1/48 RAF Kingscliffe's P-38s

[Suprastar3000]

Just finished these today.

1/48 RAF Kings Cliffe 20th Fighter Group P-38s. Now ready for a diorama...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All comments appreciated. Thanks for looking.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Suprastar3000

[russ c]

Really nice pair of Lightnings and tanker, great job(s)

[Suprastar3000]

Thank you Russ

 

[RMCS]

Stunning 

[Newbie(kinda)]

Excellent. BUT I want to see them in that diorama you're planning. My guess is, it'll be superb. Love the Lightnings (of course, they're planes) but that checkerboard Jeep! Really? Fantastic...

[Unfinished project]

What a stunning pair of Fork Tailed Devils. Those vehicles are out of this world too. The weathering is outstanding with all of these together you’re going to make one beautiful diorama. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Beautiful 

[F-32]

Beautiful work, looking forward to seeing the diorama when it's ready

[Jasper dog]

Superb modelling, not just the P-38s but the tanker and jeep and tremendous too, paintwork and weathering look spot on.

I do like an o/d Lightning with invasion stripes and these are great. 

Is it the Hasegawa kit?

 

Thanks Darryl

[GMK]

Such lovely work!

[Ratch]

Great subjects Eddy, BTW King's Cliffe is the name of the village, but the airfield was RAF Kingscliffe

[Suprastar3000]

Really appreciate all the comments guys - thank you.

NOTED: regards airfield name. Pretty sure the reference book got that wrong too,… not that I’m shifting the blame or anything hahah!

 

I’m a ‘make-do’ kinda guy with limited resources for the hobby, so quite often use whatever I can find lying around the house.

example: The whip aerial on the jeep was donated from our pet pussy cat. Yep, whiskers make a great 1/48 scale aerial. Fell out naturally of course.

The P38 named Gentle Annie was a kit I built about 25 years ago. Left smashed to

bits in the loft but now completely stripped, reassembled and repainted.

New props, cockpit glass, photo etch wherever, guns, landing gear and wheels are all aftermarket on both. Obviously decals too.

 

I do like restoring old models. Gives me a sense of recycling whilst re-visiting my childhood. Lots of reworking with panel lines and green stuff and foamx board to replacement damage / missing parts and hours of paint stripping. To be honest, it was never intended to be a “finished model”,.. rather a test ship to experiment paint chipping techniques (hair spray in this case) and weathering on. One day I decided I had gone so far with the model it wasn’t far off to the standard of California Cutie,.. so ended up with two models looking rather similar excluding serial numbers, tail identifiers and nose art. Not sure what the makes of the older one, but Revell is California Cutie which I picked up at an airshow for just a few quid. Both have subtle differences, so I guess different manufacturers.

 

The diorama bases (4 in total) will be approximately A4 size with featured areas overhanging the plinth. Such as a Bofos airfield defence gun, fuel station and linking sections of taxi way.

These 4 sections will join to form a larger area but will be displayed in 4 link cabinets (see pics).

 

 

Oh, and for the eagle eyed amongst you, the silhouette on the plan will be a Thunderbolt from the same fighter group (painted same colours) NOT a FW190 as depicted on the plan.

The FW190 was drawn for another diorama and was of a similar size to a P47

 

 

Have lots of extra figures, tools and accessories to include.

Also have a regular army US jeep and a 6x6 US truck thats already built for the maintenance area.

Bofos gun will be lowered into a dug out with sand bags so most of the superstructure will be beneath the ground level. Shouldn’t hinder the taxing aircraft too much. (kinda like the one on the opening credits of Band of Brothers.) I have done this to give the top surface some undulation rather than flat featureless landscape.

Space is at a premium, so will be using lots of “artist licence”.

 

Edited August 20, 2018 by Suprastar3000

[matti64]

Great work, I really like the way that you've planned out the display of the whole diorama. best wishes

Matt

[TonyW]

Beautiful models.

I quite like the white background. It sort of lets your minds eye fill in the details.

The FW really does look good as well, just enough going on to frame the plane without dominating it. Top Class work.

 

Tony.

