P-38 Lightning - 1/48 Hobby Boss

[AaronKSJ]

I've been eyeing up the Hobby Boss P-38 for a little while now and couldn't resist once I spotted this GB! 😁

 

It turned up in the post yesterday, and it looks pretty good considering it's one of their Easy Assembly kits. 

 

 

I'd like to pick the brains of people that know about the P-38's: 

Once I'd got the kit released that the two tone camo is green on top and then silver underside. Not feeling brave enough to have a crack at a NMF finish just yet I though I'd take a look at aftermarket decals. 

But can't find anything for the L version that are not silver, when ideally I want to do green and grey. 

So the question is, if I buy some decals for a P-38H - what would I need to change on this kit to get it be vaguely accurate? 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated! If it doesn't look like it'll be easy to modify then I'll just need to suck it up and crack out the silver paints. 

There'll be a bit of delay for a week or so while I finish off my P-61 that I've got going in the Specialists GB. 

Aaron
 

 

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good afternoon Aaron

 Here is a list of 1/48 Lightning decals

https://www.scalemates.com/search.php?fkSECTION[]=All&q=P+38+LIGHTNING+DECALS+1%2F48*

 

I hope you will find a sheet to represent a camouflaged Lightning  ..

I think that it will be easier to modify the HB P38L into a J then into a H model which had different engines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_P-38_Lightning

 

All the best

Patrice

 

 

 

 

 

[MarkSH]

Great to see another P-38 join the GB ranks, good luck with your build.

[AaronKSJ]

On 11/04/2019 at 12:36, TEMPESTMK5 said:

On 11/04/2019 at 12:36, TEMPESTMK5 said:

Here is a list of 1/48 Lightning decals

Thanks Patrice, I think I might just stick with one of the kit scheme and do the olive drab over NMF. 

I figure as it'll be my first NMF attempt and it'll just be the underside that if I mess it up it wont be too visible!

 

 

On 11/04/2019 at 12:54, MarkSH said:

Great to see another P-38 join the GB ranks

Thanks Mark!  

I'm very excited to do a 1/48 P-38. I've managed to resist making a start so fa,r as part way through a P-61. 
They should look pretty impressive on the shelf together. 

 

Aaron

 

[ajd3530]

Not to butt in, but Gerinemo II was most definatly OD over neutral gray.

[AaronKSJ]

8 hours ago, ajd3530 said:

Not to butt in, but Gerinemo II was most definatly OD over neutral gray.

 

Ah-ha! Amazing. Thank you for the heads up. 

 

I did think it was a little odd that the instructions have it down as OD over silver! Which is not a scheme I'd seen before. 

 

Well, that nicely solves my dilemma, thanks @ajd3530

[AaronKSJ]

Hello! 

Yesterday polished off the P-61 Black Widow kit and after a vague pretence of tidying the bench, then made a start on the P-38

Nothing major so far, just a bit of chopping and sanding. And opened up various holes that are needed - nose guns and various air intakes around the engine. 

I've decided not to build this kit without any underwing stores, so tonight I'll crack open the hole filler for the wings and there's a recessed bit behind the pilots headrest that I think shouldn't be there?? 

 

 

 

 

Aaron

[AaronKSJ]

I have, as always, fallen down a painting related rabbit hole. 

Having read somewhere previously (forget exactly where now) but someone made reference to the P-38 Squadron book I believe and said that late war P-38's would have a zinc yellow cockpit and wheelwells.

Having a bit of google around today and a fair few people have said int. green for the cockpit and if the plane was in camo then the wheelwells and landing gear struts would be neutral grey. 

If anyone has any input that would be great! Although I have already sprayed the cockpit and wheelwells zinc yellow  0_o 

I'm going to see if I can track down any actual photos of Gerinemo II  or a P-38L-5-lo   

Aaron

[Troy Smith]

4 hours ago, AaronKSJ said:

Having read somewhere previously (forget exactly where now) but someone made reference to the P-38 Squadron book I believe and said that late war P-38's would have a zinc yellow cockpit and wheelwells.

