I swear, building this kit is probably the closest a guy can get to experiencing pregnancy. Nine months of hassle and struggle. Align, fit and fill. Rinse and repeat. There are good suggestions around the net to help, like adding spars to stiffen the wings which makes boom alignment much easier. Of course I had to make life even more difficult by adding a resin cockpit, Eduard PE exterior and landing bay details, Quickboost gun barrels, Contact Resine spinners/props and metal landing gear. The latter are an absolute necessity given the amount of weight required to present this thing from being a tail sitter. The end product in my case is no show winner; I made plenty of errors as some of you will probably see in the photos. Biggest was that the canopy fogged after it was attached. Only thing that I can think was that the cockpit paint wasn’t fully cured. Live and learn.
So call it a 10 foot wonder; or “a face only a parent could love” [;)] Besides, it’s only my fourth attempt at an aircraft since starting the hobby 2 years ago. But it’s a reasonable representation of the aircraft I think. And a sense of accomplishment given the struggles encountered during the build. Here are some photos:
I chickened out on the NMF and instead went for a highly weathered plane based on one of the aircraft depicted in the new Zotz P-38 decal sheet from the 80th FS, 8th FG. Hill’s Angels flown by Lt. Allen Hill from Mindoro, Philippines, circa 1944.
Painted with Tamiya acrylics; a blend of olive drab and khaki drab with neutral gray on the underside. Some panels were then lightened with the same blend mixed with a little Tamiya Buff. Surfacers were given a sludge wash of black oil diluted in mineral spirits, then a fine mist of highly diluted Buff/Olive drab (50/50) as a dust coat and to blend eveything together. Additional wearthing aroung the cockpit was carried out by drybrushing with raw umber acrylic and highlighting with steel metalizer. The green highlights on the stablizers and spinners was painted with Tamya Medium green and highlighted using a white paint pen marker.
Here’s a look at the nose art…
Thanks for looking. Comments and constructive criticism is always welcomed.
Very Sharp! How tough was the fit? I hear the Trumpeter kits are hit and miss but you could never tell from that fine build! Awesomeness is it’s essence!
Hey, for all the trouble you went through, she sure looks beautiful! You have every reason to be proud of your accomplishment! I didn’t know that non-cured paint could potentially fog a canopy. Something to keep in mind I guess. Again, great work!
You did a good job a kit that has alot of fit issues. I build it two years ago and I was extremly disappointed in just about every aspect of this kit considering the price. I understand why you went with the resin cockpit. The kit supplied cockpit is very sparse. I do’nt blame you for going with the OD scheme. To build it in NMF requires many hours of filling polishing and rescribing. Overall I think you did quite well on a sub-par kit.
I built that kit last year so I can relate. I think that was the least fun I’ve had building a model… ever. Horrible.
I see what you mean about the canopy but it actually blends well with the look of the aircraft which is very nicely weathered. Mine has lots of mistakes as well but you came through so welcome to the club! [#toast]
I don’t want to be rude and litter your thread with my pics but just as one horrid model builder to another here’s how mine turned out:
sfcmac: How tough was the fit? Almost every main assembly had some fit issues that had to be dealt with. The major concern was assembling the the upper and lower halves of the wings while simultaneously aligning the booms and keeping correct dihedral. If you can pat your head, rub your belly, sing the national anthem and dance the jig all at the same time, you’ll have no problems. [:)] Take a look at Soulcrushers build in the P-38 Group build for a much more detailed play-by-play of the issues that he faced (and successfully overcame, BTW).
oddmanrush: I don’t know exactly what fogged the canopy. I’m open to explanations. All I know is that I painted the interior and then glued on the canopy a while later. It was clear when assembled and the next day was fogged.
MaxPower: “canopy actually blends well with the look of the aircarft…”
[:D] Thank you. That’s what I thought but obviously couldn’t say that it was intentional. No, Really!! I meant to do it that way… [:-^] I got lucky.
I don’t know why either one of you guys are beating yourself up so much. Both lightenings are good looking. I can see how some of the complaints about Trumpeter’s rivets and panel lines are warrante. You can see it especially around the nose. But the finish is top notch!
From what I have heard, you should be very proud of simply completing this kit. But to do so and wind up with such a fine-example of the Lightning, I would say you have earned some serious bragging rights! Don’t see very many Lightnings here, and seeing one as expertly painted and subtly weathered like yours is a real treat. Well done! [tup]
That is one beautiful no, BEAUTIFUL job on that P-38. I did notice one small thing, though. Both ailerons are deflected downwards…Still, If I could do one half that nice I’d be happy with it.
Again, thanks to all who responded for the very encouraging remarks.
Ray: with the exception of the fowler flaps which are glued in place, all other control surfaces are moveable. I see what you mean. They probably ended up slightly deflected as I was positioning the plane for photos.
Moon Puppy: depending on which panel lines and rivets you are referring to, it might be more my error than Trumpeter’s. I had a lot of sanding to do on the nose and gun panels to get a smooth fit. Scribing isn’t a strength of my modeling at this point, so some of the irregularities that you see may not be Trumpeter’s fault.
No way dude, if anything the ones that you worked on looks better than the untouched deep lines from Trumpter. Has me thinking about how to fill them in some on a Trumpeter build i’m doing. Like I said I have read that Turmpeters rivits and panel lines are overstated and I think it really shows up on the nose and around the gunports. I don’t think anyone could blame that on you. Shoot, I think you nailed the finish and I can’t see any of the trouble spots you talk about.
And I followed Soulcrushers build in the P-38 Group Build forum.
Most of the difficulties that I encountered are documented in the articles above, but if there is anything specific that you want to know, I’ll do my best too recall.
