New Release Tamiya 1/48 P-38G Lightning

[Robert_]

Hi everyone. One of my favourite aircraft is the P-38 so I was very excited to hear Tamiya released a 1/48 version. In fact I was so excited I bought a Pre-release version off EBay as I couldn’t wait for it to hit the stores.

 

I have to say that this is by far the best engineered kit I’ve seen. My modelling skills are still lacking so I don’t do the kit justice, but trust me when I say that the darn thing just falls together perfectly. In the hands of a more experienced modeller, I doubt there would need to be any sanding, filling...etc. It really is that good.

 

The kit comes with 2 variations;

339th FS, 347th FG, 13th AF

39th FS, 35th FG, 5th AF

 

I chose to depict the P-38G assigned to Capt. Bob Petit of the 339th FS/347 FG, Kukum Field on Guadalcanal in 1943. Thanks for having a look.

 

 

Edited November 9, 2019 by Robert_
Added box photo

[Josip]

Thank you for sharing it with us. My only gripe is the soft demarcation and somewhat uneven painting of the upper surfaces. Make some simple worms from tac and remake sharper demarcation. 

 

Josip

[Farmerboy]

That looks really good, is it all oob or did you use aftermarket for belts and cockpit?

[mick]

great work

[Nikolay Polyakov]

Excellent work, Robert! 👍 It’s very good to see how new kits are built «ASAP» - looks like you’re first! 😎

[redcap]

Tremendous build - thanks for the pics.

Gary

[mackem01]

Great job!

[chris148]

Superbly done,looks great

[RMCS]

Excellent 

[Ale85]

Love the weathering! Nice work.

ciao

Ale

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Great looking Lightning. ... Cant wait to get a hold of one of these. 

[Thom216]

Looking good. Really liking the color variations in the green.

[kapam]

Looks fantastic!

Nothing at all "lacking" about your skills, I reckon.

Was keen to see a finished build of this new kit (although I prefer 1/72 for my own builds).

👍

[ANovaScotian]

8 hours ago, Josip said:

Thank you for sharing it with us. My only gripe is the soft demarcation and somewhat uneven painting of the upper surfaces. Make some simple worms from tac and remake sharper demarcation. 

 

Josip

Did you consider that Robert_ may have been trying to depict a heavily worn finish on the upper surfaces?

[Vinnie]

Great looking kit with nicely finished paintwork. One of my favourite aircraft as well.

[Jackson Duvalier]

Nice work, Robert! 

 

There will be plenty more of these to be seen (licks Gunze OD from thumbnail).  It's probably the best fitting kit I've ever built... and it's a P-38.

 

Tamiya just changed the game.  Only real issue from where I sit is it's not in the proper scale.  😎

[SafetyDad]

Really impressive job! Beautiful paintwork - the wing root weathering where the pilot would have walked is really convincing!

 

SD

[F-32]

That's a great build, the paint work and weathering look awesome, we must remember that many of these aircraft were painted in the field and extremely worn out, they looked nothing like the shiny warbirds we've come to think of as a WW2 fighter!

[Robert_]

On 11/7/2019 at 10:41 AM, Josip said:

Thank you for sharing it with us. My only gripe is the soft demarcation and somewhat uneven painting of the upper surfaces. Make some simple worms from tac and remake sharper demarcation. 

 

Josip

Thanks for the feedback although I agree to disagree. Many references show well worn upper surfaces as well as a soft transition from green to grey. That said, the transition could have been a little more harsh with better airbrush technique but I didn’t want the masked look. 
I meant to depict a combat ready bird showing lots of fade/wear, not a museum piece found today. 

Regardless, I respect your opinion and that’s the beauty of this hobby-we can all have our own interpretations. Be well. 

[Jackson Duvalier]

How did you find the kit decals?  I've only applied the instrument panel and the radiator faces (all more or less invisible), and used a Molotow marker on the oleos instead of the kit-supplied chrome decal.  I'm particularly curious how to work the polished reflectors inside the booms without dulling the finish if I apply them the usual way, or leaving a tell-tale ring of clear/silvered decal margin if I apply them after the final matte coat.

 

I've started getting better results from Tamiya transfers using hot water and industrial-strength solvent, but I wonder if they've improved their decals while they were raising the bar on everything else.

[Kitchen Modeller]

You're selling yourself short mate - that's a beautiful model - very well put together and a very well executed finish - paint and weathering is top notch and I really like the feathered demarcation - which as you point out, was on most of these aircraft - but look sharp from a distance. I've heard that this is nothing short of an amazing kit - can I ask, how did you find the decals? I'm curious to know if Tamiya has made any progress improving their quality here. 

