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

[trickyrich]

Nice work Roger, and yes it really is a bit scary cutting up the Tamiya model!! I've done it to mine already, at least the cuts are nicely hidden. 

 

I am hoping that 3rd steel ball will fit in the nose (same with mine too) as I expect the Tamiya model needs it and the new resin nose isn't heavy enough on its own.

 

I'm trying to remember what I did with the camera windows on mine, think I just painted the openings black and covered with clear acrylic sheet!

 

Am following with interest. 

 

 

[Dunny]

2 hours ago, 81-er said:

Very nice progress there, Roger, and interesting information about the paint colours as well

 

James

Thanks very much James - a few curly ones to be sure!

[Dunny]

14 minutes ago, trickyrich said:

I am hoping that 3rd steel ball will fit in the nose (same with mine too) as I expect the Tamiya model needs it and the new resin nose isn't heavy enough on its own.

Thanks very much Rich - the ball bearing fits nicely in the nose, so no worries there!

[mark.au]

I go to Sydney for three days and find solid progress upon my return.  Looks good Roger, following along with great interest.

[Dunny]

On 20/09/2022 at 07:50, mark.au said:

I go to Sydney for three days and find solid progress upon my return.  Looks good Roger, following along with great interest.

Thanks Mark - you'll love the Tamiya kit...

[trickyrich]

I really do have to start mine...well post the start of the build!

 

At least you're finding issues if any first!! 

[Dunny]

57 minutes ago, trickyrich said:

I really do have to start mine...well post the start of the build!

 

At least you're finding issues if any first!! 

Rich,

 

I should be cracking on today so will advise! Look forward to yours taking shape,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

Some good progress on the PR bird today! I'd sprayed most of the interior components with their base colours last week, so today has been mostly detail painting whilst watching the AFL Grand Final (Geelong Cats won by a considerable margin, in case anyone was wondering ). Here's some of the cockpit components still on the sprue mid-way through the process:

 

 

Next it was time to apply the Quinta 3D printed decals, which were very well behaved. Here's the instrument panel:

 

 

The trick is to remove them from the backing paper in the time-honoured method of soaking in water. Placing them on a piece of paper towel to soak away excess moisture, then a quick wipe with a cotton bud, then attaching them with PVA - job's a good'un! The detail is superb - definitely on a par with any PE I have used, and probably easier to handle. The harnesses have an impressive level of detail, and conformed nicely to the seat surface:

 

 

I'd definitely use these again, although I'm not sure how broad Quinta's range is? Here's the IP assembly following dry-brushing:

 

 

Next the cockpit tub virtually assembled itself:

 

 

Just in case I hadn't already mentioned it - This. Kit. Is. Su. Perb! 😍 Just like that, the fuselage pod was together (after the cockpit had been treated to an oil wash):

 

 

I went slightly out of sequence and assembled the radio gear into the rear deck:

 

 

I did this in order to assemble the rear glazing and protect the seat. The glazing snapped into place - fit is simply amazing:

 

 

The final job for the day was to paint the supercharger assemblies. Here's the base coat applied (the assemblies are blutacced together):

 

 

Here's a final shot after progressive coats with Tamiya transparent red, then with some blue mixed in for purple, and finally a heavily thinned coat of red-brown, and an oil wash:

 

 

Tomorrow I shall tackle the twin booms - this is ticking along nicely and I am very much enjoying it!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

Lovely progress Roger, that cockpit is looking awesome, gonna be a beauty when built.

Great work fella

Chris

[Dunny]

15 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Lovely progress Roger, that cockpit is looking awesome, gonna be a beauty when built.

Great work fella

Chris

Thanks Chris,

 

To be honest Blind Freddy could make this kit look good but it is such a pleasure to build,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[trickyrich]

nice work!

 

Now just imagine how much more you would have done if you hadn't been watched "aerial-pingpong"!!!  

 

You do know there is more to life than AFL!!  

[PattheCat]

That cockpit simply looks great. Well done with the nose conversion.

 

That's what I call doing a tidy job.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

8 hours ago, Dunny said:

I'd definitely use these again, although I'm not sure how broad Quinta's range is?

Big and getting bigger everyday. 

