Yaks Revell (monogram) P-38M night lightning in 1/48

[papa 695]

Looking very good Tony

[rtfoe]

Yes it’s not the clearest is it ! Its possibly cause I took the pics quickly with my phone and a not very good light source ,plus the transparencies weren’t brilliant on this kit , mainly a result of the moulds being so old , the frame lines were very soft or non existent and the clarity was a bit misty. I’m going to try and give them a coat of Klear last off to see if that improves them a bit. Cheers tony

Oh dear, Tony, I wouldn't try re-coating with future unless its dip and wickering the access with a tissue or kitchen napkin. While wickering try not to touch the clear panels. Hold the frames with tweezers and let the access flow to a corner and let it be absorbed by the tissue. I have seen many airbrush the future or brush paint it on the canopy after installing and it kills the transparency's. The process I just explained is best done before installing/masking or painting.

Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Tony,
If you saw my link on the canopy, I had already done the dip process and was working with transparency's that were already futured. That's why they look so clear. Before that they had fine scratches that made them look blurr and not clear. I took for granted that all followed this process and didn't mention it.
The annoying thing about this is you either keep the masking on throughout the process of painting the whole aircraft including the varnishing from gloss to matt and during decalling which is harrowing for me as I don't know if I had let any paint creep under the masking so I usually remove the mask to check and protect it again just masking the whole canopy area...the crazy things we do. :smiling2:

Cheers,
Richard

[yak face]

This build is now at the frustrating stage where its almost complete but the last few bits seem to be taking ages. I’ve got the undercarriage doors fitted and now have the retraction jacks to make and add. I’ve done the two for the nosewheel leg using some thin telephone wire , just cutting the plastic sleeve off and leaving the wire sticking out gives a perfect hydraulic jack . These will obviously be painted after fitting. The telephone wire is really useful stuff if you can get hold of any ,it’s the one with a white outer sheath and four wires inside ,blue ,red,white and I think orange It’s great for all sorts of things as the inner wire is a solid copper one so bends nicely but is also strong enough to use for straight bits too. Anyways back to the build , I’ve also been tackling the polished panels on the engine nacelle inner faces. The later P-38’s had an oval , mirror finish polished section on the nacelle inners so the pilot could look and see if the nosewheel leg was down and locked . To tackle this I used some mirror finish Christmas wrapping adhesive tape , stuck to a piece of shiny backing paper , folded it and cut out an oval shape ( the fold was so they were both the same instead of trying to cut two identical shapes) After a touch of tidying up the shape they were stuck on .

[Jim R]

Hi Tony
That use of the telephone wire is really clever and effective. Neat way to make the mirrors as well :thumb2: The end is in sight but all the itty-bitty last bits do take time.
Jim

[rtfoe]

Not much more to go Tony. :thumb2:

Cheers,
Richard

[yak face]

I found a few pictures of this actual aircraft while flicking through a book and saw that this airframe had a landing light on the nosewheel leg. I added this using a flat faced rhinestone and used a bit of 5 amp fuse wire for the cable. The pics also showed the cockpits with both canopies opened which looks better than just one open as the model allows. The other thing is the poor optical clarity of the rear section which was annoying me so I took a deep breath and prised it off. The problem now was that the front of this section also included the dividing rail between the two cockpits so I had to make a new one from plastic strip bent to suit. The front of the now separate rear section was sanded to remove the moulded on rail. I had to make a hinge for the rear section and detailed up the hinge on the pilots top section with a couple of tiny struts made from copper wire. The rear canopy was polished up as best as it would allow - it’s still not brilliant but hey ho. I’ve attached the gun bay cover and fitted a stay using thin guitar string and the tyres have had a wash of light dirt to show the tread pattern. The drop tanks, pitot, aerial and rocket trees have also been fitted and it’s now done . All that’s left is to take some better photos for a completed thread . Thanks to anyone who’s been following , it’s been a long job cheers tony

[rtfoe]

Godd finish at the chequered flag Tony. The journey was long and the kit had its challenges but you've given it life. Looking forward to the latest piccies with rockets and all.

Cheers,
Richard

[papa 695]

That's looking great Tony

[flyjoe180]

Awesome work Tony, I'll look for the glamour photos in the finished section