Having a bit of google around today and a fair few people have said int. green for the cockpit and if the plane was in camo then the wheelwells and landing gear struts would be neutral grey. 

If anyone has any input that would be great!

The chap who I would ask is @Dana Bell  who was on here earlier posting about F-5 in haze paint. 

Otherwise I'd a have a look at Hyperscale, and/or try in the WWII section. 

 

 

 

 

You may well find more color here

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/unit/494  where the two images above are from,  they look to have Neutral Gray nose legs but I now need too cook dinner...

 

HTH

 

PS

[AaronKSJ]

@Troy Smith Thank you so much for the links and pictures! 

I spent quite a while yesterday going through the American Air Museum site (it is now bookmarked for future ref!) 
I got fairly side tracked looking at all the black & white pictures, I might have to run a roll of film through one of my Olympus film cameras! 

From the pics, it looks like your right about the NG wheelbay doors and legs. Thanks!

I wished I'd spotted your post sooner on Tuesday night as by that point I'd already sprayed the wheelwells zinc yellow - but that's easily rectified. 

However... I had made inroads on the cockpit which I'd also sprayed zinc yellow. Does seem from the various pics that it should have been int green, but given the painting I've already done I've decided I can live with the erroneous colour. 

 

Aaron

[Troy Smith]

13 minutes ago, AaronKSJ said:

I might have to run a roll of film through one of my Olympus film cameras! 

 

the 'art' shot I spotted was this, not a P-38 but what an image!

 

 

glad the pics and links were of use, the HB P38 is an interesting kit 

Interesting review here, with a few simple tweaks suggested

http://www.hyperscale.com/2014/reviews/kits/hobbyboss85805reviewlr_1.htm

 

cheers

T

[AaronKSJ]

@Troy Smith Ah yes, I'd come across that review while I was looking into buying the kit. 

I've sanded back the nacelle doors, but left the other bits as is for fear of making a mess! 
And also not to sure what he means by some of the things! 
E.g "lower wingtips are missing the characteristic upwards washout" and "The rudder hinge lines extend across the mass balances"

I've had a productive week with the P-38 and got fairly carried away and forgot to post any updates. 

Cockpit is all done, abet in the wrong colour:

 

 

 

 

Used a set of misc USN / US WWII seatbelts from Eduard. On uploading the picture, just noticed a mistake I make with the seatbelts, oh well! 

Cockpit was painted Mig Ammo zinc yellow. Oil wash of burnt sienna. Then used Citadel paints for the rest. Very dark grey for the various bits, drybrushed light grey then black washed. Little bit of silver chipping to the seat, floor and sides. Used a bit of grey and brown pastel chalk on the floor.  

 

 

Yesterday glued the two big sections of fuselage together. Was pretty unsure on the best way to tackle such a big piece. 
Decided the best approach was to glue the wing area around the cockpit and between the engine nacelle using Revell Contacta, then using Tamiya liquid cement went round in small sections so I could try and hold the pieces together to reduce and steps - particularly on the booms. 

Seems to have worked reasonably well: 

 

 

With a bit of luck I'll get a chance to use some putty on the seams today. Will be my first time using Mr Dissolverable Putty, interested to see how it pans out. 

Aaron

 

 

 

[AaronKSJ]

Had a play with the Mr Dissolverable Putty last night. It's weird and wonderful stuff! 
Leaving it for a full day to cure before trying to sand it with some wet n dry. 

 

Picked up a bag of lead shot / ball bearings for weighing the nose and engines down. Only vaguely suitable glue I had was some PVA so currently that's drying out before I glue those bits on. 

Not exactly an exciting progress shot...   

 

 

Was having a look at the fit for the air intakes(?) that go either side of the booms. The fit for the parts looks a bit iffy. Not sure exactly where the problem lies. 
Tried a bit of tactical sanding last night to no avail. Will carry on trying to sort the fit out this evening.

The fit for the engine nacelles and nose cone section looks to be spot on

 

Aaron
 

[AaronKSJ]

Have now got the last of the main bits glued on! And looking pretty good! 

