1:48 Academy P-38J Lightning (Completed)

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Hey guys,

I’m carrying this build from a GB, but as I’m just starting I figured I’d post here too. You never know when somebody out there has a handy tid bit to offer. I’ll be building Richard Bong’s “Down Beat” Lightning. I found a few good photos to help me along with this NMF and there’s a book by Kagero that’s hard to come by now but I was able to find one online in the UK. Now I finally have a something set up and started to actually post. so here goes:


image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Great kit to build. All my test fitting shows promise. The joints around the engine nacelles and wings may take some care, but they look fine really. I am upgrading this with and Aires cockpit and Quickboost superchargers and intakes. I’ve been wanting to see these superchargers up close for a while now to see if they’d fit on a B-17E I’m looking to do.


image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Here is some of the prep work I’m doing before I begin glueing things together. Opening up some intakes/thinning some doors and vents. =] You’ll note the difference here:


image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Here is the nose. I wasn’t really confident in the fit onto the cockpit part of the plane so I added my own sleeve to fit into to keep things on track as I set it into place. Once the glue hardens, I touch up a few spots and clean up the seams. I’ve also covered up the shell chutes on the inside as I’ve opened them up to better represent that space. I got a little lazy here and didn’t want to build a more accurate drop for the chute. I’m already having to give up on placing this landing gear inside the bay as the bay isn’t deep enough for the wheel. Sooo…I figure I’ll just learn some lessons here with this one this time, and make improvements on the next one. Hopefully saving some sanity in the process (since now I’m planning a wedding…)


image by brittvallot, on Flickr


image by brittvallot, on Flickr


image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Here at least this bay door closes up real tight without any problems. How bout that!

Now begins the long arduous process of accurately selecting the rivets to portray. =D Here’s a sneak peak at that and I’ll probably begin painting the cockpit today.


image by brittvallot, on Flickr


image by brittvallot, on Flickr

2

Ah yes! I have been drooling over this kit for a while now. Will be subscribed to your thread .

Theuns

3

Okay. Snag!! I just found out that the book I was getting to reference happened not to be in stock. It’s the Kagero Mini Top Colors 10: P-38 Lightnings at War. If anybody out there in the modeling world knows where to find it or has a copy they’d be willing to part with, then I’d be happy to compensate you for your trouble.

I appreciate any help I can get. =]

4

That book is out of print. Kagero’s lightnings part II might have it? Topcolors #33.

5

That part I already knew. The ONLY place I could find that “had” it apparently didn’t. =[ The part 2 of the P-38 Lightnings does not include Richard Bong’s “Down Beat.” If I can’t find it some how I might just hand paint the nose art and say screw the decals.

We’ll see…

6

BVallot,

That’s funny, I just started the same kit, and am looking for the same book, as I have the Superscale decals to do St Louis Blues.

Allen

7

Nice work so far Bvallot. P-38’s can be tough just by shear design of the plane itself. I built two Hasegawa examples so far and they were certainly no walk in the park I’ll be following your progress…and congratulations on your upcoming nuptials…

Joe

8

Chanter: let me know if you have any luck. =] Joe: Thanks! I’ve actually read thru your build that you did on Robin Olds quite thoroughly. I’ve been looking forward to doing his P-38 as well. Maybe even his Phantom. And maybe his Mustang. The guy was a legend in his own day. =D any tips you might have along the way are more than welcome of course. I’ll be on the road for work till Wednesday but when I come back I hope to have the cockpit finished and secured to the fuselage pod. I’ll have some picks up then.

9

Nice job.

