Italeri (Academy) 1/72 P-38J "Miss Ann" ... maybe

[PattheCat]

Hello everybody,

 

As said and already shown in the chat section, my entry for this STGB will be this Italeri 1/72 P-38J.

A single look at the sprues clearly shows that it's the nice Academy kit and should someone have any doubt about the origin of the plastic, the box mentions "plastic parts made in South Korea". 

 

 

We have their now usual "super decals sheet" for 4 versions: 2 NMF, 1 OD over NG, an experimental "intruder" scheme with flight blue over black.

 

Quite thin and no flaws, will look perfect after some polishing.

 

But after a look at this glasshouse, this Eduard PE "zoom set" suddenly seems more useful. I'll try to use at least part of it.

 

We'll see ..... as I prefer to paint details and the pit is - IMHO - more than decent:

 

 

Except for the seat that looks armored like a Tiger MBT ....

 

but wait, there is a seat on the PE fret. "Hurray!"

 

 

My original choice went long ago for the Miss Ann box scheme, an "experimental" one on a 7 th FG plane. Still, I'm pondering about 2 of the 3 other options in the box or even something entirely different - surprise, surprise - if I'm able to produce decent self-made decals.

 

Hope this pic can be useful to you @Christer A. Italeri instructions say FS35190 Flight Blue for the upper surfaces.

 

 

I hope not to disappoint this time.

Comments, as well as tips or even stop signs if I'm about to do something dumb are more than welcome.

 

Pat.

 

PS: be safe and be well AND keep being cautious. That 👹 virus finally caught up with my wife and me.

 

[81-er]

I'm intrested to see what scheme you end up going for, Pat. The kit details do look very nice (excluding the seat)

 

James

[Christer A]

How about that. The Italeri kit is the Academy one? Nice!

For a P-38J in 1/72 that probably as good as it gets.

 

It'll be very interesting to see which scheme you'll go for Pat, I won't mind at all if you do "Miss Ann"

I must say that the decal sheet and instructions looks a bit better researched than the Iliad Decals that I have.

[PattheCat]

6 hours ago, 81-er said:

I'm intrested to see what scheme you end up going for, Pat. The kit details do look very nice (excluding the seat)

 

James

 

2 hours ago, Christer A said:

How about that. The Italeri kit is the Academy one? Nice!

For a P-38J in 1/72 that probably as good as it gets.

 

It'll be very interesting to see which scheme you'll go for Pat, I won't mind at all if you do "Miss Ann"

I must say that the decal sheet and instructions looks a bit better researched than the Iliad Decals that I have.

 

Hi guys, @81-er @Christer A

My thanks to both of you for your comments. I'm very glad to know that you're OK with another Miss Ann here ChristerA,

 

As the only other P-38 kit I have ever built is the Airfix one, I can't really tell if the Academy is the best around (in 1/72 scale). Difficult to be disappointed with this kit when looking at the sprues and knowing it dates back to 2004.

 

As for the choice of scheme, honestly, I still intend to go for Miss Ann but it could be I'll wait until the primer coat will be on for the final decision. I just find this is a beauty of a plane in any colour.

Fact is that scheme tickled my curiosity when I bought the kit. A blue non photo-recon P-38, there had to be some mistake .....

So I did some research and as usual, it being here or on other forums and according to the source, the scheme is quite controversial. Black for undersurfaces, no problem but the upper ones, some say haze blue, PRU blue, (medium) sea grey, aluminium, NG 43, OD 41 ......

At the time I finally bought Vallejo Model air 71318 (AMT-7 greyish blue) and 71109 faded PRU blue. As it's all about an experimental scheme and a small  detachment of P-38s and P-51s (2 B&W pics, none of the P-51 that I know of), I think we may go for what suits us with nobody sure to reasonably prove us wrong.

 

Have a good time with your builds, I look forward to seeing them.

 

Pat

[trickyrich]

welcome along Pat, a nice choice and even some AM to boot!!!  

 

looking at the sprue it looks almost like a scaled down version of their 1/48th beast, which is a nice model to build.

 

I do like that scheme a lot, something quite different....but am interested to see what you come up with.

 

Good luck with the build, look forward to seeing her in the gallery

[Scargsy]

I'll be following this as I have the very same kit in my stash so maybe joining with it (either that or a Tamiya 1/48 one, but I generally prefer building 1/72). I need to make some space on the workbench first though with 4 builds ongoing, so hopefully I can get some hints and tips from your build! 

[PattheCat]

Hello BMers,

That 😠 virus kept me in a fuzzy state for nearly two weeks so it goes even slower than usual (yes, it can 🤣).

