside appeared to have been not the exact same size as the upper surface, so there was overhang along the wing tip and next to the boom.  Sanded that down to eliminate the overhang, but I was not happy with the fit issues.

Oh well.

Here are a couple of photos of my progress.  I figure I should finish by the weekend, if all goes well.  It's a standard olive drab/neutral gray scheme, although I did spray a couple of panels with a lightened olive drab as part of my weathering preparations.

Well I finally found some time this weekend to sit down at the bench and managed to assemble the cooler assemblies for the booms with the photo etch grills. Now the bad part. The do not fit flush on the fuselage even after hours of sanding to thin them down. Time to break out the squadron putty and sanding sticks and say goodbuy to all of the fine rivet detail on the cooler housings. I new this would not be as easy as it looked.

                                                                                Soulcrusher

Aggieman- Your P-38 looks real good. Looks like your close to the finish. Keep up the good work.

Soulcrusher- Sorry to hear about your problems, but thank you for blazing the trail for me. I don't think I'll catch up with you any time soon. I keep looking ahead to see how to open up the boom to show the engine detail.

Speaking of which here are pics of the engines.

This was just the first step, still have a lot to go.

NucMedTech - thanks for the praise.  I hope to have a completed build to show off over this holiday weekend, but .... along with family obligations (not that these things are "obligations") I have to be in College Station Saturday to witness the opening of college football season, A&M style.

That's a nice set of engines you have in progress there!

Aggieman wrote:

I have to be in College Station Saturday to witness the opening of college football season, A&M style.

I am right there with you!  Only today I have the CU/CSUgame.  I'd be there at the game, but my nephew was not able to get enough tickets (he is a freshman, Right Guard #73 with CU).  So it is watching the game on TV for me.  Don't worry about CU giving A&M a run in the Big 12.  We have a re-building year ahead of us.  But now that College Football is here, Saturdays might suffer some as far as model work goes.  But then, thanks to ESPN, I might get a good deal done....

I am right there with you!  Only today I have the CU/CSUgame.  I'd be there at the game, but my nephew was not able to get enough tickets (he is a freshman, Right Guard #73 with CU).  So it is watching the game on TV for me.  Don't worry about CU giving A&M a run in the Big 12.  We have a re-building year ahead of us.  But now that College Football is here, Saturdays might suffer some as far as model work goes.  But then, thanks to ESPN, I might get a good deal done....

It may very well continue to be a rebuilding process in Boulder, but you guys did manage to hire a good coach who I believe will probably have the Buffs returning to prominence about the time that the Buffs and Ags are scheduled to play a regular season game again, next season.

I recently got a small LCD TV to put into the garage where I have my workshop with the college football season in mind.  I'll just hook it up to one of the receivers in the house and turn on football.  I'll get to have my cake and eat it too, in that I'll be able to watch football and build at the same time, at least when family matters don't take priority.

Aggieman-
Very nice kit!  It looks as if they got the panel detail just about right.  I am looking foreward to seeing your finished work.

Hi Espins,

     The engines came with the kit, we are not allowed AM products in this GB. There is more to go with the engines, hopefully I'll get more done tomorrow so I can post more pics. These engines are really detailed(from looking at the instructions), unfortunately they can not be seen when the nacells are closed up. Which is why I'm trying to figure a way to open them up without destroying the model. I appreciate your interest and if you have any ideas let me know. 

Well, I'm done and have pictures for everyone.  As a reminder, the kit is the Monogram Pro-Modeler P-38E in 1/48.  I've built lots of the Pro-Modeler kits.  This one was the worst that I've encountered.  There were some fit issues particularly the wing roots to the booms, and the canopy didn't want to go together either, but that was probably more a factor of the canopy design and my modeling skills rather than a deficiency in the kit itself.

My photographic skills seem to vary, and these are not among my best efforts.  I did a good bit of weathering - mostly with a wash but also some pastels to effect the discharge from the superchargers, but I don't think that the pictures really show this level of detail.

Since the pictures were taken, I've managed to dislodge one of the antenna wires and am getting very frustrated in my attempts to re-attach it. 

Aggieman-Great model and an impressive scorecard to go with it!

I got another step done this weekend with the engines. I think this pretty much finishes them now I get to start on the landing gear and wheel wells. Here are the progress pics so far.

Let me know if I need to fix anything, thanks for your help and comments.

Aggieman-
I am guessing the the Promodeler kit uses the same plastic as the kit that I am building right now, or does it use sombody else's molds?  Mine had more problems at the nose than the booms.  Very nice kit, very nice build!  To me, it looks ready for preflight.

NucMedTech-
My monitor is horribly dark so It is hard to see the engine details but I think that you really need to open the cowls on that 'Devil.  That is great work and doesnot need to be hidden.

Bad news, I lost the side windows for my Monogram kit and I lost the instructions for my Academy kit.  Can any one out there help with this?

aggieman & nucmedtech nice work. I was able to get some work done on my Revell Droop Snoot. I got it painted. I need to gloss it to get it ready for decals. I'm doing EZE DOES IT from the 20th FG.

Wow, that paint job is awesome, and the invasion stripes look fabulous.

Can't wait to see the finished build

David