10

Here’s a few photos of the cockpit that’s mostly completed. I’ve read that early variants sometimes had an OD green seat as these parts came from all over and the distributors often had delays in delivering, but by the time the J’s rolled out everything was kept in the typical Interior Green. This time I tried a play out of Lawdog’s handbook and painted everything Flat Black, then came back with my interior green. So far I like it!!


image by brittvallot, on Flickr


image by brittvallot, on Flickr

I returned to my latest way of painting the various equipment inside by mixing my Flat Black with a little Medium Blue. I paint it thinned out onto everything…radio equipment, etc. and used a Light Grey to dry brush the corners of things. A little Flat Aluminum dry brush over certain items that get stepped on and worn…and some dabs of red and white to display the placards that go over this and that.


image by brittvallot, on Flickr


image by brittvallot, on Flickr


image by brittvallot, on Flickr

I didn’t feel so safe about the way Aires decided to construct this piece so i reinforced it with some brass rod. I recommend it. =]


image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Here’s a test fit:


image by brittvallot, on Flickr


image by brittvallot, on Flickr

In order to fit the cockpit, I had to file down the two round female tabs that receive the dash/IP. I filed them smaller from underneath and closer in to fit the cockpit tub. I also just went ahead and cut one side off for now to allow it to squeeze in. I’ll put it back on later.

Also, my head rest was painted the same as my wildcat and mustang. It’s a mix of Tamiya’s Red, Flat Red Brown and some Flat Black. None of this is mixed evenly. It’s thinned and painted quite spontaneously. Nothing too fixed and planned.

11

Having just seen what you can do to a blue Corsair I look forward to seeing the NMF treatment here.

12

Well, all good things must come to an end right?? I’m finding a fit problem with the dash/IP onto the cockpit tub. The width seems to be part of the problem. I think with the tub in place it’s slightly spread the sides of the fuselage pod on the kit that receives it. So now the dash wont grab both sides. And of course this throws the nose off. With the dash not sitting right, the nose has a gap about 2-3mm wide down the length of the this whole piece. =[


image by brittvallot, on Flickr


image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Any suggestions. So far my instinct is to just mash it down the rest of the way and glue it with something hard! …Plasticard the gap and move on. But then again, I don’t want to be rash now!!

13

It seems I’ve read about this issue on other build logs (Britmodeller). Eduard even acknowledged it in one of their newsletters, and said they corrected the resin piece in later releases. But that doesn’t help you. Sorry, I have no ideas atm…

14

So here’s what is new with the P-38:

Fixed up the gap that was plaguing my build. Here’s the left side.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

There’s a line that is left over from the joint that needed to be filled. The line from the door to the gun bay needs to remain. There’s also another gap from the two wing halves that has been filled with CA. There is a line just above it that needs to be scribed in however.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

The view of the other side was originally worse. This side calmed down a bit better after seating the IP/dash more properly. It was filled with plasitcard and CA and filed down. The correct lines were re-worked and kept and I’m still “ironing” out the some of the rough spots.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Now that I’ve got those gaps fixed, I can bring myself out of this screeching halt…as soon as I get moved. =[

15

What a PITA! Nice save there!

Steve

16

Some times the resin pieces take tons of effort to make them fit properly but it looks like you were able to recover from the bad fit issue. The pit looks really good.

17

This seems to be a popular kit.

While it was originally earmarked for the Pacific Theatre, I got it transferred in the last minute to the European Theatre. LOL It’s now waiting for the big day to begin shooting down the Nazi War machine.

18

Nice recovery, BV!

19

Thanks guys! =] I appreciate the encouragement. This build had me so excited only to have really bummed me out when that misfire on the nose occurred. And since our move date got pushed back 10 days… =] … I figured I’d take advantage of this renewed motivation and get some more work done here since the P-40 has been coming along so slowly.

I’m trying something new here. This is my first attempt at stressed skin on the plane’s surface. I don’t mean to overwork this too much, but I may spend a little more time tweaking this look. Critiques, opinions, and any advice is certainly welcome.

Here’s the first series of photos from what I have so far:

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

On this next pic of the right wing, it’s a little difficult to tell but the entire surface has been riveted and only the leading edge of the wing has been lightly stressed.

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

I think I’m going to rework some of this walk way area near the cockpit. I’m not entirely happy with the current outcome…I wanted to first try out how the primer would settle into the divots. I’ll play with this a bit more. The left side has come out a little better I think. =/

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

That’s it for now.

20

Greentracker98: I meant to say also how I can’t wait to have one of these too. I think the first ETO Lightning I do will be Robin Olds’ “Scat II.” I just really can’t wait to paint some G*D DAMN invasion stripes!!!

=D