1/48 P38 Academy

[shogunvn]

Hi everyone

I am from Vietnam. This is my first post in this forum. I would like to present an old kit of P38 from Academy. From my point of view, put aside the correctness of the kit, which I don't really care, it is acceptable. It is cheap, easy to build and the detail is pretty much ok too me. BUT, (yes, there is always a big "but), the decal is a true horror. No matter how much care I put, the decal kept disintegrated. I had to play an unwanted puzzle . In the end, after all of my horrors, the result is pretty much acceptable. Please have a look.

 

[AlanG]

We;come to the forum Shogunvn.

The P-38 looks great and don't worry about the decals. I have experienced the Academy decal problems.......twice

 

[-tmm-]

Looks good to me. I built the same kit, but bought custom decals for it so luckily didnt encounter the same problems.

 

[shogunvn]

Looks good to me. I built the same kit, but bought custom decals for it so luckily didnt encounter the same problems.

I am glad that it looks good. . Living in Vietnam, you don't have the priviledge of buying custom decals. A custom decals probably costs me another kit. You know what I mean, right?

 

[T. van Vuuren]

Very nicely done ! I know the P-38 is a difficult subject to get right. You have just the right amount of staining/weathering on it.

I have heard about people having problems with Academy decasls. but of the Academy kits I have done to date not one had this hassle.Maybe I am just lucky.

Theuns

 

[andyrobs]

Hello mate welcome to the forums!!! Thats a great build, I think in some ways the disintergrated decals add to the weathered/worn look!!!!

Andrew

 

[phalinmegob]

hello, that looks brilliant. nice job

 

[Gern]

I like that very much!

Gern

 

[shogunvn]

Thank you very much for your comments. I haven't built any new Academy kit. From what I heard, they fixed the decal problem by using Catograf decal. I will try some new Academy sometimes.

 

[PBrad]

Hello and welcome to the site. I am new too and currently working on a 1/35th Tamiya M60A1. Your model looks great, I hope mine turns out just as nice.

 

[wanna_be_aviator]

Very nice build! I've been dealing with Academy kits lately and the decals usually leave a lot to desire. My problem is mainly silvering, but I've been handling it with Klear/Future and the results are much better.

 

[shogunvn]

Dealing with the silvering problem of ACA decal is a real pain. One solution that I read from a book is spray a very thin coat of light gray over it. It will create fading effect and reduce the silvering significantly. I applied this to my P38 and the result was quite acceptable.