I’ve just completed a 1/72 P-38J Droop Snoot by Dragon. This particular variant of the famous Lightning was a pathfinder modification to lead a formation of bomb-equipped P-38s on accurate altitude-bombing runs. The mod was accomplished by removing P-38s guns and installing a Norden-eqiupped cabin in the nose of the aircraft.
Like it’s been written many times on the net, the Dragon’s P-38 is plagued by really poor fit - especially where the wings join the booms. You’ll need a lot of time and putty to build it right, and you will have to rescribe lots of panel lines in process. If you plan to build a P-38 in 1/72 take another manufacturer’s kit. If you plan to build a 1/72 Droop Snoot, you have to watch out, for the Dragon’s kit also has it’s problems here. Their idea on tackling the Droop Snoot is to replace the nose cone with a glass part (that doesn’t look right in my opinion), and putting a PE floor (of a totally wrong design) and a bomb sight inside. You are left with old panel lines (complete with case ejector ports) and no side windows neither.
I bought this kit really cheap in Germany (about $8), so I decided to give it a hand - I rescribed the front fuselage, filled the ejection ports and added two side windows, also added a few details inside. I relocated the antenna from under the nose to behind the left main gear bay, and added another antenna forward of the windscreen, made of a guitar string.
The kit OOB has the props designed to be glued in place - I converted them to rotary to better protect them from damage. I also rescribed the thread on the tires. I painted the model using Gunze metalics (Mr. Metal Color) and Humbrol paints, and also a Future-based black wash. The decals went on all right using MicroSet and a MicroSol/Mr. Mark Softer mixture.
The model really needs a lot of weight in the nose to keep it from tail-sitting. As the nose is hollow, you have to put the weight (lots of) in the engines.
OK, enough writing - here are the photos:
So that’s it - hope you liked it. Thanks for looking and have a nice day
I dunno how folks like you, Bish and Joe Rix pull stuff like this off in 72nd scale! I really have an appreciation for what you guys do in this scale. I’ll never build in that scale but really enjoy seeing a good build in that scale. Well done! [Y]
mustang1989 - you’ve put me in a very exclusive club here - I thanks for the compliment and for your kind words.
Bish - it was bad, but not very bad. I always say, if it doesn’t fit before you glue it, it’s the comapny’s fault. If it doesn’t fit after you glue it, it’s your fault :-). So I always try to make it fit after it’s glued. Took lots of time, putty and plastic shims here, but it workad Thank you for your comment!
mississippivol - thanks a lot!
Thanks again for your comments and have a nice day
I’ve noticed on my P-47 (in NMF) that I have the same flaw. Would you tell me how you fixed yours ? my guess is that just an additional light spray may fix it but I’m just not sure.
thanks a lot for your comment. You’re right, a light coat should fix it, but since I already had decals on mine, I just brushed some Mr. Metal Colour on, using panel lines as boundary and trying to use as few strokes as I could. Then I gave it time to dry and buffed it with some tissue. Works well for small surfaces. Hope it helps, good luck with your projects and have a nice day
Great job Pawel on the P-38. The NMF and decals look spot on. I guess I’m in for a triple nightmare since I picked up 3 of them at the last show on the recommendation of my friend that only builds 1/72 scale planes. Got the Droop Noot 5030, P-38J 5018 and P-38M 5019. I was aware of the missing windows on this one from a review that I read. I also got some resin nose guns for it. Two of them have extra pe and resin parts.
PJ - thanks a lot for your kind words! Well, maybe not necessarily a nightmare, but it’s going to be a lot of work. I don’t know about the P-38M, but that Droop Snoot needs a lot of corrections to really tell the story. I found a great link to help here:
And you can forget the PE floor for it right away. The belts are usable. Also be sure to put a lot of weight in the front! Anyhow, good luck with your project!
BrandonK - Thanks a lot, it’s nice to hear that!
Thanks again for your comments and have a nice day
That is a fantastic link! Thanks so much for sharing and I have it bookmarked for future reference. You wouldn’t happen to have a similar link for the M Night Fighter?
PJ - you are welcome, glad I could help! As for the -M model - sorry, I don’t have anything. But give google a try, that’s what I did to find the article linked. Good thing is the Lightning is a popular aircraft.
Thank you for your comment!
