My Dad/Til We Meet Again

[Ratch]

I don’t recall where I bought this, but at £3.50 it was a very reasonable price. Scalemates has this as originating from Dragon in 1992, it is somewhat newer than the Airfix, Matchbox, and Revell kits I’ve previously built of this subject.

 

Tally Ho! decals to represent P-38J-10 LO s/n 42-67717, E*LC “My Dad” flown by Captain James “Slick” Morris of the 20th Fighter Group, 77th Fighter Squadron, March 1944

 

References:

20th Fighter Group page 33

OSPREY COMBAT AIRCRAFT – 19 P-38 Lightning Aces of the ETO/MTO page 52

Edited September 26, 2022 by Ratch
title changed

[theplasticsurgeon]

£3.50 bargain Ratch!

 

[trickyrich]

welcome along with a proper bargain to by the looks of it.

 

Those Dragon kits are quite nice ones to build considering their age.

 

well good luck with the build, hope it's an enjoyable one and look forward to seeing her in the gallery 

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good morning Ratch

Very interesting subject  have fun with your build

Best regards

Patrice

[Ratch]

I reckon a good place to start is to airbrush the internal surfaces. My dropper bottle of Vallejo Model Air is almost empty, and I wasn’t happy with the thinned down coverage. I went over with some suitable Vallejo Model Color brushed on. Looking at the instructions, it seems that the armour plate behind the pilot’s seat is missing. I crudely cut one from plastic card, and of course, having done this, the kit part turned up. It appears I will need to add as much weight as possible in the nose and engine nacelles to prevent tail-sitting.

[theplasticsurgeon]

15 hours ago, Ratch said:

It appears I will need to add as much weight as possible in the nose and engine nacelles to prevent tail-sitting.

If you've got any lead sheet,  then fill that gap above the nose bay and ahead of the cockpit. 

Should be enough,  I've never needed to put ballast into the engine compartments on any of my P-38 builds.

[PattheCat]

17 hours ago, Ratch said:

I reckon a good place to start is to airbrush the internal surfaces. My dropper bottle of Vallejo Model Air is almost empty, and I wasn’t happy with the thinned down coverage. I went over with some suitable Vallejo Model Color brushed on. Looking at the instructions, it seems that the armour plate behind the pilot’s seat is missing. I crudely cut one from plastic card, and of course, having done this, the kit part turned up. It appears I will need to add as much weight as possible in the nose and engine nacelles to prevent tail-sitting.
 

 

As an indication, the instructions for the 1/72 Italeri/Academy P-38J kit say to put 10 gr in the nose.

Nice start.

 

Cheers.

Pat

[81-er]

You're off to a good start, Ratch

 

James

[Ratch]

Thanks guys 

I only managed to get 5g of Deluxe Liquid Gravity into the nose, so will see about adding more weight when I assemble the booms. 

 

The undercarriage needed a little fettling to fit, or maybe I’ve made a mistake. 

 

I found that a 5g tyre weight fitted inside the engine nacelles and added one to each boom assembly. 

 

The main wing assembly is nicely engineered, and the tail wing only fits one way between the booms. I took care to support the wings while the glue set to get the dihedral. It looks like the nose weight will do the job.

[81-er]

I certainly think it's safe to say it won't be a tail sitter

 

James

[Ratch]

Well, it's definitely not a tail sitter, James. I completed the wing assembly then blacked out all vents, intakes etc prior to the main paintwork. 

 

I have started masking the canopy. It is moulded in a very soft, pliable plastic. It would be improved with a vac-form canopy, but I don’t have one (if there is one available for this model).

[Ratch]

The nose wheel undercarriage has been fitted on the P-38.

[Ratch]

I do not have suitable Vallejo Model Air colours, so have decided to brush-paint the model. I started with the under surfaces, undercarriage doors, long range tanks, propeller tips, turbos, and machine guns.

[81-er]

Nice work there, Ratch

 

James

[Ratch]

I brush painted the propeller blades, upper surfaces, and spinners. In doing so I found several gaps to fill, and the nose wheel fell off. These areas were addressed, and I re-touched the paintwork. 

 

Everything was then sprayed with Klear, and I applied the decals.

[Ratch]

I did further touch ups to the paintwork and then airbrushed the varnish before removing the masking.

And all is complete. More pictures in the usual places. Thanks for looking. 

[81-er]

A nice result there, Ratch. Thanks for participating in this GB

 

James

[Ratch]

Thank you, James 

[trickyrich]

well done on completing her Watch, she looks great, I do like how she looks on those 2nd to photos, a great way to show her off.

 

I hope you enjoyed the build, was great to have you along.