[KC Rem]

Very nice P-38s! FYI here are  a few little detail points (not meant as criticism) : The Groups' P-38s were never fitted with the aerial wires leading from the top of the canopy to the tail booms; they also did not have the landing light in the leading edge of the port wing as both "GA" and "CC" were P-38J versions (these were fitted with the light on the underside of the wing). Colonel Rau's last P-38 named "Gentle Annie" (which he flew during the time of D-Day) had natural metal undersides, not the usual neutral grey, and carried a white R aircraft ID letter on the insides of the tail booms. Both aircraft had a small oval section of paint removed from the inside  engine cowlings and polished to a high sheen to facilitate the pilot being able to visually check from the cockpit that the nose wheel was down.   Looking forward to seeing your completed diorama. 

[Suprastar3000]

Massive thank you KC Rem.

Must have taken you quite awhile to find those details and its much appreciated.

Not sure I can rectify all those snags as the bottom colour of GA is kinda hard to rectify. In my defence, the decal sheet says Bottom Natural Grey, but hey ho, no matter.

I'll hold my hand up the wing mounted lights. I had a couple of glass lenses floating around the bottom of my spares box and before I could think about it, I had dremeled the groves out. In hindsight, your spot on. None of the reference shows lights. The ID number 'R' for GA is great news. I was wondering why the fins had no ID letters. Couldn't find any reference myself, but I will try and add those 'R's. Maybe I'll get lucky and find some on an old decal sheet.

 

[ashley353]

Lovely Lightnings Eddy, but before you take the plunge on the P-47 just thought I'd better let you know that the 20th Fighter Group didn't operate Thunderbolts but replaced their P-38's with Mustangs. Hope this doesn't scupper your plans, the Airfix 1/48 Mustang would make an excellent cabinet filler!

[Suprastar3000]

Nothing gets past you lot does it hahah.

Totally understand and aware of that Ashley.

Truth is, I already have a P51 diorama and really do fancy making a p-47. So, I can assume a visiting aircraft could be at Kingcliffe after making an unscheduled landing.

 

The P47 I will be making is from the 84th Fighter Squadron, 78th Fighter Group that puts it in England Autumn 1944, exact same time as these P-38s would have been around. How does that sound?

[redcap]

Absolutely super and look forward to seeing it all come together.

 

Gary

[Suprastar3000]

Thank you Gary - Much appreciated

 

[ashley353]

23 minutes ago, Suprastar3000 said:

Nothing gets past you lot does it hahah.

Totally understand and aware of that Ashley.

Truth is, I already have a P51 diorama and really do fancy making a p-47. So, I can assume a visiting aircraft could be at Kingcliffe after making an unscheduled landing.

 

The P47 I will be making is from the 84th Fighter Squadron, 78th Fighter Group that puts it in England Autumn 1944, exact same time as these P-38s would have been around. How does that sound?

The important thing Eddy is that it is your diorama so do what pleases you, not others.

 

If however you're seeking 100 per cent accuracy then the P-38's left Kingscliffe in July 1944. The 78th Fighter Group were equipped with P-47's at that time so your scenario would be spot on!

 

Look forward to seeing the finished result.

[Suprastar3000]

Thanks Ashley.

You certainly know your stuff when it comes to these matters.

 

Maybe you can help with a slight dilemma I have regarding markings?

As I understand it, the FULL D-Day invasion stripes were only applied to allied aircraft on D-Day and one month after. For a period after, they then had half stripes. (Bottom of wings only and going half way up the fuselage/booms).

Both P-38s reference pages show FULL stripes as I have done, but the P47 only has HALF stripes. 

 

Can I assume that at some stage, possibly a month before, the P47 would have worn the FULL stripes. If so, Could I paint the full stripes to keep all three aircraft in the same time frame. 

FULL D-day stripes looks so much better IMHO.

 

Thanks

 

[KC Rem]

Hello Again Suprastar

 

You are correct all 8th AF fighters were painted in full D-Day stripes in June 1944. The 20th began removing them from the upper surfaces in late June early July 44. The 20th did have a WW P-47 on strength but this was later than D-Day and into the summer of 45. Incidentally in my research I could find no reference to bofors guns being part of the airfield defence at KC - but a little artistic licence never goes amiss. I do have an excellent picture showing a P-38 being re-fuelled at KC during the D-Day period but unfortunately cannot figure a way to upload it to this page. Keep up the fine work. 

 

David K

[BerndM]

Awesome builds.

[Suprastar3000]

Yeah, I was being a bit too optimistic thinking KC might have Bofors guns,.. but the scene will benefit from a dug out and landscaping around the gun. Would love to see the pic of the p38. Can I pm you my email and you send it to me, if it isn't to much bother. Much appreciated mate.