Brigbeale

I removed the 4 lumps from the underside of the lower wing/fuselage halves and scribed fresh panel lines and access/fuel panels into the three pieces using the resized call-out as a guide. At that point, I could see no reason not to refit the outer lower wing halves to the upper wing. The old poly cement was sanded back and the parts were fitted together repositioning them so the leading edge lined up evenly. The trailing edges on the lower halves are a smidge shorter than the upper, but it’s nothing a smear of sprue-goo won’t sort out. There’s a linear shrink mark on one of the flaps as well, so that will be filled at the same time. Tonight, I was thinking about Adrian’s builds and the issues with the cockpit. I did consider just moving it back slightly, but I didn’t want to run into fitment issues in the nose wheel bay. I took a more simple route of cutting a couple of millimetres off the front coaming. The cockpit tub and pilot were brush painted, mainly because there was bit that big an area of one colour to warrant setting the airbrush up, painting the tub IJA Grey (which is a green colour and is also a lighter shade than cockpit green), cleaning the airbrush and packing it away again. I used various brown colours to paint the pilots flying overalls and helmet. Some Starship Filth was added to add shadowing/lowlights. He’s not turned out too bad. I might have a go at 3d printing a control column and wheel as the original which is moulded to the IP is too far forward to be seen. (Having said that, the 3d printed one may not be visible either once the canopy is on). I watched one Mike Tombs’s videos where he makes a different branded P-38L? and adds two 4mm x 8mm micro motors to have the props spinning. He does this with a number of aircraft and helicopters. I’m considered whether it would be an idea to do this one the same as the 3d printed props have 4mm shafts on them. It would prolong the build while I waited for the motors and would not be noticeable once it’s in the cabinet with the other models. Oh well, it was a thought……. I fry fitted the wings, boom assemblies, cockpit tub and one of the props together to see if everything is aligning back as it should and it looks ok so far.

I took Saturday off as I was again caught up with Just Jane’s restoration videos and catching up on the Rings of Power. Last night, I was suffering with the affects of a cold that someone has kindly given me - mainly a headache and a dry cough. So, feeling better tonight, I carried on with the sanding of the rivets on the starboard boom assembly and the upper wing section. With that done, I got the printed and resized plans from another brand of 1/48 colour call-out for the P-38 (I think it’s a Hasegawa from memory and it’s got the same panel lines as the Tamiya version so that’s good enough for me). My model’s wing span is exactly 200mm. With these scaled plans, I used my vernier gauge to measure the distances on the panel lines and re-scribed them into the upper wing assembly. Access panels and re-fuelling ports were measured out and scribed using my template. TET was added to the lines to clear up the fuzziness from the scribing and sanding. There’s one slip but that won’t be too mush to sort out.

Thanks Chris. Despite the nose cone issue, I’ve enjoyed building this one. For the kit’s age, it’s actually quite well detailed, especially the wheels. It looks nicely at home in the cabinet parked next to the Black Aces F-14. Thanks CC, I’m happy with the way this one’s turned out. Thank you @woody37, I must get round to sorting the Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles out and then fitting them to the F-15.

I’ve just found this after @stevehnz mentioned it in my restoration. The tip on the nose gear is one I must remember. Beautifully done!

After an hour or so soaking in the Dettol, I tried a patch test with a tooth pick and the paint had already started lifting (first photo). I left it overnight and this morning the paint had wrinkled up, so I tried another test. The paint came away easily, so it was out of the Dettol and brushed off inter light running water from the tap through a J-cloth to catch the bits of paint. I gave it quick swill over with soapy water to neutralise the Dettol and a dry with paper it was set aside for the day to fully dry off. This evening, I set about sanding the rivets and raise panel lines off. I’ve left the 4 lumps on the underside at the moment, but I think they will also need to go. Its a good job I have the Matchbox one as it has recessed panel lines in the wings which means I have a pattern for re-scribing the recessed lines into the Airfix plastic. So far I have sanded both lower outer wings, both sides of the port boom assembly and the lower centre section. I pieced each part back together to check the fit, which meant filing the dried poly cement away and removing a locating pin which was stopping the two halves closing properly. Tomorrow night - more sanding. Oh - I almost forgot two things. I have bought a set of decals for the two versions of eBay for £4.20 inc postage. And I found a P-38 on Cults 3d. Part of the parts list was the two propellers. I measured the distance between the two tips on the remainder of the Matchbox propeller and resized the downloaded propeller, copied and mirrored one side to make a pair of counter turning propellers and resin oriented them. The tips need sanding to a point and I need to alter the mounting pin as it’s about 3.7mm in diameter, which is too big for the nacelles. A second set will be printed for the Matchbox one.

As a quote from Top Gear would say “Could Be Worse……”

I can’t see why…….. It clearly states ‘no painting necessary’

I was going to get a set of decals to do both P-38s at the same time, as the more ‘easier’ parts to replicate are what’s missing on the Matchbox one. I have the canopy for that one stored in the Airfix box along with the donated Airfix one. But, the Matchbox one depicts a ‘J’ model with the revised intakes under the propeller. I could only find one set of decals which would include both versions but the set does not include the stars and bars decals. Oh well, if needs must……

Excellent work so far - will tag along Glad to see my use of Dettol is being used elsewhere. My current project of an Airfix P-38F is currently soaking in a pure Dettol bath. Using it neat doesn’t affect the plastic - well, not that I’ve seen so far on all the restoration projects I’ve done. Ive also restored one of these B-17’s although it was more or less complete when I bought it.

Never straight forward is it??

