Here is an Academy P-38E, kit #2144, I built about two years ago. I took the photo tonight with a Pentax K100D digital slr, with an 18-55 zoom set at 55 in digital macro mode. I didn’t do much weathering on this one, just some exhaust staining on the booms behind the turbos. I remember breaking that upper canopy hatch off about ten times, finally super glued it but since I was too dumb to know about future then I managed to fog it up some. No, the canopy is not hinged wrong, the E and and earlier P-38’s had this side hinged arrangement. It was a nice kit, just had the usual fit issues that the twin boom layout causes. It would have been nice if there was a more positive way of attaching the gear doors.
I have never built a P-38 but my friend built the same one and I know what you are talking about with the canopy fit problems. Nice Job, It looks good.[tup]
Chris
How did you weigh down the nose? I built the P-38 about 7 years ago and thought that filling the nose with putty would work. But then the putty melted the nose…
I probably used super glue and the little round fishing weights, all in the nose. I melted a nose with putty once too, I think it was on the Revell Douglas Skyrocket. Not a pretty sight, but I was able to save it.
i just finished the same kit about a month ago and the i sheet said to use 20 grams of weight jst forward of the nose wheel and about the canopy it does open to the side like it is in the pics (lockheed did this on all models up to the very early P-38F models, including “glacier girl”, the re release of the the p-38e as a F model) i saw the canopy open on the history channel show a few years back hope this helps any future builders! dave
Hi Jeaton,
Nice build and I know from personal experience how annoying cyano fumes can be.
Must be a nice camera you got. My new one is just a simple point and panic model but it does have a few extra bits to my old one like shutter speed and f stop options, but its certainly easier than my old 35mm SLR. I used to model proffesionaly and it was always annoying to shoot a model just before delivery for my album only to get a batch of useless prints back.
Sorry back to topic, I found sometimes giving a coat of high gloss laquer over the fogging helped slightly but try on a small spot first to check.
With regards to nose weights and melting plastic heres a few options. If the part is in two halves try plaster of paris to hold the lead etc. It can generate a little heat so place the parts in a little water to act as a heat sink. If you overfill it`s easily sanded back. Epoxy resin and Milliput can be used in the same way. For one piece cones use PVA glue to hold the weights. Takes a little longer to set hard but at least theirs no worries.
Regards Gary
Thanks, Gary, I’ll give the gloss lacquer a try.
Nice, clean paint job. What kind of paint and airbrush did you use?
E
Badger 150, paint is Model Master enamel, no gloss coat or top matt coat. I must have gotten lucky on the decals. I wouldn’t be so brave today.
And thanks all for the nice comments.
Nice job on the Lightning, John! It looks great.
Mark