"Miss Ann", 7th Fighter group, P-38J Academy in 1/72, with an old friend

[Christer A]

GB time again! Let's not focus on the Big And British Shackleton that's witting on the desk awaiting main assembly, or the F-14 that awaits detail painting and decals, or the rather green Tornado with the MW1- dispenser that was all the rage a few years ago.

I seem to have a bad track record of actually finishing stuff within the GB time (or just finishing stuff in general) with one stellar exception!

The Nordic GB some time back featured not one but TWO forktailed builds from me (and a attack-A29B Tunnan, but we don't mention that!).

Those two Saab J21R was finished on time, and looks nice too!

So, since a P-38 shares many similarities I have lots of confidence that this will work fine.

Enough rambling and on with it!

 

I have the rather tasty Academy P-38J in this little boxing:

 

It looks as nice in the box now, as it did in 2004 when it was released.

 

As per @trickyrich orders, there is also a decent amount of AM to choose from:

I actually have both a Eduard etch cockpit set and a CMK resin cockpit to choose from!

However, the wheels are not the right type so that'll be fixed later.

I've spied some tasty looking Reskit examples that needs to be mine 😇

 

What else? Well, I have decals, including one sheet that I've forgotten about!

 

What I will do is the Night Intruder one, "Miss Ann" from 7th fighter group 

Black undersides, olive drab on top , fancy lightnings on the sides, and a very readable nose art. Just missing a nice pin up and a set of sharkmouths. 🤩

Anyway, then looking into the subject a little bit more, I came a cross this thread:

Olive drab on the top goes away quicker than a salary on a model show.

Some lighter shade is needed, and a RAF paint is the most sensible option I think.

I'll probably paint up a piece using either Black / Medium Sea Grey or Black /Ocean gray to see which is more pleasing to the eye.

Looking forward to that bit!

 

Right, let's get it on!

But wait, what's this?

Yeah, I did start a P38 a decade ago....so far the box has survived 2 house moves. 

How does it look?

Top side was my first attempt at salt chipping, and the masking has been there since 2012...

A rescue attempt is surely needed!

I can at least fiddle with this one while waiting for Saturday to come.

 

[trickyrich]

Arr my star Padawan, Masters heart joy fills!!! 

 

Fine selection it is! 

 

The Academy model is actually a nice model to build and very easy to build. The only issue that seems to affect some is when joining the tail booms they can twist out of alignment! It just takes a bit of care to get right, you need to glue the front section together first, get this all nice and straight then leave to dry. Then glue the tail section, a bit of a pain but you will get it nice and straight, some have made a jig to do this.

 

Great scheme, I like!!

 

Good luck with the build, and I hope you can resurrect the old one.

 

I know you'll finish this one ib time as I have faith..........and a big stick!!!  

[Christer A]

I need to keep out range of the big stick then!

 

Thanks for the assembly tip though. What I remember from 10 years ago showed a quite trouble free build, but that's not 100% certain this time. 

[Christer A]

The weekend came and went in a hurry that's for sure!

I laid down the last available stones for the patio, but I'm still missing about a hundred of them so I need to get more, The family required entertainment on the form of shopping trips and similar activities, Sweden had a general election as well and one constantly needs to have an understanding of the fast unfolding situation in Ukraine.

But I have managed to get some modelling done too!

I started with opening up the two intakes in front of the supercharger.

Quickboost offers replacement alternatives, but really? Just a bit of careful drilling improves the look enormously!

Soon enough the pieces were plonked down on the wing, and at least the right one fit fine.

Not so on the left side!

A few shims sorted it out though.

 

Work on the booms continued. The coolant radiators are quite neat and just requires some carful painting and a wash to pop.

There is also an actuator rod for the movable rear flap that will be drilled and added later. (the flaps appear to be unpainted for some reason)

In the front there is also a set of vents that is a little coarse and needs thinning.

Next up: Cockpit time!

 

[trickyrich]

off to a nice start here, just doing those little bits do make a huge difference.

[Christer A]

Thanks buddy! 

I just wish the exhaust manifold cooling vents on the front of the engine nacelle was as easy to drill.

Still, I could have a go at it!

There will be a part 2 later on today, I just need to get some of this work-stuff out of the way first.

[81-er]

Nice work there, Christer (and good choice of avatar too)

 

James

[Christer A]

Thanks James!