I bought this P-38 4 or 5 years ago to restore, along with some other models - I forget which ones now.. It had been built wheels up but had lost its propeller blades, fuel tanks and canopy. The remainder seemed in good condition. The paint was just the olive/dark green on the top and side surfaces, the underneath was left in the grey plastic. No decals were applied. It’s a 1972 tooled issue which has been revoked a number of times. I was going to 3d print the replacement landing gear with my Ender 3 FDM printer but other models took precedence over it. I also needed to source a replacement canopy from somewhere. I found @sunray’s thread with his Airfix P-38 and, as I remember, he replaced the canopy with vac-formed ones. I contacted him and he still had the original and said he would send it to me. Once again, I thank you @sunray. Between that time and now, I found a set of boxed Airfix parts for the P-38 on eBay including the fuel tanks, wheels and landing gear. So, fast forward just over 4 years and here we are. The P-38 has finally winged its way to the bench, now the F-15 is all but finished (apart from the missiles). Once the initial introduction photos were taken, it was time to dismantle the Lightning. Using a set of printed off instructions, I used a flat chisel blade to, as carefully as I could, prise the parts way from each other. Some gaps were present so I could get the blade in and started. The boom assembly to wing joints were quite tough to prise on, so I opted to use a fine saw to cut the fore and aft upper joints where they joined the upper wing. This made things a whole lot easier and they separated with no breakages. To get the actual booms apart, I sawed through the inner half of the boom at the smallest part near the fin. The rest just prised apart. The pilot does not want to leave the cockpit, so I will just have to work with him in situ. The cockpit has just been painted brown so a repaint is called for anyway. The propeller hubs were just glued on but I have a plan to replace them and the propellers. So all of the parts are (more or less) intact and once paint stripped, and sanded back will be good to go again. The plan is to sand the whole of the surface area to make it smooth and scribe panel lines into the plastic. The rivet detail is good, but as I found with the Meteor restoration, it’s probably better they go. That’ll keep me busy for a few minutes! The deconstructed Lightning is now sitting in a bath of Dettol. (It’s a fair while since I’ve used that). That can sit overnight and I’ll check it in the morning to see how it’s doing. I still have to get some decals for it though. I also have another P-38 which was in with some other models I bought. This one is a Matchbox version. missing the stabiliser and elevators, landing gear, one engine assembly, one prop of the other engine, spinners, radiator packs and superchargers. Not sure what I’m going to do with this one yet.

The F-15B is all but finished. The undercarriage and wheels were fitted (although the main gear had to be twisted outwards once the TET had cured because the wheels were toe-ing inwards a fair bit). The gear doors were fitted (the forward doors are fitted in the closed position with just the rear one open. That’s how they are according to pictures off the net. The same applies to the nose gear doors. This means the doors open to allow the gear to pass and then close again whether the gear is up or down). The fuselage tanks were fitted to the pylons this afternoon and tonight, they were fitted to the wings. Looking at the F-15, I’ve come to like the clean look with the canopy and speed brake closed - even more so with the weathering, so I’m leaving both closed. I did paint the AIM-7 Sparrows this afternoon, but looking at them, I’m not all that happy with the way they look - basically just a pointed piece of styrene rod with 8 winglets on it. Hmmm. A search on Cults 3d found a free version of a Sparrow, so I downloaded it and they will be printed tomorrow in the resin 3d printer. The AIM-9 Sidewinders are a better, so I might paint them to see how they turn out, but I may end up printing replacements for them as well, but a thought popped in there wondering if the F-15 actually needs any missiles fitting. I’ve still got one F-14 to finish, so I will have a missile frenzy and do them all at the same time. The missiles fitted in the photos are just white-tac’d on. Those AIM-7’s just don’t look right and kind of ruin the work I’ve put in to the model. A couple of fiddly bits were added and some detail painting happened and that was it - completed apart from the aforementioned missiles. The Airfix F-14, F-15 and F-16 together And the Revell F-14 wanted in on the act as well!

Thanks Steve. I always have a little doubt when I start painting each one.

The offending decals had some Humbrol Decalfix applied to them late last night as they didn’t like the Microsol. This morning, I found mixed results. Most had settled down, but a couple still were curled on the carrier film. Also, the Decalfix had formed a gel like patch over the decal area. This was removed by brushing MicroSol over it. The stubborn decals’ carrier film was also removed during this process. An unexpected win, but a win nonetheless. This evening, the exhaust cans were retrieved from the box, painted with Tamiya metallic grey which was followed with Mr Colour burnt iron and then more burnt iron with some Tamiya bronze added. The colour difference is just noticeable. I need to add a wash to the each segment outline to see if it highlights each segment. The F-15 fuselage has some weathering done as it looked too clean - even with the pre-shading. This was done with my usual weathering powders (photo below - you may raise an eyebrow when you see my weathering ‘kit’ It’s what I’ve used in all of my models, but if it works…….) The fuel tanks and pylons were also weathered in the same manner. With the weathering done, the exhausts were added and the F-15 received a coat of Galeria matt varnish. This made the F-15 look a whole lot better. The varnish will need a day or two to fully dry though. As you can see, I’ve also unmasked the canopy.

The F-15 received two coats of floor polish earlier today in preparation for tonight’s activities. Tonight, the original kit decals were applied. For the most part they went on well with no tearing or reluctance to come off the backing sheet. The only issue seemed to come when I put the Micro-Sol on them and they wanted to curl up on a few edges or corners - especially around the fin tops where the lamp housings are. I ‘neutralised’ the Sol with the Set and the decals seem to be a bit happier with that. Once they’re dried off a bit, I’ll repost them with the Sol to see what happens. Other than that, it was plain sailing, although I did have to use other call-outs and pictures for the actual placing of the decals themselves as the old Airfix instructions just suggest ‘somewhere around there’.