1/72nd Honduran P-38

[philp]

This is a carry over from the P-38 GB I didn't finish in.

[Shalako]

Any photos???

[philp]

Waiting on the Admins to copy over the thread.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234979339-phils-honduran-p-38/

The build is on hold while I finish up some review kits and head the the US Nats.

Hope to get it finished in a couple of weeks.

[philp]

Ok, not sure what to do. The admins haven't moved over the old thread but it is still open in the P-38 GB.

So, think I will copy a few of the pertinent posts and move from there. If that is not the best plan will let the admins fix as needed.

Here are the initial pics to the Hobby Boss kit.

The big advantage to this kit is the normally troublesome alignment of the wings and booms is extremely simple in this kit.

Here are the instructions and kit decals.

And the decals I will be using. Main set by LF Models and includes resin wheels. The markings for the wingtips and rudders are over long so probably will trim them before placing. One other issue with the decals are the wingtip markings. The placement sheet shows them just on the tips but pics of the planes after being brought back to the US show the inner blue stripe is further inboard. Pics also show the wingtip markings include the stars in the white section which the LF decals don't include. Luckily I have a sheet for the Soccer War by DP Casper which includes more stars than I will need so four of them will be used in this build.

One thing the kit is missing is the supercharger intakes which are located on the outside of the booms in front of the radiators. I might steal a couple from one of my Airfix kits or make a couple out a bomb or drop tank.

Info about the real aircraft can be found here so I don't have to repeat it.

http://www.laahs.com...uran-Lightnings

[philp]

Finally got some time to work on this.

Interior is pretty good for a quick build kit but wanted to add a little.

So, added some radios from an old scrapped copy of the Airfix kit.

The kit suggests 6 grams of weight in each engine nacelle to keep her on her gear but I used one of my slugs which are almost 9 grams and fitted it in the nose. She seems pretty stable with the weight there but will check again before the nacelles go on.

Here is the kit cockpit.

All I added was some seatbelts from masking tape.

Next step will be to glue the fuselage/wings together and see how the fit looks.

Ok, body is stuck together and the fit was pretty good.

Only used putty in a couple places. One side of the nose.

Under one tail boom.

Also did a little under one of the wings but didn't take a pic. A little sanding and I think that will look ok.

My test balance showed my 9 grams of weight in the nose might not be enough so took another slug, cut it in two and epoxied half in each engine front. No way this baby is a tail sitter now.

So, glued the engines on, then the radiators and finally the tails. Finally starting to look like a P-38.

There are a couple things missing in the kit to make a more accurate Lightning. First it is missing the supercharger air intakes that go just below the wing on the outer side of the nacelles. The RS kit I have has two sets, one for the G model and one for the H. Since I will be doing one of the Get Yamamoto mission the H one is redundant. So I stole them and have put them together (fiddly) and they will go on once the radiators have been cleaned up.

The other thing is the cover over the instrument panel.

I tried measuring and making one out of some plastic card but looks like I got the dimensions slightly off and the plastic cracked when trying to fold down the sides. Think I will try to do one out of some paper and see how that looks and maybe retry out of plastic after I work out the correct fit. Oh, who am I kidding. If I get a decent looking bit out of paper I will probably just use it as is.

Once that is sorted I will mask up the canopy and get that added. Also shaved off the 20mm gun barrel from the nose piece. The references I can find indicate the Honduran planes that had guns only had 4, though it said 4 cannons, so I am sure they were just the .50 cals. I will try and drill out the barrels and then add the nose to the plane and it will be about time to add some paint.

A little behind on posts here so let's catch up.

Next coat of aluminum does look better. Still not perfect but good enough to press on.

The national marking decals need a white background for the center stripe so masked off the airframe and sprayed Tamiya Pure White from the rattle can.

Used an abundance of Tamiya tape, some painters blue tape and a sandwich baggie.

Well, that didn't work very well so Walmart brand Flat White. Hmm, still issues, Walmart Gloss White and we finally have a surface we can decal over.

Next up mask off the anti-glare panels.

Bored with masking so decided to hand brush these with Tamiya Olive Green.