[Dunny]

6 hours ago, PattheCat said:

That cockpit simply looks great. Well done with the nose conversion.

 

That's what I call doing a tidy job.

Many thanks PtC - I'm glad to have proven that the Red Roo conversion works with the Tamiya kit!

5 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Big and getting bigger everyday. 

Thanks for that Dennis - I certainly wouldn't hesitate in using them again...

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

Some more good progress today. I started out with constructing the main landing gear bays. Here we are part way through the RH assembly:

 

 

As you can see there is plenty of lovely detail in there which popped nicely after an oil wash - you can also see the torus at the engine end which locates the ball bearing weight. Here's the finished article:

 

 

Looks lovely! And another shot with said bearing in position:

 

 

Tamiya thoughtfully provide decals for the radiator grilles:

 

 

So here's what they look like in position:

 

 

You can see that I'd also already painted the internal surfaces olive drab. The next step was to assemble the booms:

 

 

There has been much written about the quality of Tamiya kits, and I have had the pleasure of building a few, including their superb Swordfish Mk.II. I have, however, run out of superlatives to describe this kit - the fit and engineering are quite simply state of the art for plastic model kits. Both booms assembled to the wings with barely a visible seam, and virtually did not require gluing - an absolute delight. 😍

 

I couldn't resist popping on the superchargers for a look:

 

 

That central section will receive the appropriate camouflage colour when the time comes, but they do not look too shabby - may need toning down a bit? I then added the empennage, which again was a masterfully positive location. I then offered up the nose assembly to see what it looked like with the glazing in place:

 

 

You can see that I've removed too much of the kit plastic ahead of the canopy, so will have to shim and fill the gap - take note @mark.au and @trickyrich. I may get to work on the nose whilst cooking Sunday roast so might add a short update later if there's anything to show,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

 

[mark.au]

Looking very good Roger, I really like the cockpit you’ve done, as well as the overall progress.
 

Quick programming note though, I’m using the CMK conversion set, not the Red Roo so I’m hoping not to run into the issues you’ve encountered.

[Dunny]

4 minutes ago, mark.au said:

Looking very good Roger, I really like the cockpit you’ve done, as well as the overall progress.
 

Quick programming note though, I’m using the CMK conversion set, not the Red Roo so I’m hoping not to run into the issues you’ve encountered.

Noted - I hope it proves to be plain sailing!

[Dunny]

Hi All,

 

Another brief update. I decided to crack on with the nose this afternoon. Gluing the 3 components together with CA was a simple enough task, and on offering up the nose assembly (with bearing blutacced in place) revealed the extent of the gap:

 

 

I'd already noted that the nose was slightly wider than the fuselage, so you can see I've started the process of profiling it (no shortcoming of the Red Roo set - as noted previously it is intended for the Academy kit ). In order to fill the rather cavernous gap I cut a shim from 1mm plastic card:

 

 

Once that had been glued in position and set I then started profiling it:

 

 

I also shimmed the area ahead of the canopy, and filled the remaining gaps with Tamiya putty. I'll let that dry until next time, so here's a final shot showing the state of play on the underside:

 

 

A bit out of focus, but taking shape nicely - some attention with some fine wet & dry and some rescribing should see it come up nicely!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

Wow Swift progress Roger, looking good.  The kit does look lovely and great experimenting using the Red Roo conversion too.  This is going to look awesome. 

Chris

[Dunny]

1 minute ago, bigbadbadge said:

Wow Swift progress Roger, looking good.  The kit does look lovely and great experimenting using the Red Roo conversion too.  This is going to look awesome. 

Chris

Thanks very much Chris - the kit is jaw-droppingly good. You need one...

[bigbadbadge]

38 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Thanks very much Chris - the kit is jaw-droppingly good. You need one...

You bad man😄😉, I will be in trouble with SWMBO again 🙄

 

[Dunny]

19 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

You bad man😄😉, I will be in trouble with SWMBO again 🙄

 

This one is worth a little trouble Chris

[81-er]

Very nice progress there, Roger, you're absolutely romping through this one

 

James

[Dunny]

9 minutes ago, 81-er said:

Very nice progress there, Roger, you're absolutely romping through this one

 

James

Thanks very much James - most enjoyable it is too!

[Wings unlevel]

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.