georgeusa Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I would like to offer Monogram’s 1/48 ProModeler P-38 G/H Lightning done with Kagero decals for a P-38G flown by Lt. Kenneth G. Ladd, 80th FS/ 8th FG, Dobodura, New Guinea during 1943/44. It is called the Nulli Secundus/X-Virgin with “Ruthie” on the outer port engine. This kit has been around for a long, long time, back in the 60s or 70s when it first came out. The version I have is a 2002 reboxing with some new decals. (More about that later). Other than Accurate Miniatures, I cannot think of a line that has better instructions than the old ProModeler series. Most of them have pictures of actual aircraft (not the best quality, but at least they are there) and some helpful hints on how to make your build better. Anyway, looking forward to this build to help get my modeling mojo back. Here are the box and sprue shots. And here is the Kagero scheme I will be attempting to replicate. The cockpit is first up as it is inserted into the top fuselage half. The parts layout consists of 10 pieces. Detail for the kit’s age is not too bad Once the cockpit is built up, it rests on top of the nose wheel well. I am going to use the ladder provided in the kit, so I have to open up the bottom of the lower fuselage half. The cockpit parts get their base coat of either chromate green or NATO black. Then the weathering and dry brushing begins Once the parts are painted, dry brushed and weathered, the kit detail is pretty darned good. Especially when you consider this kit is about 50 years old. The detail on the control wheel and instrument panel are better than some modern kits that are just coming out. Assembly of the cockpit begins with the seat, the control yoke and wheel, instrument panel, rudder pedals and side panels. Some more details have been picked out to add a bit of color to the cockpit. Although given the fuselage opening, I doubt much will be seen. Must make a mental note to myself to not close up the cockpit before I source some seat belts for this plane. The cockpit is inserted into the bottom fuselage half. Next up, the wheel wells need to be built up to be inserted into each tail boom. The wheel well consists of a roof and two sides. The roof of the port wing well is warped. So with the application of brute force, some CA glue and accelerator, the roof is conformed for the most part to the wheel well sides and is now pretty square. I was hoping the starboard roof would be in better shape. No luck, it is even more warped than the port side. So some more persuasion is used. Then the two wheel wells are placed inside of each tail boom and the two tail boom halves are sealed. The kit instructions would have you place the undercarriage at this time, but with some dry fit testing, the undercarriage can be added after painting making my masking a whole lot easier. After the booms are glued together, the scoop faces and intake are put on each boom The upper fuselage half is glued to the two booms. Then the bottom half is attached to the upper half and fuselage booms. At the same time the main tail piece is fit between the two booms to make sure everything lines up correctly. Twin boom planes are always fun and games to align, but the engineering of this kit makes it a very easy thing to do. Some tape is applied to keep everything in place as the glue dries. While I wait for the glue to dry I start the job I like least in modeling, masking the canopy. Yechhhh. And why do I hate masking canopies, could it be this: Earlier in the day I had masked a canopy for an F-117 with all of its fun sharp angles and points. No problem. With this canopy and fairly simple lines, I skewer myself. This is why I buy pre- cut masks right? I tape up my finger, finish the rest of the canopy masking, (I cheated, but more on that later) and by that time the glue has set on the mainframe because I am so slow at masking. The tape is removed and now I get to inspect the seams for “irregularities” that must be corrected. And there are a few: So the plane is puttied up and left to dry overnight. While I wait for the putty to dry, I work on the propellers. These consist of a hub, 3 separate propellers, and a spinner. Now the kit comes with 4 propellers per engine. Why 4, I have no idea? Is there some P-38 variant I missed that had 4 propellers? Anyway, according to the paint scheme the back part of the hub is black, the blades are black with yellow tips, and the spinner has a green tip with a white stripe. It is morning now and the always enjoyable (not!) task of sanding the seams presents itself. So various grades of sandpaper are used to get rid of the seams and smooth everything out. The grey undersides are painted, let dry and then masked for the upper olive drab. The olive drab is then applied Now the picture tonal quality is a bit warped as the weather outside is not ideal. So the spray was done in the bathroom with the vent to the outside on so I don’t poison anyone else. Obviously the bathroom lighting leaves a bit to be desired. Might have to get different lights. Once dry, the olive drab seems to be spot on. The tape is removed and the green tips to the tail fins are applied. Once that dries, a coat or two of future is applied to get ready for the decals. Now the kit decals will have to be used for the national insignia and stencils. The Kagero decals only have items specific to each paint scheme. I start with the topside decals and stencils from the kit. The kit decals, though only from 2002 did not hold up well. They were fragile, took a long time to release from the backing and if I looked at them wrong, shattered apart. Almost every kit decal had to be pieced together. Since this will be a tired old plane, it may work out in my favor, but putting them on was very frustrating. I can’t wait for the Kagero decals. I start with the port side. The Kagero decals were superb. They went on well, could be moved around to get in the right position and reacted very favorably to Micro Sol. The kit decals, more shattering and piecing together. The starboard side decals were next. The nose art went on smoothly and looks great. The bottom was done using the rest of the kit decals, but less shattering for some reason. Now, I am going to let everything dry and let Micro Sol do its thing. Next up will be a protective coat of future and then the weathering will commence. I am still cogitating on how best to proceed with dirtying this bird up. As always, all comments are welcome. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arniec Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 This is a fast build. Man!!!! what I have builded on and of for 2 moths he does it in 1 day!!!! Looking at the pictures it does look like the Hasegawa kit in a Monogram box. Cheers, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Welcome aboard George and........hope you had a great build! Wow there's no waiting around with you, start to finish in almost one post! I suspect you may have started this one a wee bit early. For an old model the detail as you mentioned is still very nice and up with a lot of models being produced today. The build appears to have gone very smooth and you even had time for a small offering of blood to the modelling god! Maybe that's why you've had a smooth build! Well I could say good luck with the build but you certainly have that under control, so am looking forward to seeing this one in the gallery very shortly. After seeing this I still have so much to do on mine! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellzy Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 All looking good , wish l could build that quick lol Les 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeusa Posted June 10, 2015 Author Share Posted June 10, 2015 This is a fast build. Man!!!! what I have builded on and of for 2 moths he does it in 1 day!!!! Looking at the pictures it does look like the Hasegawa kit in a Monogram box. Cheers This build was actually spread over a weekend. Lost my mojo to build for a couple of months and just threw myself into this build and one for the Sci-Fi Group Build after a quick build of a Hobbycraft Sea Fury. (Still need to post an RFI on that one). As for this being a Hasegawa kit versus Monogram, the kit had its origins in 1964 I think. This is a 2002 re boxing, but I thought it was still the original Monogram tool, just with new decals. , Welcome aboard George and........hope you had a great build! Wow there's no waiting around with you, start to finish in almost one post! I suspect you may have started this one a wee bit early. For an old model the detail as you mentioned is still very nice and up with a lot of models being produced today. The build appears to have gone very smooth and you even had time for a small offering of blood to the modelling god! Maybe that's why you've had a smooth build! Well I could say good luck with the build but you certainly have that under control, so am looking forward to seeing this one in the gallery very shortly. After seeing this I still have so much to do on mine I didn't start it early, just spent most of a weekend building this and an IdolM@ster F-117 as therapy!! The kit goes together quite well. The only glitches have been most of the major seams needed putty and the kit decals are self-destructive. ! All looking good , wish l could build that quick lol Les I am not that quick, just determined and really didn't do anything except build for a weekend. Thanks to all for the comments so far. I have started the weathering but work has slowed done building during the week. Updates will be posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Good to see you joined this one George. That was a very productive weekend! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeusa Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 Life caught up with me causing this build to be on a very tight schedule to finish before the end of the build! Okay, I have today to finish this. So let’s get to it for this update. The rest of the weathering process was done to really dirty this bird up. The bottom side gets a panel wash with Flory’s Dark Dirt. Then the bottom was washed with some light grey, some Flory’s Mud Brown, and a dry brushing of some silver. After that a Dullcoate finish was applied to seal it up and flatten the finish. The bottom will have some finishing touches after the landing gear is attached. Next it is time to play up top. An initial dry brushing of silver was done to bring out some wear to the metal. Then Flory’s Dark Dirt wash was applied. The wash was left to dry overnight to really adhere to the surface and make it a bit more difficult to wipe off. Some more weathering was done with dry brushing with silver, and a wash of light grey to get it nice and grubby Next up the miscellaneous doo dads and dooma flauchies need to be attached, along with some finishing touches and I hope to get this through before midnight tonight. Now I gotta get a little sleep. As always, all comments are welcome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Nice work there George, she's looking great...I had started to wonder where you had gotten with this build. Hopefully you can finish her and get her into the galley in time!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeusa Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 Missed Deadline Update. Yeah, I know, what a shock, I missed the deadline of yet another group build by about a week. But, I am determined to finish this out. I have finished the dirty up wash, so the next step is to add the exhaust stains along the tail booms. This is what I start with. This is what the artist rendering of the plane looks like And this is my interpretation I think it is reasonably close and I like the look of it. I can live with it. Next some work on the underside of the kit. I need to install the wheels And after some finishing of washes and doo-hicky inserts, they don’t look half bad for being out of the box. And here is the bottom just about finished. The landing light holes in each wing have been filled with some very thick Micro Krystal Klear. Why it thickened up, I don’t know. I am waiting for it to get semi-hard and then I will use the end of a paint brush to make a concave depression, paint it silver and then seal it over with some thinned Krystal Klear. While that dries, I muddies up the propellers Then the guns and front antennae are attached. Drats, from the close up picture I messed up on one of the gun alignments. Need to fix that. I have been debating with what to do with the side windows. Most of the time I have my canopies open. With the P-38, the windows open a bit differently and I was not sure how to properly have the top section open. Since the side windows crank down into the frame like car windows, I thought that would be a fun portrayal. Out came the saw and I sawed off the frame portion of the side windows Yeah, I know they are not exactly alike. Why is it when you need to do something in pairs, one (the first attempt usually) goes smashingly, and the other, fights you tooth and nail. I sanded down my crazy cut window and was going to put on the warning decals, but somehow I have lost the entire kit decal sheet for this plane. I can understand losing a small decal or two, but the entire sheet of decals. I can’t wait to discover a couple of months from now where I misplaced the decals. Next best option, paint the rails a weathered red and act like the warning labels had faded off. Yeah that will do it. And then they were installed. And Nulli is finished. I will do an RFI with more pictures. All in all, I really enjoyed this kit. In fact, I cannot think of a Pro Modeler kit that I haven’t enjoyed! The instructions are always great, the kits go together well, just always is a good experience. As always, all comments are welcome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Great work, she looks fantastic, well done. I am so glad you managed to finish this one and it sounds like you enjoyed the build as well. Look forward to seeing the final photos in the RFI section. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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