Still a bit unsure about the boom intakes, as they have a slight edge / lip where they join. Had a quick look at pics this morning and seems there should be a panel line and a small step? 
Sprayed a little black primer around them and if I do need to get them flush to the boom it could be fun! Need to sand back the putty too. 
I've realised Mr Dissolveable Putty is more suited for very fine cracks and imperfections. So I might have to crack out the liquid green stuff (Games Workshop product) as that's the only vaguely suitable thing I have to hand at the moment. 

Loosely popped in the undercarridge and looks to not be a tail sitter! Whoop 🙌

 

Trying to make my own canopy mask for the first time using Tamiya tape and a fresh Xacto #11
It's not perfect, but it is immensely satisfying to do!

 

And comments on my boom cooler question very welcome! 
I'll and have a look for some more pics now too.

Here's where I'm at: 

 

Aaron

[AaronKSJ]

Ah, so browsing though some more pictures it looks like the join should be smooth and flush.

 

 

 

Green stuff time this evening then! 

Aaron

[AaronKSJ]

Last night got the canopy masking finished and glued into place. 
Little bit of Mr Dissolveable Putty applied to the front seem between canopy and nose section.

Slathered a bit of liquid green stuff around the seems on the booms.

And got the canopy internal colour sprayed.

 

Tonight will be a sanding fest. 

Thinking I might pick up the Revell riveting tool if I end up having a wander into town tomorrow.

Aaron

 

 

[Troy Smith]

1 hour ago, AaronKSJ said:

Revell riveting tool

P-38's are flush rivetded, note how smooth they are in the pics above.

[AaronKSJ]

I've finished working on the various seems and primed the P-38 with some black Vallejo Mecha. 
I really like the Mecha primer, can be shot through the airbrush straight from the bottle. 

And will previous advice I've gotten on BM, gave the plane a rub down with some microfiber cloth. 
I've really keen to avoid the issue I had with my last kit where the paint ended up a rough dusty mess! 

Tonight I might get a chance to make a start on the neutral grey underside. 

 

Aaron

[AaronKSJ]

Not made any progress with the camouflage colours yet. 

Decided it made more sense to add all of the undercarriage struts and doors as they are all going to end up neutral grey. They are now glued in place and undercoated. 

And look! It's not a tail sitter 

 

Tonight is hopefully the night I get to crack on with neutral grey, then tomorrow before work get the masking done...

Aaron

[AaronKSJ]

Last night got the grey down

Looks ok, the test will be once the gloss goes down as that always subdues the affect.

Haven't finished the masking yet, it always takes way longer than I expect! 

When it comes to the drab, I'm thinking of adding a little bit of colour variation, using red brown and zinc chr yellow. 

I'll get some pictures up once I've finished the drab coat, but first it's time to battle the squiggle line masking with blue tack.... I may be some time  

 

Aaron

[AaronKSJ]

 

Still masking! Just need to finish off around the nose and few odd spots, then back to the fun stuff! 

Tonight should see me finishing the masking, and a quick spray of black to cover the neutral grey that's spilling over.  

Here's the mess I have so far

 

Aaron

[AaronKSJ]

Since my last post, I've managed to get a lot done! 

Had 4 days off work over the Bank Holiday and managed nearly a solid 3 days of bench time 

Following on from where I left off, started to do a marble coat over the black base. In the past when I've black based, I've used the squiggley line approach. 
This time I wanted to do blobs and add in some colour variations. 

 

Which gave me this....

Looked pretty good I thought. But no. When it came to blending it all together, the yellow green blobs stood out light a sore thumb and the brown was lost. 
What I ended up with resembled a camouflage dalmatian puppy. 

 

So spayed it back to black again, then resorted to the squiggle lines again. 

I then had a look at some vids on youtube, so think I went wrong in tow ways. Too big a sized paint blob and didn't vary the opacity enough. 
 

Gave it a couple of coats of Klear then worked on the wheels and props.