Just a tiny bit of a beginning but all the parts except for the landing gear and doors are off the sprues and cleaned.

 

I started with the booms. Looking at pics I wasn't happy with the profile of the intercooler/supercharger (?) intakes so I did a bit of sanding around. I don't know if it's right but it's done.

I used some blu-tack to keep the rear shutters in place while the glue set as I wanted these in an open position. Sadly these have no upper/lower sides so fully open is not an option (some plasticard should easily take care of it but I'm lazy).

 

 

 

Painting of the pit has just begun (Gunze H58 interior green and Revell Aqua flat (anthracite) black. The kit's seat sides were thinned out. Indeed I don't intend to use much of the Eduard PE, at least some bits like rudder pedals, trim wheel and "plates" to adorn the sidewalls. The seatbelts look too large and maybe I'll use a spare set of superfabric ones. I'll paint the IP and if not happy with that I'll put the PE panel on. Also I had prepared some scratch and wire for the seat height lever and floor plumbing but the pit seems too busy (for my very own taste) then. We'll see .... better to keep it simple, though.

 

 

That's not much but that's all for now folks.

 

Have a nice WE.

Cheers.

 

Pat

[Christer A]

Very nice and neat Pat!

There are pushrods that moves the radiator shutter that could be used to place them in a suitable position.

[81-er]

Nice work there, Pat. I hope you're fully recovered from Covid now?

 

James

[PattheCat]

2 hours ago, Christer A said:

Very nice and neat Pat!

There are pushrods that moves the radiator shutter that could be used to place them in a suitable position.

 

Just like me to not see the obvious. I'll keep that in mind for a future build. Thanks @Christer A

 

32 minutes ago, 81-er said:

Nice work there, Pat. I hope you're fully recovered from Covid now?

 

James

 

I'm feeling perfectly well. Thanks @81-er James.

[trickyrich]

nice start to the build, those additions to the cockpit help make it look nice and busy, great job.

[PattheCat]

Hi, you gentle people at BM and thank you for your kind comments @trickyrich,

the salutation is sincere but also a preemptive attempt at relaxing the onlookers before showing them terrible pics.

Macro shots are decidedly most unforgiving.

 

Steeled yourselves? OK then.

 

The PE seatbelts are far too large but I had a spare of USAF/USN superfabric ones (they are not yet glued). As as they were off-white I repainted them with Gunze H85 "sail" colour.

 

 

Most of the pit is done. Clearly touch-ups are still needed but that's for tomorrow under good lighting.

I'm happy with the mix of painted/drybrushed plastic and PE. 

 

 

 

For now, I'm trying to slightly reshape and rescribe the engine intakes. Still, it's not advanced enough for pictures.

 

Have a nice evening.

 

Pat.

[Dunny]

Looking good Pat - the cockpit is coming together nicely!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[trickyrich]

Nice!!!!!  

[81-er]

Very nice work on that cockpit, Pat

 

James

[theplasticsurgeon]

On 9/11/2022 at 12:32 PM, PattheCat said:

Hope this pic can be useful to you @Christer A. Italeri instructions say FS35190 Flight Blue for the upper surfaces.

 

PS: be safe and be well AND keep being cautious. That 👹 virus finally caught up with my wife and me.

 

Hi @PattheCat,  Good to hear that you're over Covid.

I was going to ask if this kit is recessed panel detail, but can see that in your photos.  Moves this or the Academy P-38 firmly into my sights as model show acquisition.

The blue used on reccon P-38s was controversial as you've discovered.

Details are vague and it appears that no two aircraft were painted similarly,  and it was eventually replaced by RAF PRU blue.

Which is  what I used on the upper surfaces of my build.

[PattheCat]

1 hour ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

Hi @PattheCat,  Good to hear that you're over Covid.

I was going to ask if this kit is recessed panel detail, but can see that in your photos.  Moves this or the Academy P-38 firmly into my sights as model show acquisition.

The blue used on reccon P-38s was controversial as you've discovered.

Details are vague and it appears that no two aircraft were painted similarly,  and it was eventually replaced by RAF PRU blue.

Which is  what I used on the upper surfaces of my build.

 

Hi Tim,

I've no complaints about the kit. I did a global test fit saturday, some filler will be needed at the booms/wings joint but I saw nothing problematic.

If you can find it, go for it. It's a pity that Tamiya doesn't downscale their 1/48 P-38's but I consider myself well served enough with this one.

 

The correct colour is indeed still doubtful .... so we have room for interpretation 

 

Nice blue on yours.

