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

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
Looks excellent. As others have said your work is always very neat and organized. The varied shades of silver panels was worth doing - really does add interest. I do like the masking worm on the fuel tank - clever.
Jim

[rtfoe]

Hi Jim, thanks. The neat and organised is because it's done in stages and not one go. More prep before applying and the secret is all the mess is on the outer fringes of the image frame. :tears-of-joy:

Got all the decals on and had problems with the 7F for the airscoops...











So I printed the 7F on type writing paper and pasted with white glue onto masking tape...



With it pasted on I cut the letters out making sure that the blade was deep enough to cut the masking tape itself sought of like a trace cut...



Meanwhile I masked off the airscoop so that I only work on a specific spot.



Removing the typewriting paper revealing the cut masking tape...



I proceed to paint where the letters fall on the airscoop black...





I paste the cut letters on and spray the silver body color...



The finish after removing all masking tape.





Cheers,
Richard

[scottie3158]

Great job with the stencils Richard. The build looks really good with the colours and decals added.

[Guest]

Masterful stencil work Richard. A wonderful build all round.

[rtfoe]

Thanks Peter and Scottie...reversed stencilling :smiling2:

Nothing like an added dark wash to the engraved line to bring out the panels even more.









So this little fellas done...next up will be the P-38J converted to F-5B photo reconnaissance painted in PRU Blue.

Cheers,
Richard

[scottie3158]

Richard,
the panel wash has worked well and finished it off very nicely.

[rtfoe]

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



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



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.



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.



Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

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.



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



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



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.



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



Cheers,
Richard

[Guest]

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]

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]

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.







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.





The right boom only needed a slivet of putty.



The putty was applied and pressed in...



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





Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Hi again,

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



The booms looked relatively ok and straight...



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.



Engine cowlings rescribed after filler was sanded.



The joint to the right boom is eliminated.



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.





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.



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]

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]

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]

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