Black Lightning: Nicaragua Air Force P-38L/M

[ModelingEdmontonian]

I finished this 1/72 Hobby Boss P-38 Lightning last month as part of the P-38 STGB and really enjoyed the group build and my first experience building a P-38. I have been wanting to share an RFI here.

 

She is also part of my "Last Legs Ponies" project, modeling American World War II fighters that ended their service lives in the air forces of countries bordering the Caribbean (one per country). Originally this started with P-51 Mustangs (hence the "ponies") and two of these join the P-38 in photos below. Nicaragua did fly some P-51s, but I wanted to diversify and so chose the P-38 to represent Nicaragua. These P-38s were apparently originally "Ms" (two-seat night fighters) converted back to "Ls," so the cockpit is an "L" cockpit, for example, but I believe the "M" radar pod fairing (not to mention the glossy all-black camouflage) are left overs from its days as an "M." Here is the only picture I have ever found of the original:

 

 

Which believe it or not made it onto a postage stamp! https://touchstamps.com/Stamp/Details/521603/plane-type-p-38

 

I borrowed the radar pod fairing and air intakes (Hobby Boss missed these, somehow) from a Dragon P-38M kit, but did not correct a few other Hobby Boss errors (e.g., I believe there should be a landing light in the left wing). Marking decals are from Aztec and I used many of the stencils from the Dragon P-38M.

 

 

Here she is with a couple of Caribbean neighbour P-51Ds (Dominican Republic [camo] and Costa Rica [aluminum]):

 

 

WIP is here if interested:

Edited December 27, 2022 by ModelingEdmontonian

[Alpha Delta 210]

Wonderful model and a fitting addition to your interesting collection!

 

 

 

[2996 Victor]

Excellent results, ME, and a very unusual and very striking colour scheme! You mentioned a couple of errors in the Hobby Boss kit - are they omissions, or are they dimensional problems?

 

Cheers,

Mark

[SAT69]

That's a very nice and interestingly different Lightning. Very well done!

[Hopesdaddy]

Nice work, good to see a set of unique schemes, glad I'm not the only one who does them.

[Andy Dyck]

Very different and very unique! Never saw the sceme before. Looks very cool! 
 

Thx for sharing 

 

Andy 

[ModelingEdmontonian]

19 hours ago, Alpha Delta 210 said:

Wonderful model and a fitting addition to your interesting collection!

 

17 hours ago, SAT69 said:

That's a very nice and interestingly different Lightning. Very well done!

 

13 hours ago, Hopesdaddy said:

Nice work, good to see a set of unique schemes, glad I'm not the only one who does them.

Thanks all!

 

19 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

Excellent results, ME, and a very unusual and very striking colour scheme! You mentioned a couple of errors in the Hobby Boss kit - are they omissions, or are they dimensional problems?

 

Cheers,

Mark

Thanks, Mark! I'm far from the best judge re: dimensions, but I'm not aware of any issues in that regard. The most glaring error is the inexplicable complete omission of those supercharger air intakes, but then the port landing light is missing and the mirrors on the inner cowlings are incorrectly shaped (circular instead of oval) as well. I suppose one could also complain that the cockpit and wheel wells are a bit bare and the guns lack any detail, but those could be improved without much difficulty. Overall I was actually very impressed with this kit, fairly cheap, great fit, and built up without issue. I really enjoyed it!

 

 

[Spitfire31]

Great model! The black livery makes her look a bit like something from a Tintin adventure.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim