1:48 Lightning P38F-4-1 No. 1 PRU RAAF *FINISHED*

[Dunny]

41 minutes ago, Wings unlevel said:

Some impressively skilled and speedy modelling here! Great subject choice, I’ve often thought with its range the P-38 would have made a great fighter for the RAAF too. Not sure I’ve ever read that we seriously contemplated that though, despite the success of the photo recon aircraft.

Thanks very much Wu! I agree that the range and ordnance of the P38 could have made a big difference - what juicy modelling subjects too! Appreciate the kind words...

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

Some good progress today - I took a cheeky day off work to make an extra long weekend (Monday is a public holiday here - yay). The first job of the day was the instrument panel shroud. Now this is canvas in the actual aircraft, so I stole the idea from another build in the GB decided to use some tissue soaked in diluted PVA to add the surface texture. Here's with the tissue applied:

 

 

A couple of wrinkles in there to add realism!  Once that had dried it was given a coat of Khaki and detail painted:

 

 

This and the gunsight were then attached to the front canopy and the assembly affixed to the cockpit using Krystal Kleer. I could then fill the gap between the canopy and the nose with Tamiya filler:

 

 

Once that had dried I sanded it down, leaving a smooth surface:

 

 

Some rescribing and general cleaning up, and we were ready for primer:

 

 

This coat revealed the usual minor imperfections and defects which were soon sorted out. However, it did also reveal this:

 

 

A rather prominent mismatch between the fuselage and nose 💩 That was not going to pass muster, so I'm in the process of sanding the area back:

 

 

It's looking much better already, so I shall rescribe tomorrow and re-apply the primer, and no-one will ever know! More to come over the weekend,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[81-er]

That's a pain about the nose, Roger, but at least it's a relatively easy fix. I think you're doing a great job as it wasn't meant for this kit 👍

 

James

[Dunny]

8 minutes ago, 81-er said:

That's a pain about the nose, Roger, but at least it's a relatively easy fix. I think you're doing a great job as it wasn't meant for this kit 👍

 

James

Thanks very much James! It does take the edge off the lovely Tamiya kit, but hopefully it won't be too much of a hippocrocapig by the time I'm done!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[81-er]

From your work so far, I don't doubt this will look excellent when you're done. All while bravely trailblazing uncharted territory for your compatriates

 

James

[Dunny]

58 minutes ago, 81-er said:

From your work so far, I don't doubt this will look excellent when you're done. All while bravely trailblazing uncharted territory for your compatriates

 

James

Why do I feel like I'm taking one for the team?! 🤣

[bigbadbadge]

Cracking progress Roger, looks wonderful and with the nose sorted and the glazing on looking forward to seeing the paint going on.

Great work 

Chris

[Dunny]

5 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Cracking progress Roger, looks wonderful and with the nose sorted and the glazing on looking forward to seeing the paint going on.

Great work 

Chris

Thanks Chris - the work on the nose was a bit of a pain but looking much better now,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

Some good progress today! After another protracted sanding session on the nose join I was happy enough to lay down a coat of primer:

 

 

Although there's still a witness between the surfaces, Red Roo's conversion notes state that the join was quite prominent, so I'll live with it as is! So with that it was on to preshading:

 

 

And the topside:

 

 

All looks a bit ropey but it'll do! Next job was to lay down the RAAF Sky Blue, which is part of the LifeColor RAAF camouflage set. This sprays very wet and covers very poorly, so lots of mist coats are the order of the day. Here's early in the process:

 

 

Here we are once I'd covered up the preshading to my satisfaction:

 

 

That isn't looking too bad at all- there's a nice variation in shading which doesn't show through on the photo. Next job was the masking of the undersides, including the most distinctive wiggly demarcation:

 

 

Phew - that was one of the more complex masking jobs I've undertaken! Olive Drab was the next order of the day (don't tell anyone, but I may have used Dark Slate Grey 🤫). Here's early on in the piece:

 

 

And here we are following a coat lightened with Mid-Stone:

 

 

Not displeased with that at all - a nice tonal variation. I've chosen not to weather this airframe too much, but the OD will look a little 'used' compared to the rest of the camouflage (which was applied later). Here's the RAAF Foliage Green following application (forgot to take a photo of the masking!):

 

 

And here's the grand unmasking:

 

 

There were a few runs which were soon dispatched with a cotton bud soaked with thinner. Here's the upper view:

 

 

I have to say that I'm pretty stoked with the finish - it should really come to life after weathering! More to come tomorrow but I'm pretty happy with how she looks so far,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[Christer A]

That looks ACE!

[Dunny]

8 minutes ago, Christer A said:

That looks ACE!

Thanks Christer - you are most kind!