Then it was panel wash time. Try as I might I still struggle with this. Using oil paints and odourless thinners, run a wash around panel lines. Then wipe off, which was taking everything away and pulling the wash out of lines.
Did some reading about it, was suggested that the wash should be left to dry for a day then wiped off. Did this. Seemed to work a little better but still not giving me the results I wanted. 

Anyhow. I decided to crack on. Decals down. As mentioned elsewhere the kill markings are a pain in the bum. Each flag consists of 4 separate decals that need to be over-layed!!! 
The decals with the P-38 are very similar in quality to the ones Hobby Boss provide with their P-61. They settle and conform to panel lines really well. But be warned they like to curl over themselves which is a pain.
And also.... They seem to like forming lots of little air bubbles underneath them. When this happened on the P-61 I though it was down to my poor paint finish. But this time round it was really smooth. So not sure what is going on there. 

So with the decals done, gave another coat of Klear to seal and started on some silver chipping. 

Here's how it stands at the minute.

 

 

 

 

One thing that I wish I'd noticed before sealing in the decals with the last Klear coat, is that the panel line wash around the control surfaces looks a right mess. Even though I wiped them back and it looked the same as in other places, once the Klear went down it really showed up the mess I'd made of them. (I had used a black oil wash around the control surfaces so maybe it was that. 0_o ) 

Think I'll leave the chipping as it is and once I have a matt coat down will add a bit of pastel chalk to the control services to change their tone a little. 

Any advice on using oils for panel washes would be very welcome! 

Aaron

 

 

[AaronKSJ]

I had a pretty productive night last night and got this finished! Whoop Whoop 

 

Had fun doing the turbo chargers.

Started off with a coat of Humbrol 53, overall wash of black oil then a few dabs with a brown oil wash in a few select places. 
Then rubbed in some grey and orange/brown pastel chalk. Finished off with a graphite pencil to highlight a few raised details.

Not to shabby

 

 

Wing tip and rudder* lights got a splash of green & red. And the underside lights got some Tamiya clear colours applied (When I remember that they were hidden under some masking fluid) 

*rudder lights? I presume that they are rudder lights....

Happy with how the kit wheels turned out, I was tempted with a resin set but saved the pennies. 
They were painted Tamiya rubber black, black oil wash followed with some grey pastel chalk. 

The masks that I made for the canopy with Tamiya tape and a #11 came off - again pretty pleased for my first attempt (well technically I had tried it back some time in the 90's - but not since my return ) 

 

The last finishing touch was to add the mirrors to the nacelle insides - I sprayed the clear parts silver then a coat of Klear to add some bonus shine. 

 

Enough of my gibber jabber, here's some pics. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite my woes with black basing and panel line washes, overall pleased with how this has turned out  

 

For my next build I had been thinking of doing a B-25 in the Sharkmouth GB - but I think I really need more practice with the airbrush and black basing. 
I really want to get the point were I can add some colour variation to the marble coat before I tackle something as big as a B-25 in 1/48! 

Sooooo, I might have ordered a Tamiya Mosquito in order to do the PRU blue scheme - seems like a good kit to had another crack at sussing out black basing and panel washes! 
You might spot it crop up in the Specialist GB shortly....

Thank you @TEMPESTMK5 for hosting this GB and thank you to everyone else that has commented along the way. 

Aaron
 

[rob Lyttle]

@AaronKSJ well done on getting this over the finish line.

The pictures aren't appearing on my screen from about half way through the thread. 

I can see May 11 entry, but not the 13th and nothing after that. 

Have you changed something, or is it me? 

All the other build threads are coming up OK, so I thought I'd better run it by you. 

................ 

Yea, the entry in the Gallery is coming up pictureless too 

Edited May 29, 2019 by rob Lyttle
Addition

[AaronKSJ]

@rob Lyttle Oh. Hmm. That's strange. The pictures are showing up OK for me on my phone and PC.

 

All the pics are being hosted on Google Photo.

 

If anyone else is having trouble seeing them, hopefully they'll chime in.

 

Thanks for the heads up Rob, I guess I'll wait and see what anyone else says?