AdrianMF’s Airfix P-38Hs - Beautiful Lass finished

[AdrianMF]

I am going to try to build two Airfix P-38F/G Lightnings, the mould dating from 1972.

 

In preparation for the build I purchased a no-box, decals or instructions kit from Ebay with all the parts (including canopy) still bagged:

 

I’ve had a 1980s rebox of the kit in the stash for a long time:

 

This shows signs of extensive plastic fondling:

 

The fit and alignment of the parts looks very good:

 

Didn’t fancy building “Pudgy” so I have bought the most excellent Excito decal package, with decals for three lightnings, four high quality glossy card schemes and solid protective packaging:

 

I will be building “Beautiful Lass” and “Babe”, both OD over grey. My first ever venture into risqué nose art! Given that the fit and alignment looks so good, I am going to try to preserve the subtle riveting through the construction and highlight it with the weathering. There will be scratch-built mods but no aftermarket. I’m happy to split this into two threads when I start the second one, but I’m going to try and build them in parallel.

 

I have an F-102 Century Fighter to finish first and a vacform I am trying to ignore. Here’s hoping these don’t become residents of the Shelf of Shame!

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

[Dunny]

Hi Adrian,

 

Will look forward to this one! I'm guessing at the other end of the engineering spectrum from the Tamiya kit but I'm sure you'll perform wonders on these venerable kits!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[trickyrich]

Welcome along Adrian and with a classic Airfix kit as well.

 

I have a feeling I may have build one of these many many years ago, so it's great to see one in the build.

 

Great choice of schemes as well.

 

Good luck with the build and look forward to seeing them in the gallery

[AdrianMF]

Fi-i-inally, I have some time at the bench. Two kits, handily moulded in slightly different colours of plastic:

 

The 234 may get some action today too…

 

Start with the horrible jobs. Opening out the rear of the radiator pods:

[AdrianMF]

All done:

 

While I was there I cleaned up the radiator intakes, which were surprisingly flashy, removed the ejector pillars on the inner faces of the fins, drilled out the intakes at the side of the engine and drilled out the intakes next to the superchargers.

 

I have also thrown Future Adrian (thanks @Procopius) under a bus by enlarging the holes for the propeller shafts and leaving spinning propeller attachment as an “exercise for the student” later on.

 

Time now to find some heavy duty solder and shears to get started on nose weight, then I can join these up.

 

A quick sunset study of my other “Lightning”, which just caught the last rays of summertime sunlight a few minutes ago:

[81-er]

Good to see you making a start, Adrain. Those radiator pods have opened up nicely

 

James

[AdrianMF]

And more grunt work. A fake radiator face to stop the daylight and the inner trunking for the radiator ducts:

[AdrianMF]

The cockpit looks like a decent effort, with the control wheel embossed on the instrument panel:

 

The decking behind the pilot is filled in too, with some busy (but inaccurate) equipment

 

However, when fitted it turns out that the instrument panel is way too far forward and the coaming is a bit too long, so some surgery is due there:

[stevehnz]

Looks like a lot of fun Adrian, I was surprised at how many omissions there were in the Hasegawa one I'm starting, but the cockpit was not so bad, just boxing in the main under carriage bays & some odd bits of card to prevent the see through thing at the radiators. I'll stick around for this.  

Steve.

[Procopius]

13 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

I have also thrown Future Adrian (thanks @Procopius) under a bus

I confess, these days, I spend a lot of time worrying about the moment when I'm going to stop being the one throwing people under buses and instead become the guy sporting a remarkable tread pattern on his forehead.

[AdrianMF]

9 hours ago, Procopius said:

the guy sporting a remarkable tread pattern on his forehead.

And you start to wonder where all the chicken poop on the back of your jacket has come from…

 

The weights team have moved in:

 

Each of the sticks is around 7-8g and the spare one is for the nose. That should do it, but I will pack in some of the thinner solder as well to make sure.

 

Cockpit mods have started:

 

Amazing detail on the radio box, will be re-used and dry brushed.

 

New control panel and starting to reposition the seat:

[AdrianMF]

NOT STUCK TOGETHER yet, just test fitting. I’ve brought my second one up to the same stage as the first:

 

They both align beautifully so that’s nice to see.
 

I’ve also spotted the first boo-boo of the build - the main wheel bays are not symmetrical and I’ve got them on the wrong sides on both builds, so there will be some ad-hoc engineering when I get there. Shame, because Airfix had come up with a neat and strong mounting. Hey ho.

[AdrianMF]

Ahhh, the joy of cockpits…

[AdrianMF]

And done:

[81-er]

Some impressive improvements to an ancient kit, Adrian

 

James

[AdrianMF]

12 hours ago, 81-er said:

Some impressive improvements to an ancient kit

Actually, having done some browsing downstairs while pretending to watch TV, I’ve come to the conclusion that Airfix got the cockpit sorted pretty well! I think my instrument panel is too far back, making the cockpit very cramped, and that my initial perception of a problem was more to do with the thickness of the coaming than the location of the panel.
 

Still, I had fun doing it and all you will see is lots of green, the seat belts and some blurry shapes!

[Galligraphics]

Those cockpits look suitably busy and, behind the (presumably quite thick) canopies, they'll look great!

[AdrianMF]

Cockpits painted and fitted:

 

Tomorrow I can box in the nose wheel well, add the ID lights and close up.

[81-er]

Those cockpits look good, Adrian, definitely worth the bit of extra work 👍

 

James

[AdrianMF]

Bottom half added, nose wheel well walls added:

 

After looking at the fit of the ID lights I just blocked off the holes from behind and I’ll use clear resin to add them after painting.

[Rabbit Leader]

Nice progress Adrian, looking great so far. I stupidly bought one of these not so long ago although it was only $5 Aussie, so it didn’t break the bank. I also spoilt myself to a Tamiya 1/48 P-38 and that’s one hell of a kit.
 

I’ll randomly watch along if you don’t mind to see what can be achieved with this basic box of bits, whilst in the hands of one of BM’s supreme modelling magicians! 
 

Cheers.. Dave 

[AdrianMF]

46 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

so it didn’t break the bank

You didn’t say whether the Tamiya one broke the bank! Does look amazing though.

 

I thought I might as well add some more nose weight and get the fronts on tonight:

 

I’m starting to see a divergence in fit between the two kits. The bluer one is made from the modern soft Airfix plastic and the nose is quite poorly fitting next to the browner, harder, 1980s pressing. They both need filler, so it’s not a big issue.

 

When it’s all dried off I’m going to fill and tidy up the central nacelle before I add the engines and booms, while I still have space and angles.

[AdrianMF]

An easy night tonight - cleaning up a load of parts and gluing some stuff together ready for filling and sanding:

[AdrianMF]

I’ve filled and sanded the noses:

 

You can see that the bluer, newer, softer one has needed a bit more filler.

 

And I’ve glued the booms on. I’ve left the tailplane for later, wanting to concentrate on a smooth nacelle-wing join, but I’ve cut down the locating tabs so a minimum of bending will be needed to pop it in:

 

And I had quite forgotten that the propellers are contra rotating! Luckily Airfix hadn’t.  I must remember to get them the right way round.

 

Now for the other one!

 

[81-er]

That's a good idea on the stabiliser, Adrian

 

James