[gingerbob]

Mmm, tasty!

[mark.au]

Dayum! That’s a fantastic paint job Roger, you’ve surpassed yourself there - that’s some of he best work I’ve yet seen of yours.  You’re setting the bar very high indeed.

[Dunny]

1 hour ago, gingerbob said:

Mmm, tasty!

Cheers gb!

6 minutes ago, mark.au said:

Dayum! That’s a fantastic paint job Roger, you’ve surpassed yourself there - that’s some of he best work I’ve yet seen of yours.  You’re setting the bar very high indeed.

Mark,

You are very kind but I suspect that yours and @trickyrich's Haze schemes will blow this effort out of the water. Still happy if an Aussie P38 wins the day...

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[PattheCat]

Yummy! That's a subtle camo, just for my taste.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Wow that's turned out quite good 

[Dunny]

8 hours ago, PattheCat said:

Yummy! That's a subtle camo, just for my taste.

Thanks for the kind words Pat!

4 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Wow that's turned out quite good 

Many thanks Dennis - I am not displeased with it!

[trickyrich]

WOW you have made some serious progress since last I looked!!!!

 

I love the paint job, looks just right!!! 

 

Nice to see you sorted out the issues with the nose, I'm using the CMK one and have this sneaking suspicion that it's too wide!!! Test fits don't look good at the moment and it was designed for the Tamiya model too!!!

 

Anyway, awesome progress and super nice work, keep its up!! 

[mark.au]

5 hours ago, trickyrich said:

Nice to see you sorted out the issues with the nose, I'm using the CMK one and have this sneaking suspicion that it's too wide!!! Test fits don't look good at the moment and it was designed for the Tamiya model too!!!

Uh oh 

[Dunny]

6 hours ago, trickyrich said:

WOW you have made some serious progress since last I looked!!!!

 

I love the paint job, looks just right!!! 

 

Nice to see you sorted out the issues with the nose, I'm using the CMK one and have this sneaking suspicion that it's too wide!!! Test fits don't look good at the moment and it was designed for the Tamiya model too!!!

 

Anyway, awesome progress and super nice work, keep its up!! 

Thanks very much Rich! I'm not displeased with the state of play, with a further update to come - some good progress today! Not good news on the CMK front, but I'm sure you chaps are up to the task!

1 hour ago, mark.au said:

Uh oh 

Uh oh indeed - proceed with caution, worthy fellows!

[Dunny]

Hi All, 

 

Making some good progress this weekend! First job of the day was a gloss coat:

 

 

Next the decals, which were comparatively few. With the stencils, I elected to only apply them to the OD areas of the upper fuselage, and not at all to the lower areas - I didn't think that the RAAF would be taking the time to reapply them. Here's the result:

 

 

You can see that I used some spare black decal to represent the camera windows - I'll give them a gloss coat last thing. Next another gloss coat after the decals had settled down:

 

 

I elected to use a Flory Grime wash on the lower surfaces, as I felt that Black would be a bit harsh (this was, however, used on the upper surfaces). Here's part way through removal of the Grime:

 

 

And here with the whole lot cleaned off:

 

 

That's popped quite nicely! Here's underneath:

 

 

Next was a flat coat. Now I'm trying out Vallejo matt coat on recommendation. It does require considerable thinning, but I'm happy to report produces impressive results:

 

 

That is FLAT - much better than Tamiya XF86, which was my previous go to. You can see that I've added the superchargers, which add a nice contrast - I'm looking forward to doing the exhaust staining on this! Next I unmasked the glazing:

 

 

Noice. The final job for the day was the addition of the drop tanks, and the undercarriage and doors, which were all predictably superbly engineered. So here's a couple of shots showing the state of play:

 

 

 

I reckon with favourable winds I might get this beauty finished tomorrow!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[mark.au]

Looks absolutely fabulous.  I used to use the Vallejo flat as well, it’s good stuff and is relatively trouble free in application.

 

Looking forward to seeing all fine Roger, you’ve stormed through this one!

[trickyrich]

WOW she looks awesome!!!!

[bigbadbadge]

What a stunner Roger and what quick progress too. The wiggly Camo looks awesome.  The whole thing looks absolutely fanbloomintastically wonderful. 

Great work, I can tell you have really enjoyed doing this one.  

Chris

[Dunny]

10 minutes ago, trickyrich said:

WOW she looks awesome!!!!

Thanks very much Rich - now show us yer booms! 🤣

2 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

What a stunner Roger and what quick progress too. The wiggly Camo looks awesome.  The whole thing looks absolutely fanbloomintastically wonderful. 

Great work, I can tell you have really enjoyed doing this one.  

Chris

Thanks very much Chris - have you ordered yours yet? 😉