Tamiya 1/48 P-38 Lightning

[Jim R]

Coming on a treat Andy and a big well done to The Hobby Co.
Jim

[Guest]

Thanks Jim, and yes, I'm very pleased with how they dealt with it.

Not a lot of progress today as I've been faffing with other things, and forgot to take photos, but I got the booms/tailplane/rudders fitted. Here they are just dry fitted, glue seems almost unnecessary!

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But glue them up I did, and I squirted a bit of primer over the sanded seams just to make sure they were ok.

Fitted the drop tanks together and wondered how I'd be able to know the right from left of the stabilising brackets once cut from the sprue. Tamiya was ahead of me

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I painted up all of the landing gear and the insides of the bay doors, and while I had the silver paint out I thought I'd have a go at a bare metal finish for one of the tanks.

A coat of Mr Surfacer first

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Then a couple of thin but wet coats of silver.

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I don't think I've captured it well in the picture and it'll get a bit of a polish once fully cured, but it looks pretty good in reality. Not sure if the tanks were ever bare metal in service but I know the aircraft sometimes was and it'll add a bit of variety.

I've also decided to add the pilot figure and started painting him today, but you definitely don't want to see pictures of that just yet :flushed:

[scottie3158]

Andy,
Lovely work

[topgazza]

Thing is Andy I've only been at it for a month so in many respects I'm actually behind the curve with you. Watching some of the YouTube vids is entertaining but frustrating at times as I know I can't achieve their finishes right now. I do tend to prefer the fresh out of the factory look but weathering and chipping appeals. But I am learning the detail painting as you demonstrate in your models.

I like the old prime to see how it looks approach. The car sprayer in you comes out.....

[Guest]

Thanks again Paul.

It's the weathering side I'm still struggling with Gary. Some of the guys here do the simplest things and it looks great, others add tons of layers of different effects, and they have my head swimming. A few of my models have been 2 days to build, 1 or 2 days to paint, then over 2 weeks weathering and I'm still not fully happy, so it's a commitment for sure.

[topgazza]

I think weathering is the hardest thing to learn. It looks so easy on the videos but I find it either goes horribly worng and makes the model look a mess. Or so underwhelming its not worthwhile. I'll stick to nearly new look for a while as I get my enjoyment with the building and basic painting. Seems a shame to screw up an expensive and well made modelling. I have some Flory Clay wash and Vallejo wash so i might try again. But be interesting to see what you do with the P-38

[Guest]

But be interesting to see what you do with the P-38

Same here lol. I still have no idea what I'm going to do with it, apart from the basic colours, and I'm a whisker away from paint now.

I've been advised here plenty of times to have a plan, and/or reference pictures to work to. Seems by far the best way to do things but my brain is a bit too chaotic for that :upside:

[topgazza]

I've spent the last 25 years running small and large IT projects and without all the hoo hah and paperwork I find that thought process useful. But even then my enthusiasm for this gets me carried away. Also for you I suspect the patience and knowing that you have to do things in a certain way has to help. Like taking a car from bare panel to finished paint surface. Shortcuts are our enemy. So what I have done is follow the build sequence faithfully, no hesitation no deviation, as the saying goes. Painting is the waiting between sprays that kills me. But as I said I do prefer the cleanish new finish. I mean at some stage they must all have looked like that

However, whatever you are doing is working looking at your previous builds and this P38 :thumb2:

[Guest]

I started work on the pilot last night, and after a few tips from my son I finished him off today. It's not going to worry you serious figure painters lol, but I think it's my best one yet and I'm happy.

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I noticed his head rest was missing when taking the above shot. No idea where that went so I've made a replacement.

Also got the gunsight and dashboard (?) fitted. This took a couple of hours, most of which was on my hands and knees looking for parts! The F type gunsight flew into orbit as I cut it off the sprue, so had to use the G. That played hide n seek for a while, but once I'd finally nailed it down I cut off the larger screen that it attaches to. I watched this drop out of my fingers, bounce off my catch-all apron, and into the arms of the carpet monster. After more crawling around it finally turned up, so got everything painted up and stuck together before it could make a run for it. 5 colours, two different varnishes and a trimmed down decal.

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Wheels were fun too. The seam down the middle is pretty much inevitable with wheels but the tyre pattern didn't help. I ended up sanding the seam out then re-cutting the whole of the tread by scribing with a JLC razor blade. Mr Colour tyre black was put on first, MrC Neutral grey for the hub caps, and finally the silver edging was brushed with Vallejo. There's a ghost of the seam left in places but to say it was nearly bald after sanding it's turned out better than I expected.

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[topgazza]

Pilot's great. Good solid colours

He looks like an Osmond.

[scottie3158]

Andy,
The pilot looks great mate.

[Guest]

Thanks guys. First picture is a bit washed out with the light but I like the one in the cockpit.

[Jack L]

Pilot and cockpit details look great Andy!

[JR]

My word Andy some very neat work there. That pilot is brill.
Nice to see you had good back up from the Hobby Co.

[Guest]

Thanks chaps. I think the work on the tyres took longer than the pilot, but he seems to be getting the votes :smiling5: Really glad I decided to add him though, creates much more interest than a set of seat belts I think.