Not only do you recognize my avatar, but from reading your other threads I see a healthy fascination for a certain Discworld.

I shall just call you brother from another mother from now on 😇

 

Well, the work day is over, so here is another little update then.

For this little kit I had actually bought a resin cockpit, but from CMK and not some hit or miss (fitting-wise) Aires thing .

This actually looks nice and with a few swipes from a sanding stick I had things under control.

So far so good! However, dry-fit is key in my experience with Aires, so I took some measures here as well.

No thinning of the sidewalls or nose wheel bay done, just sanding of the resin pour stump that was placed beneath the floor.

This might actually be quite trouble-free to install!

How about that?

 

In my amazement I shot some Real Color Interior green on a black base, like so:

Detail painting has started

One thing that is sorely missed are any form of throttles. There or no tiny etched levers anywhere. Either I lucked out or CMK thought they were unnecessary...

I'll go raid the bits box to se if I have something suitable. While searching perhaps I can find some pre-painted seat belts too?

I hate paint them by hand!

[81-er]

Nice progress there, Christer  Far more than mine, I'm currently at the "taking the old paint off" stage

 

As for VNV, I'm more of a casual fan, but my lady knows them (not that I've had the opportunity to meet them), and a fair few other goth/industrial groups (some of which I have). The best I can do is one of my mates played guitar for Cradle of Filth lol.

 

James

[Torbjorn]

Nice start.

 

For levers, doesn’t sound like a loss - I don’t like the flat PE and usually skip them anyway. Instead glue a bit of sprue or wire and add a blob of PVA to represent the knob on the end, which makes it look like a proper wizard’s st… I mean lever. Like this:

 

[trickyrich]

some really nice progress here, I had forgotten you were using an Aires cockpit, and most surprising it appears to fit without any issues!!!!   It must be a re-box of someone else's!! 

 

The cockpit though is looking great, fro the levers, yeah some stretched sprue with a drop (or 2) of PVA glue should do the trick as Torbjorn mentioned. The belts you could just use masking tape or similar, it'll have a nice texture?

[Christer A]

On 12/09/2022 at 20:13, 81-er said:

Nice progress there, Christer  Far more than mine, I'm currently at the "taking the old paint off" stage

 

As for VNV, I'm more of a casual fan, but my lady knows them (not that I've had the opportunity to meet them), and a fair few other goth/industrial groups (some of which I have). The best I can do is one of my mates played guitar for Cradle of Filth lol.

 

James

 

Taking paint off also counts as modelling. Or so I've heard!

One mate in Cradle of Filth is not too shabby either, I only have CD:s to show for it all.

 

On 13/09/2022 at 15:11, Torbjorn said:

Nice start.

 

For levers, doesn’t sound like a loss - I don’t like the flat PE and usually skip them anyway. Instead glue a bit of sprue or wire and add a blob of PVA to represent the knob on the end, which makes it look like a proper wizard’s st… I mean lever. Like this: (snip)

 

 

Yeah, some small plastic strip or metal is what I'm after. Will add it in once the cockpit is a bit more together,

On 17/09/2022 at 22:44, trickyrich said:

some really nice progress here, I had forgotten you were using an Aires cockpit, and most surprising it appears to fit without any issues!!!!   It must be a re-box of someone else's!! 

 

The cockpit though is looking great, fro the levers, yeah some stretched sprue with a drop (or 2) of PVA glue should do the trick as Torbjorn mentioned. The belts you could just use masking tape or similar, it'll have a nice texture?

It's not an Aires cockpit rich, it's CMK! I guess that's why it fits without issues.

The CMK set includes etched belts too but I was looking for the lazy option to replace them with some prepainted Eduard ones. Unfortunately, I only hade 3/4 of a set and they were green as well.

Oh well, it could be worse than having to paint some belts...

 

[Christer A]

Some wheels with smooth wheel hubs and a set of turned smooth barrels have arrived. These ones looks really nice!

Speaking of nice, what's not nice is the Quicboost "correct" oil cooler intakes:

They are very sharp, but lacks all sort of cooler face in the wells.

What's very apparent is the smaller size!

I mean, the plastic ones fit nice and all:

But this?

Major surgery needed to get them to fit, and I'll still have a blank face for oil coolers.

Either the nacelles are too large or Quickboost (Aires) did a doodoo.

And I've too sets of them even!

Great....

