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

rtfoe

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Thanks Scottie, now we're onto the next Lightning...

P-38J converted to F-5B photo reconnaissance painted in PRU Blue.

I'm missing the old Monogram box this came in so I'm starting where I left off basically correcting the warp of the wing that made both the booms lop sided and created the tilt of the rear elevator

469402.jpg

You can see the amount of putty slapped onto the left boom

469406.jpg

I added a scratched camera before sealing it with a clear window. The Monogram kit came with the option of 3 types of noses to carry guns or cameras and even a clear nose.

469407.jpg

Dimples had to be filled and with so much sanding I decided to scribe all panel lines. It was said that rivets on these recon planes were sanded smooth for less drag and increased speeds...their only defense as they weren't armed substituting guns with cameras.

469408.jpg

Cheers,
Richard
 

rtfoe

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Hi all,
The monogram kit had a few issues and one of them surprisingly were the wing tips. The P-38s had a distict bevelled tip from the bottom up and Monogram has missed this.

470243.jpg

I sanded and puttied until I got the correct shape of the bevel.

470244.jpg

The joints at the tail where the tail plane was slided into left huge gaps for filling.

470247.jpg

The joints at the booms to the wings didn't fair better as well and care had to be taken to save the detail around it when sanding.

470248.jpg

Both booms had different degrees of gaps caused by the warping.

470249.jpg

Cheers,
Richard
 

JR

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Hi Richard, just a read through from the beginning. Most impressive work on the seat belts, do you fold back the masking tape on to it's self ?
Buckles are top rate, esp the one that has a double press to it.
How on earth you manage all that masking at such a small scale is beyond me, and as for those different colours I can see why I stick to 4 BO ! :smiling:
Will pay more attention for now on .
 

rtfoe

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Hi John, good to have you along. For 1/48 and below I use the masking tape as is with no folding but for 1/24 I had them folded onto one another for thickness. Thanks, the buckles were achieved using a flat nosed plier and tweezers to hold it down.
The masking is with the help of tweezers to hold the pre-cut tape lengths in place before tacking them down. The tweezers I use is the Tamiya bent sharp nosed tweezer. It's been with me for the past twenty years and I can still use it to peel masking off canopies without using a blade or tooth pick to lift up the edge.
These different colors or shades isn't something new and are used now on armor under a new name called modulation.

More to come next so will be hearing from you.

Cheers,
Richard
 

rtfoe

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Hi,
The following is the process of masking to preserve detail surrounding the gap.

I proceeded to mask as close as possible to the gaps using commercial masking tap which would take punishment from the wet sanding and putty.

471378.jpg

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The left boom recieved the most putty as it needed re-shaping. There was adefect in the molding which made that area sunken in. Layers of putty helped build it up.

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The right boom only needed a slivet of putty.

471382.jpg

The putty was applied and pressed in...

471383.jpg

Tape removed after pre-sanding. The remainder was smoothened with Gunze thinner.

471384.jpg

471385.jpg

Cheers,
Richard
 

rtfoe

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Hi again,

I applied primer to the repaired areas to check for faults...

473017.jpg

The booms looked relatively ok and straight...

473018.jpg

The front gun panels which came separately had a noticeable step and gap being rectified here. The cockpit was assembled and painted much earlier. Cockpit walls are painted interior green.

473019.jpg

Engine cowlings rescribed after filler was sanded.

473020.jpg

The joint to the right boom is eliminated.

473021.jpg

Covers were made leading to the engine and back of the wheel well. Surprised Monogram left these areas exposed. Wheel well is painted in Zinc Chromate.

473022.jpg

473023.jpg

Had to sand off raised lettering on the underside of the tail plane. Why on the surface and not on the inside of the part. Thank goodness they don't practice this anymore.

473024.jpg

The fact that a decision to scribe the panel lines after assembling the kit proved challenging. It's always easier to scribe if you can lay the part flat on a work surface.
I proceeded to lightly sand the rivet detail just to show a hint of it. and prepared for scribing.