First coat not too bad, will let that dry.

Second coat on and tape removed. Well, some clean up needed (and on the white also) but will do that tomorrow.

The instructions with the decals say the nose should be yellow but the pictures of the planes don't readily show that and the notation in the article linked in the first post does't mention any other colors so debating on whether to try and mask and spray that or not. Not a straight line job but might decide to do it for a bit of extra color. What do you all think?

Edited September 23, 2015 by philp

[philp]

There we go, all caught up.

OK, the continuing saga continues, eh, oh well.

Finally got back to this build after finishing up one of the review kits I had been working on (still have another I need to do) and the first thing I noticed is the tail markings are only on the outsides of the rudders. As you can see I had (through much perseverance) masked both sides of the rudders and painted them white. How does Ced say it, "much Anglo-Saxon ensued."

So first thing was to repaint the insides of the rudders aluminum. Did this with by hand and touched up a few other areas that needed it.

Now the decals. The LF decals are not cut to shape for the wing tips and rudders so the first thing I did was make a template of both areas to use in cutting them to size.

Nothing fancy, just a sheet from a notepad.

The decals are printed on clear paper and there is not white for the middles of the markings (hence the painting of those parts earlier). The film covers the entire sheet so I cut the markings close so as not to have too much excess.

Here are the decals all cut out and waiting to go.

And here they are on the plane.

The blue is very translucent so I am glad I decided to put white under the whole area. They were also a bit fiddly with the first one folding over on itself and it took much finagling with Micro Set, a paint brush and more Anglo-Saxon but finally got it sorted. Now knowing what to expect the rest went on just fine.

Even the numbers on the nose.

You may recall in the first post from the GB thread I mentioned the wing tip markings don't include the star that goes in the middle of the white.

Going to let these dry overnight before I try and add the stars from the Soccer Wars sheet.

Still need to paint the props and the landing gear and get them added but am finally in the home stretch (touch wood as you chaps say).

Edited September 18, 2015 by philp

[Cookenbacher]

Glad to see this one taken up again Phil, nice work on the decals.

[philp]

Finished off the decals tonight by adding the small stars to the wing tip markings. These came from the DP Casper Soccer War sheet.

They are a bit small.

But look OK when finished.

Also drilled out the resin wheels to match the landing gear. Used my Caliper and found out I didn't have a bit the right size so picked the closest and hopefully the super glue will keep them right.

Painted the landing gear aluminum along with a couple of other bits and the wheel hubs. Also painted the black on the props (the yellow tips were done earlier).

Next up will be to paint the Supercharger Turbine bits and the tires. Then should be able to glue the last few bits on and hopefully finish this one off.

[HOUSTON]

philp

LOVELY ..glad to see this still being completed. The decaling et al is SPLENDIDLY done...

[philp]

Well, calling this one finished. My second aircraft of the year and my first non whiff AC done since a Revell Dr-1 back in 2013.

I will take some better pics tomorrow and post in the RFI section.

Some final notes.

• Bombs and pylons sourced from one of my Academy kits.
• Machine guns done in Gun Metal as were the Superchargers (with a little rust color for fun). According to the LAAH website the Lightnings that were armed had 4 cannon. Figured they meant .50s and the 20mm was not carried so that is how mine is armed.
• Additional decals added for the No Step on the cockpit (really can't see them), the fuel tank circles and the markings on the props. Always fun, I tried some Future on the props before adding the decals and it gummed up on one of them. Really was a mess so went and painted more Flat Black over the areas without the decals and now doesn't look too bad, from a distance.
• Landing gear attached. More fun there, the scissors on the main gears were separate parts and I attached them too high using the hole for the cross brace. Had to break them off and redo them. They look great now but I won't be taking any close ups of them.
• A very little weathering done with some Vallejo Black.

And there we have it. Now on to the Airfix Dakota which I am going to try to do in Israeli markings.

[ArmouredSprue]

Love p-38 in every scheme

[philp]

RFI pictures posted.

[Martian]

That's impressive and looks really different in that scheme!

Martin

[philp]

Thanks Martin, really appreciate it.