I went through that time between builds where I sit and stare at the stash. You know the one, when you try to figure out what will be next? yeah.
I looked over the boxes and art, thinking of all the kits I’ve had in mind over the last few weeks that I’d like to start, dismissing them one by one for various reasons. Then my eyes rolled across one little gem and I began to grin. Oh yeah, has to be that one.
Underneath the Tamiya Wildcat, with a Eduard 190 on one side and an AM Mustang on the other, I slide it out of it storage space. On the bench I remove the slightly crushed and very yellowed box top.
Staring up at me is a very nasty looking decal sheet that I just know is going to dissolve in water, and an instruction sheet dated 1966. Older than me.
Silver styrene, studded with various raised panel lines and copious rivets look up at me proudly and I can smell the musty smell of old books. I open up the instruction sheet and grin even bigger as the huge sheet unfolds, it’s edges yellowed and slightly curling, the long forgotten font of yesteryear sit proudly and declare “Lockheed Lightening P-38”.
I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do with the kit. I have no plans but to start it and complete it. Anything that happens in between is a gamble and a guess. So off I go! Hans will be proud, methinks! Another Monogram jewel springs to life. LOL!
lol hkshooter - sometimes they just call out from the past don’t they. Have a peek at the P-38 group build that’s going on, lots of room if you’re interested! [Y]
And you wouldn’t be alone with that Monogram - that, a few Academy’s and a bunch of Revells. Discovering that the Lightning is severely short on kit options!
I’ve heard that kit is a real bear. Then again, I’ve heard all Lightening kits are challenging. (I remember building Bong’s ‘Marge’ as a kid and even then not being happy with the fit)
Tamiya needs to make a nice P-38, perhaps something in between the -F and the -J so it’s not really redundant.
The old Monogram kit is a challenge, but so are the other choices. I prefer the Hasegawa kit but it requires a lot of TLC, especially when installing the wheel wells in the main booms.
There are no real exterior differences in the P-38 G & H, so there’s little point in another one, from Tamiya or anyone else, and I doubt Tamiya would suceed in making the compound curve problems of molding a Lightning go away either, so I’m of the mind that’s why they haven’t… Anyway, it’d just be one more really expensive Lightning kit on the shelf that I’d ignore…
My biggest peeve with the Lightning and relative lack of choice is the accompanying lack of aftermarket. You can find 229 decal sheets for the P-47 or Fw-190 or what-have-you, but try looking for P-38 markings and you wind up with like four. Which is really sad, because there were some very colorful P-38s out there…
I’d love to see Tamiya tackle the P-38, if only to see how they’d approach the engineering of the kit. But it sure wouldn’t be cheap.
Personally, though, I’d really like to see Eduard tackle the Lightning the way they’ve tackled the Hellcat and Bf-110. Excellent kits, a love of extensive marking options, and interesting boxing strategies. I could easily see a Dual Combo with a P-38F and a G/H.
I’ve also found the Eduard kits kind of remarkably affordable for what they are, too. I’ve seen the F6F-3 Profi-pack for $25, and the weekend edition for under $20. Better still, I’ve seen the Hellcat Mk. I/II Dual Combo (two full kits, PE, masks…) for around $33.
There are quite a few decal sheets that are OOP. Keep an eye on ebay. I setup a search to email me every time anything concerning a 1/48 P-38 popped up and eventually picked up nice aftermarket sheets for both my Revell and Academy kits. I was pretty picky too, as I wanted aircraft that were at a certain time and place. There were quite a few nice sheets of very attractive markings that I passed on.
Wow. I didn’t realize that there were so few Lightnings out there. What a bummer. That’s always been one of my favorite WW2 aircraft. good luck on the build though. Can’t wait to see it.
I’ve kinda been doing that myself (though I have to say, the decals with Academy’s “Glacier Girl” kit are spectacular to behold. Sooo many stencils…), but even counting OOP sheets, markings are still paltry next to what’s out there for P-40s, P-51s, P-47s and other prominent USAAF aircraft.
That is certainly true. I model mostly the PTO when I do WWII aircraft and generally the aftermarket markings for all the aircraft are not as common as the ETO. Even the Mustangs and Thunderbolts. Even worse are the aircraft of the North African and Mediterranean theaters.
the Revellogram -38 gets maligned all the time… it actually ,with everyday skills, can turn out very nicely… ck out the P-38 Group build… there’s an M Model from the Revellogram offering that came out pretty good… and was completed in 4 days… [:D][whstl]
I’ve got 2 1/48 Revell-O-Gram kits, 1 Academy 1/48 kit, one MiniCraft 1/48 Kit, and 1 1/32 Revell kit. The Revell kits are a fit nightmare for the most part. I have one assembled 1/32 Revell and it was a huge pain in the tucus. LOL I haven’t tried to work on the other brands yet.
I haven’t tried to work on the other brands yet.