Cheers,
Richard
 

Jim R

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Hi Richard
You have patience and skill in spades. So many problems to solve. What putty did you use here? Does it still smooth with lacquer thinner even when cured? I find it very difficult to rescribe lines in filler - I get a chipped edge so presumably should use a different filler.
As always - very interesting to follow.
Jim
 

rtfoe

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Hi Jim, :smiling6: I have no choice having a habit of building only one type of each kit and not repeating so I might as well take my time and do it as best I can one problem at a time. At that moment I used Tamiya grey putty and it smoothes with Gunze lacquer thinner. But in this case I built up layer upon layer and sanding in between from rough to fine grit. The last bit I go over with a cotton bud lightly damped in lacquer thinner. Mr Surfacer 1000 sprayed in layers further helps cover tiny blemishes.

Scribing on fillers is always not easy. I find that letting it cure hard will chip less and if you are pressed for time then I use the back end of the scriber and indent the line rather than cut.

I find fine grade A+B putty works as a filler fo me and sands well. Fine cracks will be super glue or Tippex correction fluid. E-7 is another filler I use.

:hugging-face:

Cheers,
Richard
 

yak face

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Youre at the same stage I am richard , blanking off the wheel wells and sorting the dodgy joints on the boom intakes !
 

rtfoe

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The Monogram canopy is a jigsaw puzzle that if done properly the hinged top door even works.

Careful dry fitting showed some areas that needed rectifying and rework.

473445.jpg

I wanted the right window wound down halfway to show the car door like mechanism so it had to have a top sill and the four tabs removed...

473446.jpg

With the tabs removed I secured the front and back canopy pieces and glued the ends

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I did the same to the left window except it would be full up. I glued that in place.

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The tabs were removed and panels added with plastic strip...

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I sanded the brim flat and polished off the tabs...

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Later I added plastic strip to the front canopy joint to the fuselage and filler as well.

475417.jpg

Cheers,
Richard
 

Vaughan

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Richard great work very skillful. Will look great when finished.
 

JR

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As usual your attention to detail is superb. Like the open canopy.
 

rtfoe

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Thank you gentlemen,

I approached the masking of the canopy differently for this and painted it not attached to the fuselage with the usual three steps of the cockpit color then black and then primer. This will give the framework panel a solid appearance...

486355.jpg

I have left the edges in cockpit interior green and also masked off the bulge on top of the door having painted that chrome silver for the rear view mirror...

486356.jpg

I also covered the insides of the airscoop in zinc chromate...

473447.jpg

And drilled a few holes.

473448.jpg

473449.jpg


Cheers,
Richard
 

rtfoe

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Scribing panel lines...haven't done a full one on a completed build before. So I had to have some tools to help with it.
What I should have done was get some new blades for the scriber, it would have saved a lot of headache. Rulers didn't help with the curves, I used Dymo tape for this.

477824.jpg

The flatter surfaces were easier.

477825.jpg

I followed the raised lines and after scribing sliced them off with a curved blade.

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Some scribing created holes where filler was loosened. Care was taken while sanding down the rivets to preserve some screw heads on the engine cowling and wing root here.

477827.jpg

Cheers,
Richard
 

Lee Drennen

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Don’t know how I missed this one but it’s looking great
 

rtfoe

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Thanks guys, Lee, you haven't missed much as there will be a third P-38. Scottie, I don't know but the close up shots make it look very crude. :smiling6:

Ok, seatbelt time... These are in 1/48 scale so buckles need to be seen.

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Standard house masking tape was used, measured and cut into different strips for main belt and straps.

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I used two types of gauge of wire for the buckles...teased them into shape with the help of tweezers and a flat nosed plier.

483140.jpg

I threaded the tape through the buckles like the real thing and glued the ends with CA.

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I mixed up some off white and a dash of green and sprayed a based coat...

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Then I dark washed areas to highlight the straps.

486357.jpg

Painted in the silver for the metal fittings...

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And walah...homemade seatbelts.

486360.jpg

Cheers,
Richard
 
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