 

Cheers

 

John

[Troy Smith]

11 hours ago, F-32 said:

we must remember that many of these aircraft were painted in the field

No, they were not.   

They were factory painted.  In field repaints are rare, except for specified changes.

Exception, USAAF post D-Day in NW Europe, after supply in natural metal,  for ground concealment or if they a unit decisions (eg 56th FG P-47's) , and even then they were usually not shabby.   Bad paint finish is rough, and causes drag.   Planes are not tanks.

Only other common in field repaints would be winter white in Russia.

 

11 hours ago, F-32 said:

and extremely worn out,

Many never go old enough to get worn out, or even tatty. 

There are exceptions,  but planes get serviced, and cleaned, and overhauled. 

Perhaps part of this idea is that veteran airframes are often photographed as they were unusual in surviving for a while!

Or types in quieter areas.  Types in the pacific, mid war, did get tatty, like Corsairs flying from coral strips. 

 

A search has turned up that Miss Virginia in reality had an interesting quirk, 

 discoloring stripes, seen in the photo below, that were apparently a result of sealing tape applied before the planes were put on shipboard. But, apart, from the discolouring, note the paint is in good shape.

 

from

https://www.themodellingnews.com/2012/12/zotz-132-p-38-lightnings-preview-now-on.html

 

see also

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/color-for-topside-of-p-38-miss-virginia-t196140.html

 

 

Neat work @Robert_   though you missed a trick with the tape fading...though that would be tricky to do, and, like modelling roughly applied D-Day stripes... might not make a good model?

 

[propforward]

Looks absolutely brilliant to me. Top job!

[Robert_]

On 11/7/2019 at 11:30 AM, Farmerboy said:

That looks really good, is it all oob or did you use aftermarket for belts and cockpit?

Thanks- all oob except I scratch built my belts and added some fine wire to the radios. 

12 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

How did you find the kit decals?  I've only applied the instrument panel and the radiator faces (all more or less invisible), and used a Molotow marker on the oleos instead of the kit-supplied chrome decal.  I'm particularly curious how to work the polished reflectors inside the booms without dulling the finish if I apply them the usual way, or leaving a tell-tale ring of clear/silvered decal margin if I apply them after the final matte coat.

 

I've started getting better results from Tamiya transfers using hot water and industrial-strength solvent, but I wonder if they've improved their decals while they were raising the bar on everything else.

 

12 hours ago, Kitchen Modeller said:

You're selling yourself short mate - that's a beautiful model - very well put together and a very well executed finish - paint and weathering is top notch and I really like the feathered demarcation - which as you point out, was on most of these aircraft - but look sharp from a distance. I've heard that this is nothing short of an amazing kit - can I ask, how did you find the decals? I'm curious to know if Tamiya has made any progress improving their quality here. 

 

Cheers

 

John

Decals were no problem at all, they set nice and weren’t too thick. 

11 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

No, they were not.   

They were factory painted.  In field repaints are rare, except for specified changes.

Exception, USAAF post D-Day in NW Europe, after supply in natural metal,  for ground concealment or if they a unit decisions (eg 56th FG P-47's) , and even then they were usually not shabby.   Bad paint finish is rough, and causes drag.   Planes are not tanks.

Only other common in field repaints would be winter white in Russia.

 

Many never go old enough to get worn out, or even tatty. 

There are exceptions,  but planes get serviced, and cleaned, and overhauled. 

Perhaps part of this idea is that veteran airframes are often photographed as they were unusual in surviving for a while!

Or types in quieter areas.  Types in the pacific, mid war, did get tatty, like Corsairs flying from coral strips. 

 

A search has turned up that Miss Virginia in reality had an interesting quirk, 

 discoloring stripes, seen in the photo below, that were apparently a result of sealing tape applied before the planes were put on shipboard. But, apart, from the discolouring, note the paint is in good shape.

 

from

https://www.themodellingnews.com/2012/12/zotz-132-p-38-lightnings-preview-now-on.html

 

see also

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/color-for-topside-of-p-38-miss-virginia-t196140.html

 

 

Neat work @Robert_   though you missed a trick with the tape fading...though that would be tricky to do, and, like modelling roughly applied D-Day stripes... might not make a good model?

 

Yeah I did come across the photos of the masking. I made what might have been a poor judgement call in interpreting the effect worn off due to eventual fading. Maybe that wasn’t the case. 
it wouldn’t have been overly difficult to make an attempt at it- I would have only needed to lay some thin Tamiya masking tape down and painted some different shades around it. In the end I chose not to. Thanks for the input and photos.