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Tom Cleaver
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And now the news

February 2, 2022 · in News · · 29 · 2K

has announced a P-38J, for release "later this year."

Reader reactions:
15  Awesome

29 responses

  1. I was just wondering about this the other day... Glad they're actually getting this one to the table sooner rather than later. With as well as their early variant sold, this is an easy win for them. Hats off, and happy building...They settled for the obviously popular "ace" options for the kit decals, but the aftermarket has decal variety for the masses!

    For the source: https://tamiyaannouncements.com/featured-releases-early-2022/#staticmodel

  2. Have you seen the hysteria at HS about this?

  3. Great that Tamiya is going to release it, Tom.

  4. Excellent! Now I hope we'll see a Kawasaki Ki-100 before too long.

  5. A great release by Tamiya.
    Likely it will build as nice as their current Lightning.

  6. Even though I have the old Hasegawa kit in the stash, I just might make this one of the few acquisitions of the year. Can’t say I wasn’t expecting Tamiya-san to continue the path of that begun with the F/G/H version, but given their previous track record of going sideways, this version coming out wasn’t a given fact.

  7. Can't wait for this! I love that the sheet has 3 top aces on it. The hardest part will be deciding which one to build.

  8. Do I hear any votes for them to do this in 1/32nd. Here is one!

  9. It will be interesting to see if this new version is a stand alone model that doesn't use any parts from the older versions of the E,F, G. No magnets would be of interest too.

    • of course it's not a "stand alone" model! Why do you think the outer wing leading edge was designed the way it was? Why the radiator nacelles are designed as they are? why the front ends of the booms were designed as they are? That's how I knew they would do this.

      • Good points. I wonder how Tamiya will address the bulges for the fuel pump covers underneath the wing near the pilots nacelle (wing section) or the dive brakes in the L model vs J model.

        This is esoteric and bordering on what you'd fined on other sites. However, given Tamiya's proclivity to get things right and they do make kits that are designed for the long term sales . . . hope that the inserts are no where near what Hasegawa does with some of their kits.

        My guess is that these kits will be closer to a Franklin. It seems that all the newer 1/48 scale releases have gone up in price the past few years. Your going to be paying for that Tamiya quality.

  10. Thanks, TC. P-38's...all good.

  11. Nice to hear Tom, but was expected, just didn't realize it would be that soon. And just when I wanted to reduce my stash.

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