Revell 1/72 sale P-38 Lightning

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

This is a kit I bought at the recent IPMS Syrcon Scale Model Show 2021 back in October 17th of this year. Progress pics forthcoming...

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

Progress made a couple weeks ago...


Bottom wing sections, rear canopy section for the M version assembled...







Engines, nose radar, belly tanks assembled...







Rear radar module behind pilot seat





Armor plate installed...




Braces for engine assembled on...





Belly tanks are on!!

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

More progress made last week. Painted Green Zinc Chromate to all inside gear doors, cockpit, rear glass portion of radar module, and both pilot and rear radarman painted












This what it'll look like with rear radar man behind pilot. Instruction guide says to install him until last before canopy is on.





Next progress I'll be tackling is masking this canopy. Should be fun...

 

[Quaralane]

I hadn't realized there even 'was' a two-seat P-38

Nice progress on this one

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

This kit dated 1976. So far, this kit has been a dream - zero fit issues and zero flash.

 

[the Baron]

Yeah, that is a true classic! I used to admire it in the catalog when I was a kid. But I never bought it, because my favorite scale was 1/48. Your thread makes me wish I had built it!
That's a great pick; that boxing might be from the first run or within a year or two. So the molding should be crisp!
Revell had switched to using images of the completed models on box lids, instead of box art, to show what the actual product looked like (if you weren't a 10-year-old boy, but an adult who built models for a living )
It's interesting that the pilot and radarman are not Revell sculpts, but scaled-down versions of two of Monogram's 1/48 scale figures. The pilot is the one used in the P-40B kit, among others. The radarman is the gunner from the Monogram SBD.
I look forward to seeing your next updates!

 

[the Baron]

I hadn't realized there even 'was' a two-seat P-38

Nice progress on this one

Another two-seat version was the "Droop Snoot". In place of the nose armament, a bombardier's station was installed, with a Norden bombsight. The aircraft served as a pathfinder or lead plane for other fighter-bombers or medium bombers. When the Lightning's bombardier dropped, the rest of the flight would drop its bombs, too.
Revell kitted that as a variant in their 1/32 P-38 kit. That's another one I wish now I had built back then!

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

Progress last night...

Masked the canopy...






Test fitting lower to upper wing section to line up and hold glued cockpit floor in place






Nose machine gun assembly...

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

Progress November 12, 2021

Cowlings installed on twin booms




MGs painted Gunmetal




Rear radar man in place, MGs installed (snapped in place - not glued)




The reasoning why I simply "snapped" MGs panel in place to make it easy to line up the barrel holes on the nose cone. Pics forthcoming tomorrow...




Nose panels closed up!!

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

Morning progress!!

Here's the reason why I chose to "snap' in place the MG panel. It gives me a bit of easy wiggle room to line up each gun barrel to the gun barrel holes in the nose....




Twin booms, tail rudders and nose radome installed!!






Almost ready for paint! Just got a few fiddly bits to glue on.

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

Tail rudder and underwing fiddly bits glued on. Decanted Rustoleum Semi Gloss black and painted the Lightning. Tomorrow, I will shoot a light coat of Rustoleum Satin Canyon Black before decaling. Pics forthcoming...

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

Progress pics as promised...

Satin Canyon Black over Semi Gloss Black. The aircraft, propellers, and gear doors....

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

Last night's progress...

I painted the panels around the superchargers Tamiya Metallic Grey and weathered using overthinned Tamiya transparent blue; followed up with Tamiya flat red mixed in for a darker tone, Superchargers Tamiya Dark Iron and top coat with Mission Model Metallic Burnt Iron,




Struts and wheels installed. I have a feeling this is gonna be a tail sitter. Good thing I saved some scraap clear sprues to make a stand to hold tail up. Instruction guide did not make mention to add weight in nose. :bored:

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

I’m at a standstill because I need to order proper National insignia decals for this girl.

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

Decal session had commenced.... but not without some of the stencils literally disintegrated on me as soon as I tried to slide them off to the kit. I was wondering if they were going to tear and break apart on me since this kit was dated 1976, The following decals is what toes apart on me....

Decals #4 and #5




Decals #6 - all four of them!! :bored:




Surprisingly, none tore up on me for the propellers!




The red stencils for the tail and nose managed to go on almost with zero issues. The stars & bars went on beautifully. Had a bit of a struggle trying to lay them down on the fuselage. Seem a tiny bit too large but those were the correct ones according to the decal instruction guide.










Stars and bars on the wings!!






Gonna let them dry out before I shoot a coat of flat clear to seal it in.

If anyone has any spare #6 decals as shown in the instruction guide, send them my way. The #5 ones, I probably could salvage them by using the red bars from the national insignia set. The #4 decal... I may skip it since they go on the gear door.

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

I'm calling this one done! A bit of subtle weathering around the superchargers using Tamiya weathering set. Here she is in her glory. I know I'm missing some obvious decals but they literally fell apart as I tried to slide them of the backign paper. Oh well. I'll look for spares at some point. The kit was a joy to build considering her age (1976)

 

[the Baron]

Nice finish! I like your weathering, not overdone.

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

Thank you, Baron.

 

[RayRay39.rs]

My favorite WWII plane, Great job.

 

[willc453]

Built this same kit, 20 some years ago, but did the fighter version. Used Microscale decals though. Great kit. Drove truck for 15 years and for awhile, used to run from Reno to Riverside, Calif. Took company truck to Planes of Fame and boy, has that place changed. Was stationed at March AFB 74-75 and went to see their planes. Got lucky in their P-38 was being worked on, with one of the turbochargers sitting on a cart while a mechanic worked on the plane. No problem getting the photos I wanted and there's another P-38 on display at the March AFB museum in case anyone's interested.