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Chris Wallace
14 articles

Tamiya 1/48 P-38 LightningMiss Virgina

June 4, 2021 · in Aviation · · 11 · 2.2K

Wow - what a fantastic model. It went together like butter and it was such a fun build. I was looking forward to a decent Lightning in this scale and I had to do it as Rex Barber's Miss Virgina. There were no build issues and this was the first time I attempted to use chipping fluid on the model. I was moderately successful. I left the chipping fluid on too long before chipping but the paint did eventually chip.

Except for the master barrels, this was an out of box build. Paint was all acrylics that I painted over a mottled black base. For anyone interested, I ended up doing a couple blog posts about this model. The first one discusses the significance of Miss Virgina and Rex Barber: http://modelairplanemaker.com/2019/08/09/tamiyas-1-48-p-38-lightning-and-significance-of-miss-virginia/

The second one is a build article (Spoiler: I really liked this model): http://modelairplanemaker.com/2020/10/04/1-48-tamiya-p-38-lightning-my-miss-virginia/

I also did two videos using this model. The first one is about finishing cockpits: https://youtu.be/dqpCPQ8RBS4

The second one is about staining exhausts: https://youtu.be/f8-Eq-70i2s

Reader reactions:
16  Awesome

4 additional images. Click to enlarge.


11 responses

  1. Really nice, Chris (@modelairplanemaker). I like the OD paint scheme a lot better than natural metal.

  2. Mine's still in progress, but it really is about the best model kit I've ever seen. I think it started with Tamiya's P-47. That was the harbinger of the future. The new Spitfire, Ki-61, Il-2, F-14... all works of art. Can't wait to see their new F-4.

  3. Nice job. Love the paint job.

  4. Excellent model, Chris!
    Love the paint job!

  5. Great result, Chris.
    Build this one myself December last year and I can confirm thast the fit of this kit is indeed perfect. Tamiya did a wonderful job on this.

  6. Love the paint work (what I can see - if you could brighten the photos in your graphics program it would be a huge help). You're right about this being a very good kit. I think a modeler would have to actually plan on how to screw things up in order to screw things up.

    Nice work.

  7. Very nice Chris! - the OD scheme looks great!

  8. Great looking "38.

  9. Beautiful looking P-38 Chris, and the paint job is outstanding. So I understand you really liked this kit, guess I'll have to pull mine out of the stash and get started.

  10. Looks great - those OD schemes are hard to make visually interesting, but the paint work looks great on this.

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