The tale of three P-38 Lightnings...Matchbox, Monogram and Academy.

[rtfoe]

Hi, in line with the Lightning group build I thought I'd tag along separately with my build blog of the built Lightnings I have which in one of those bizarre moments I attacked three at the same time.

I've had these planes in some form of half build stages on the shelf of shame hoping that with gained skills will someday rekindle and tackle their individual problems. I'll start with the Matchbox kit in the next post which is the oldest where I tinkled with it back in '84. The build was rekindled in 2012 I think.

Matchbox 1/72

Monogram 1/48

Academy 1/48

Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

The Matchbox kit...



Everything was done up to this stage. I re-added filler, thick sludge from the bottom of the Gunze Primer 1500 bottle.



Re-sanded and painted the interior green surrounding the cockpit. The radio, seat and seat back were scratchbuilt including the dash board hood and sight mounting. If you know Matchbox they only provide the L shaped seat and nothing else.



Nothing else meant I had to scratch the steering column. It took me so long to figure out how to make it or I was plain 'der' for the past 28 years. Perhaps dioramas kept me away until I was interested in planes again.



I use my blades until they get dull. This rusted one was still sharp. I tend to hold the tip with my thumb and index finger for better precision cuts.



Now it looks nearly complete. I realised how futile this was once the canopy was on. Matchbox clear parts are thick to high heaven basically obscuring any fine detail.



More will come later. My interiors are nowhere near any of the guys in the GB in terms of PE and detailing...I do just enough for my eyes when peering into these confined spaces.

Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Dang...I got the images backwards and the grey matter is fading...

This is before the painting of the cockpit...notice the "L" shaped seat without the headrest/armor plate also minus the dashboard hood.



Now with the dashboard hood from coppersheet. Sights and headrest from laminated plastic sheet.





All distorted with canopy on.



Coat of metal primer still drying on the copper hood.



Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Priming begins and checked for tell tale seamlines.



Turbo chargers not fitted properly yet.



Now they are fitted in properly...glue marks were cleaned and the area re-primed.





Cheers,
Richard

[scottie3158]

Richard,
Very nice neat work as always.

[rtfoe]

Thanks Scottie, I got myself some decals to replace the kit decals for the three lightnings.





Then I went ahead and made some seatbelts for all three. I used copper and fuse wire for the 1/48 buckles and plastic strip for the 1/72 ones. The belts were basically masking tape.















Sprayed them and painted the metal fittings in silver.



But before that I weathered the belts with some dark wash.











Close ups on the 1/72 cockpit always look terrible anyway I wasn't spending too much time on details but made sure contrast stood out once the thick canopy is put on.



Toldja...can just make out the seat, dash , wheel and radio boxes.



Cheers,
Richard

[Vaughan]

Looking good Richard seat belt detail is well worth the effort.

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
That Matchbox kit has certainly be waiting a while. Excellent improvements made to the cockpit.
Jim

[scottie3158]

Richard,
Great work on the belts pity the canopy quality hides the hard work.

[rtfoe]

Thank you Gentlemen, always fun making up seatbelts...they're a bit chunky butg makes the seats look busy. Not too worried about the hidden details, the fact that it has a hood and radio makes a lot of difference in appearance through the thick canopy.

As you know I built all three Lightnings simultaneously there will be some overlaps in images like below...using cut strips of masking tape I masked the canopy...



Then after a coat of interior green I coated with black and then grey primer...





Pre-shading was applied...if I was to do it again I would have darkened the pre-shade for the silver finish.





White base for the invasion stripes applied in three rows on the undersides. The Lightnings by this time had painted over the invasion stripes on the top surfaces.



The anti-glare panels were painted with matt black as well as the black for the invasion stripes.



Noticed I plugged the pylon attachment holes with wooden tooth pick tips fearing paint or thinner fumes might get into the cockpit.



More later.

Cheers,
Richard

[scottie3158]

The paint looks excellent as always mate.

[rtfoe]

Hi Scottie, thanks. The painting was fine but the masking wasn't.

You'll see why masking is a pain for me with the following progress shots. The spinners in blue and red...



The engine cowling lips were red as well and are masked. Anti glare panels also masked.





Then a series of masking for the individual panels with different shades of silver starting with a mixture of white and silver...





After masking a drop of black was added to the silver and sprayed...





Anti glare panels were touched up darker.



More panels masked and sprayed with another tint of silver.



Not forgeting the tail...





Now all masking removed...















Cheers,
Richard

[scottie3158]

Richard,
The masking was well worth the effort very nice job mate.

[stillp]

Nice subtle variation in panel colours, not overdone.
Pete

[rtfoe]

Thanks Fellas, with plain one color overall the panelling variations help make it more interesting.

Moving along I painted the wheels by pin washing the spoked hubs.



The prop blades were masked for the yellow tips



As you can see the underside recieved panel variations and stripes, the pylon holes have been unplugged.



Using blutac I rolled and applied it the whole length of the fuel tank and using the end of a paintbrush I squished a pattern...



...this pattern was an easy way of creating the wavy pattern olive drab surface.



I did this olive drab for only one of the fuel tanks as the other remained light grey. These paper drop tanks were used in whatever color they came in depending on what was available at the depo.



Spraying of desert yellow stains and handpainted rust over dark brown for the turbo chargers.





Decals added and I botched the numbering on the airscoop as they didn't want to conform to the curves so I rigged up a mask. That will come up in the next post.



Cheers,
Richard