Speaking of sets, I had a look at the Eduard Zoom cockpit set. I figured that I'll probably build some 1/48 Lightnings to get some variations and then I could really just use the belts from that set and a few other details if possible.

But about those belts:

Yeah, there's no chance that those belts on the zoom set is 1/72! They're gigantic!

Pah!

 

Well, I also did a small paint test to see how my selected colors will look together:

First Tamiya Ocean Grey over Tamiya Nato Black

That looks way too dark compared to the B/W picture of Miss Ann!

Ok, next combination is Gunze Medium Sea grey over Tamiya Nato Black:

A better match I guess, but not a slightly blue hue as Italeri hints at over in @PattheCat's build.

Still I feel that MSG is the most probably candidate, so I'll go for that one in any case.

It looks nice on Beaufighters and Brigands, so should look the part here as well.

[PattheCat]

Hi. It seems you'll have finished before I have a real start at mine @Christer A. Well, looking at your build (with improvements) certainly teaches me some useful tips.

Speaking of the Eduard PE not only the seatbelts are oversized but the IP seems a bit too large. I've decided to use only some bits: rudder pedals, trim wheel and some "plates" to adorn the sides. Also I had some plumbing for the floor done with wire but suddenly the tiny pit seemed too busy. I don't have your skills so I won't overdo myself and keep with the plastic.

 

Good luck with the fitting of the resin intakes (but I have no fear 'bout the outcome).

 

You'll have a great P-38 for us to look at soon in the gallery!

 

Cheers.

 

Pat

[81-er]

Wow, those resin intakes are shockingly small! Did someone scale it down to 80% before they hit print?

 

James

[Christer A]

3 hours ago, PattheCat said:

Hi. It seems you'll have finished before I have a real start at mine @Christer A. Well, looking at your build (with improvements) certainly teaches me some useful tips.

Speaking of the Eduard PE not only the seatbelts are oversized but the IP seems a bit too large. I've decided to use only some bits: rudder pedals, trim wheel and some "plates" to adorn the sides. Also I had some plumbing for the floor done with wire but suddenly the tiny pit seemed too busy. I don't have your skills so I won't overdo myself and keep with the plastic.

 

Good luck with the fitting of the resin intakes (but I have no fear 'bout the outcome).

 

You'll have a great P-38 for us to look at soon in the gallery!

 

Cheers.

 

Pat

Thanks Pat! 

The Eduard IP fits in the CMK shroud, but how it actually fits in the cockpit is a different matter.

I'll se how that works out once I get there.

The resin intakes will go back to the box, or rather the bin.

I glued in the plastic ones, since the fit is non-problematic with those.

 

We'll see about that gallery...I usually build with a geologic pace

38 minutes ago, 81-er said:

Wow, those resin intakes are shockingly small! Did someone scale it down to 80% before they hit print?

 

James

I think they have "corrected" a perceived error in the shape?

After all, the do have another set with the complete front that looks like this:

 

But I don't really know if the kit is at fault or not.

My guess is that they took the shape from that, and modified it so that is has the same size as the kit part for an ever lower cost option.

I find it strange that they omitted all radiators though!

[trickyrich]

On 9/19/2022 at 2:30 PM, Christer A said:

It's not an Aires cockpit rich, it's CMK! I guess that's why it fits without issues.

 

Arrr yes, I have been known to make mistake or put my foot in it!!!  

 

Those replacement cowling intakes are shocking, a slight difference is acceptable (sort of) but this!!! Almost looks like they mastered off a completely different model! Then the Eduard PE....I have a love/hate relationship with that stuff!

 

Those complete new nose units look nice but at quite a cost I bet. I wonder if you can't just correct the kit ones with some careful work with a file?

 

[Christer A]

Well, I could've probably sanded it all down, scribed new panel lines and mad an exquisite nacelle out if it.

What would've happened is most certainly an ugly-bottom halfbaked attempt that looked horrible in all aspects.

So, what I actually have done is to fill the front part with some weights instead.

With this amount it should balance just fine!

Always a good thing

Then I went to work in the cockpit.

Detail painting of all sorts of stuff, used the CMK etched belts instead of the Eduard ones, and a dark wash to finish it all off.

It's tiny one due to the scale but it came out as I wanted it.

Compared to the plastic parts it is a looker!

A flat coat later and it was installed in on the bottom wing and the upper was glued in place.

I wonder if I can attach the booms, tail and the other parts?

Now that looks like a P-38 to me!

 

As all great artist do, I put my mark on it as well

I hope that will polish out later...

There was actually a resin instrument panel shroud included in the CMK set, but fitting that to the fuselage was a bit of a let down. I started to hack about the Eduard etch shroud to get that to fit, and so far it looks like it worked.

Do I dare to hope for primer before Sunday evening?

[Dunny]

Christer,

 

That is a most attractive and unusual scheme and it is coming along nicely so far! Look forward to seeing this develop,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[gingerbob]

1 hour ago, Christer A said:

It's tiny one due to the scale

 

Heck, I was sorting out my 48th cockpit bits yesterday and thinking how small they were!

[PattheCat]

Great progress. The resin pit is indeed a looker.

I'm still in the process of trying to reshape and rescribe the cowling intakes of the kit ... got a bad feeling about it. Maybe I should have let them as is, just as you wisely did.

[81-er]

That resin 'pit really is a beauty, and you've done a fantastic job of painting it, Christer  I too have left many a fingerprint on a model, but if it doesn't polish out you have a sure-fire way of proving it's your model. Looking forward to seeing this one hit the paint stage

 

James

[Torbjorn]

I concur, that’s a lovely office.  One can clearly distinguish the SCR522 radio as well, gold star there. 

 

I considered getting an Academy J as well, but I’d rather fight with the RS model issues than what you are facing with the nacelles.

Edited October 3, 2022 by Torbjorn

[Christer A]

 

On 01/10/2022 at 11:23, Dunny said:

Christer,

 

That is a most attractive and unusual scheme and it is coming along nicely so far! Look forward to seeing this develop,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

 

Thanks Roger!

I was hoping that I could lay down some paint during the weekend but it was not to be.'

 

On 01/10/2022 at 13:07, gingerbob said:

 

Heck, I was sorting out my 48th cockpit bits yesterday and thinking how small they were!

Well,, I was looking into the cockpit parts of the Special Hobby Tempest while browsing the stash the other day an that 1/32 'pit is enormous!

 

On 01/10/2022 at 16:30, PattheCat said:

Great progress. The resin pit is indeed a looker.

I'm still in the process of trying to reshape and rescribe the cowling intakes of the kit ... got a bad feeling about it. Maybe I should have let them as is, just as you wisely did.

Thanks!

Yeah, the CMK set is all kinds of nice actually!

Leaving the cowlings as is will help a lot!

On 02/10/2022 at 13:16, 81-er said:

That resin 'pit really is a beauty, and you've done a fantastic job of painting it, Christer  I too have left many a fingerprint on a model, but if it doesn't polish out you have a sure-fire way of proving it's your model. Looking forward to seeing this one hit the paint stage

 

James

Thanks James!

An artist always signs his art 😉

 

On 03/10/2022 at 12:36, Torbjorn said:

I concur, that’s a lovely office.  One can clearly distinguish the SCR522 radio as well, gold star there. 

 

I considered getting an Academy J as well, but I’d rather fight with the RS model issues than what you are facing with the nacelles.

Thanks Torbjörn!

I'm still no wiser if the kit is wrong or not.

Still, opening up all intakes in the front is a lot of trouble, some more than what they're worth.

 

Anyway, what little progress there is comes here:

More weight was added, just to be sure.

The balance was close before, but not quite and a tail sitter is not what I want.

The rest of the week was spent wrestling with the coaming and instrument panel.

I thought the CMK coaming was a little loose fitting in the fuselage, so I decided to go for the plastic one, but to improve it with the Eduard etch piece.

Well, If I at the same time had gone with the original plastic instrument panel or painted up the CMK etch one that would probably have worked, but no.

I wanted to have the nice pre-painted Eduard etch instead since it looks the part. Too bad that it's a lot larger than anything else...

Trying to get that to fit, and then the coaming on top took a while, and then I tried to put the windshield in place.

The coaming pushes it upwards!

🤬

So I pried it all off and went at it again but it seems that I'm stuck here.

I cant make the instrument panel smaller, I can't get the coaming to sit lower and I can't sand off anything on the windshield...

 

 

 

[81-er]

That doesn't sound like a fun place to be, Christer, I hope you can work out a solution. Is there any chance of sanding a relief slot on the underside of the coaming to give the clearance for the IP?

 

James