Cheers.

 

Pat

[PattheCat]

Hi,

The pit is now done. No wash this time. I find it good enough as it is. I'll let the paint dry a bit more before spraying a coat of flat clear.

The sub-assembly is glued to the lower fuselage half and I put tape around to secure it into place while the glue sets.

 

 

 

Pizzas are on their way and I've been asked to open and try a bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. Something I can't let drag on, don't you think? So I say good evening and goodbye to you for today.

 

Cheers.

Pat.

 

 

[81-er]

It's looking good, Pat. Pizza and wine sounds like a good excuse to leave the bench

 

James

[gingerbob]

Hmm, warm mozzarella might be a great gap-filler...

[PattheCat]

2 hours ago, gingerbob said:

Hmm, warm mozzarella might be a great gap-filler...

 

Hi @gingerbob, personally I grind parmigiano and mix it with CA but be advised it only works with Italeri kits.

[PattheCat]

A late hello to all,

 

Not much done today except putting ballast in the nose.

I placed 4 fishing weights in the lower fuselage half and one in the nose for a grand total of 11.25 gr (the instructions say 10 gr so it should be OK).

I first set them with blu-tack and tested the fit of the fuselage, it was perfect. I then put CA to fix the weights and left it to dry.

 

And then came the head scratching. It's quite simple, sorry for the long explanation.

 

This evening, when I tried to mate the fuselages halves the front gaped and the sides didn't properly align (upper part sitting wider).

I could pinch the halves together without effort but the sides didn't match. I thought it could only be that the weights were standing too proud and scraped the inside of the upper fuselage half. Result: nada!

After some head scratching I clamped everything and fixed the nose cone with blu-tack. Yeerk .... there was a step around its lower half so that it was 0.6 mm wider than the fuselage lower half!

 

💡the problem came from the LOWER fuselage part!

Applying a bit of force to widen the sides I heard some light creaking 😰

I then decided to cut through the CA between the weights and the fuselage sides. Now the fit is OK (not perfect anymore but good).

 

Could it be that the CA shrank and brought the fuselage sides closer (CA already removed in this pic)?

 

 

My wife thinks I should move on to another hobby, too many bad surprises she says (in fact she used a much less decent wording) ... and she doesn't even know half of it 🤣

 

Good night fellow modellers.

 

Pat.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

2 hours ago, PattheCat said:

I placed 4 fishing weights in the lower fuselage half and one in the nose for a grand total of 11.25 gr (the instructions say 10 gr so it should be OK).

If not you can hopefully out some in the forward nacelles

 

2 hours ago, PattheCat said:

This evening, when I tried to mate the fuselages halves the front gaped and the sides didn't properly align (upper part sitting wider).

I could pinch the halves together without effort but the sides didn't match. I thought it could only be that the weights were standing too proud and scraped the inside of the upper fuselage half. Result: nada!

After some head scratching I clamped everything and fixed the nose cone with blu-tack. Yeerk .... there was a step around its lower half so that it was 0.6 mm wider than the fuselage lower half!

Can you grind some of the wider plastic away ? If not build up the outside of the lower fuselage with sheet plastic in .05 or .10 thickness. Then you can sand and polish it to shape. 

 

2 hours ago, PattheCat said:

My wife thinks I should move on to another hobby, too many bad surprises she says (in fact she used a much less decent wording) ... and she doesn't even know half of it 

Only if you want to, if you're happy just move forward and pay no attention to the idea. 

[PattheCat]

10 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

If not you can hopefully out some in the forward nacelles

 

Can you grind some of the wider plastic away ? If not build up the outside of the lower fuselage with sheet plastic in .05 or .10 thickness. Then you can sand and polish it to shape. 

 

Only if you want to, if you're happy just move forward and pay no attention to the idea. 

 

Thanks for your advice(s) Dennis @Corsairfoxfouruncle. When the fuselage will be closed I'll temporarily fix the booms and so on without glueing them and test the balance.

For the lower fuselage front I think I'll get it right quite easily now that the excess of CA has been removed, else I'll use your plastic sheet method (sanding the nose cone is not a solution in my eyes).

 

And don't worry, such quotes from the wife are just jokes. She indeed finds us modellers a bit out of our minds - especially when I try to have her notice the PE levers in a 1/72 cockpit. But guess what - she does cross-stiching, the type where you need hundreds of fine threads (of many different colours) to reproduce a painting and the like so we're two of a kind.

 

Cheers.

Pat

[81-er]

Hopefully removing that excess CA has done the trick, Pat.

 

James