Well image my surprise when I logged in to start posting my newest build and saw that Hoss WA had the exact same one…and of all coincidences it was the top build on the page lol Hoss pretty much covered all the background, 8 victories with “Jump” O’Neil before his tour was up, then lost in a storm to the 2nd pilot.
So I’m going to add the 2 different sized fuel tanks for a variation in the rendition I’m doing My only aftermarket will be the Quinta Studio 3D printed cockpit decals. Here’s my starting point…
Did some painting on the sprue Friday night, Assembled the cockpit on Saturday And then Sunday I got through final assembly.
The Quinta IP reflects light just like real glass at certain angles. Really looks great.
I added the box with that lever on the far side last to make sure I didn’t break it off before even gluing the cockpit walls together lol Added some wiring out of stretched white sprue.
A similar story here. In this case All the levers were added after the cockpit was installed in the fuselage. I figured with 6 there was 100% chance I’d break at least 1 putting it in.
you know that silver brush painting looks great to the naked eye but ugly and sloppy in the close up. It’s a love-hate relationship for sure. I kept trying to refocus the camera…nope it’s the user!
Here’s a close up of the Quinta levers. Really nice details. The instructions need a little help. If you buy a set don’t cut off the plastic instrument frames the levers mount to like it appears they want you to do. Oops. They only want the flat center section removed. Fortunately I made a clean cut with the razor saw and got 70% of it back in place with some CA. The other watch out is part 18. Its a gage that come off the frame where the levers mount at a 90 degree angle. Until just now when i posted this I couldn’t see what the instructions were trying to show because the angle was so poor. Overall a great set and super easy to work with. No parts were lost during this excercise!
Awesome, thanks guys! Taking my time on this one. Back in a few with pics of how perfectly this model goes together. In many places you can’t even tell there are individual pieces.
many thanks from my corner of the world Tim! i was laughing reading your close up comment. I must have hit refocus a hundred times taking those shots lol
Well as promised here are a few pics of the fit. Ive watched a few builds and listened to the comments from the guys in my local clubs and I was really excited to start this one. But i have to say no one has over sold this kit. Amazing fit.
in this one that diagonal panel line is the seam
Herself the wing seam. Up close and it’s still hard to see. I rolled over it with some 1500 grit paper wet sanding it and it disappeared
This oil cooler section drops right in. Carmen Santiago challenges you to tell where in the world the seam is
and here’s where im at so far. Booms are together, fuselage is together. Turbos are done but iM saving those pics for later when i can place everything and show how they’re going to look.
Thanks Gamera. Hopefully we’ll see yours one day soon!
mine is looking like a Lightning now!
weathered up the gear bays a bit with a sand colored Flory wash
this is in i’s dried state, still have to wipe it down and get the look I want.
Now I’m working on tons of little stuff. Lots of details to put together. I need to get the canopy all set so i can spray everything at once and keep the colors consistent. This kit is sooo much fun!
Looking great so far. Good approach to painting everything at once since there’s quite a bit of OD real estate on the windscreen and rear canopy. I painted mine separately and didn’t quite get the colors matched up.
Thanks Hoss. It seems like it shouldn’t be an issue but, like you, I’ve painted from the same bottle and it just ended up noticeably different. screwey as Bugs Bunny would say!
I’ve got Beautiful Lass in white primer today. Have thought about this alot. Found this great WWII site
Over 300 P-38 photos on here. I saved about 50 of them that would help with the build and weathering. Tried a few practice runs with dark and light primer and 2 different olive drabs. Have settled on white primer (obviously lol) and Tamiya rattle can olive drab that will be decanted and sprayed.
So looking at the pics of Pacific Lightnings and at the graphics that go with the decals and Hoss WA’s build …
My plan for tomorrow is to spray a lightened coat of olive drab, maybe 20% white or yellow zinc chromate added to it, as the 1st coat. Then I’ll apply the tape the seams like they did to ship these babies to the Pacific. Then some grimey black and some mottling to give it lots of wear. Should be a crazy Monday!
This little experiment should be interesting. I’m setting up the chipping on the wings this morning. Have done this on a smaller scale before so hoping on a full wing it looks realistic. In an attempt to get some depth I’ve splattered liquid masking across the surface.
Taped the crap out of all the surfaces not to be exposed.
after this dries I’m going to pulll up some lines to try and get the look of the many panel lines on the wing. That seems to be the only missing element on this kit. This central wing area is smooth.
edit- and sometimes the belated value of posting wip threads is new ideas. I think along that central wing i should put the mask on a piece of stright sponge and dab it on there. Going to try that after this round dries. Ok off to lunch. Can’t have too many new ideas or it’ll end up a total do-over lol
me too buddy! Might be tomorrow thobefore i can rub it off. Day is getting away from me and I have a fantasy football draft tonight thati just realized is going to be a delay to modeling.
now here’s a goofy experience. Probably a watch out for you guys with one in your stash. I was decanting my olive drab when I noticed a big dot on the tail boom. Thought, oh crap did i spritz the plane! Nope, turns out a perfect hole appeared in the boom,
have you ever seen anything like this? Weird. I didn’t really study the booms before assembly so I’m not sure what features may be back there or if there was a sign of an incomplete fill. Working on plugging it up. Then sand and primer that spot again.
Looks like it’s supposed to be there. I haven’t been able to confirm this but I’ve read that it’s supposed to be an upward clear recognition light. Either way there’s a hole there. Zoom in on the picture below and check it out:
Oh man you’re great Mustang! There’s no references to it in the instructions. Can’t believe they missed it. There is a small clear part for it on the tree. And looking back I can see the hole shadowed in the side view of the boom, the pic that just shows the profile of the finished part right at the top of the right boom step.
No problem bud. Any friend of Joe Rix is an automatic friend of mine and besides…I need to start hangin’ out with birds of a feather again here in the aircraft section. Glad I could be of help Mongoose.
Hey Joe I’m Chris during the day. I morph into plastic at night [B] yeah Joe Rix and a bunch of us had a great time out in Vegas!
This light is really goofy. There’s no ledge to set the clear lens on. Kinda glad i cemented a rod into it. I can just drill out enough to sit the lens in now I think.
My only aftermarket will be the Quinta Studio 3D printed cockpit decals. Here’s my starting point…
