P-38M Night Lightning 1/48 Academy

[Guest]

Next on the bench and the kit looks pretty clean as far as flash and ejector pins go. The actual 'rubber' tires are a nice touch and the panel lines are pretty sharp. On to the start the office as usual .The office is ready to instal,not a very detailed affair but much wo'nt be seen once its entombed in the fuse anyway

The booms are ready to mate up to the pod, the gear bay design does'nt fit well and leaves a super thick wall. I've sanded it down some but its still way thick. Also took the time to open the air scoops up and thin down the leading edges

[Guest]

The seams have all been filled and sanded. The fit was pretty good for the most part,certainly have had worse to deal with in other kits. Also added some lead shot in the nose so hopefully it wo'nt be a tail sitter.

[Guest]

Looking good mate.

[papa 695]

I'd have saved this for the twin boom build starting next month but looking very good Trey

[Guest]

Very nice

:smile:

[Guest]

Thanks Polux and Rowan,Ian not to worry this is a paint test mule for the 2 ,thats right 2 black twin boom beauties I've got in the stash for that group build

Canopy masked and some final tweaks and its ready for some preshading

For the preshade a thinned blue followed by a really thinned red. This is really more of a tint job than preshading

Next I decided to experiment with a blue powdered pearl added over the blue/red 'preshade'. I'm hoping after a thinned application of black it will give some background deviation and prevent a monochromatic finish.

Thinned black

After wet sanding with 1500

I then went with a Urethane automotive clear thinned 20% with reducer and a few drops of black

[yak face]

OOH! nice! It looks great trey , is it going to be a matt or satin/gloss final finish?

[papa 695]

Hi Trey a totaly different approach to pre shadeing to what i've seen so far and it looking good, and the auto clear seems to give it a metalic black look. Looking good will keep watching this one. I should have known you would not have just built this one so close to a twin boom GB

[Guest]

Tony thanks,its going to have multiple gloss levels overall but mostly a semi gloss. Ian thanks !

[colin m]

Nice job, I've never seen one like this before. Did the experimental pre-shading work ? I know it's diffiuclt to see this sort of thing in pictures.

Colin M..

[mossiepilot]

Thats looking the biz Trey. The pre-shading seems to have worked a treat, giving the black a bluey tint at the edges of the panels.

Great job so far mate. By the way is that a custom built painting stand, I had to use tooth picks stuck into expanded polystyrene block.

Tony.

[Guest]

Colin thanks and yes the preshade/tint experiment worked just right. I know its hard to see in pics but in person the effect breaks up the black nicely

Tony thanks ,the stand is off the shelf Tamiya think it set me back $20

I've varied the sheen in the dullcote and streaked the finish,also used some pastel for the exhaust staining then dullcoted over it.

[Guest]

Finished pics here

http://www.scale-models.co.uk/planes/16892-p-38m-night-lightning-1-48-academy-completed.html