Tamiya 1/48 scale P-38F-1-LO
I built the kit mostly OOB, but added an Ultracast resin seat with molded seat belts, and turned brass gun barrels from Master Model. The latter were really necessary because Tamiya only provides decals to represent the cooling holes in the gun barrel jackets — just about the only disappointing feature of the kit. I also added a small attachment pin for the radio antenna wire at the rear of the cockpit, scratchbuilt the small through-canopy insulator, and used a bit of stretched sprue for the short connecting wire from the main antenna. The antenna wires themselves are invisible mending thread (nylon monofilament) with short lengths of Polyimide micro tubing for springs and insulators.
Paints are Mr. Color acrylic lacquers, with various Alclad metallics for the superchargers, landing gear and gear bays. For the top olive drab I used Mr. Color OD 1 lightly faded with highly thinned mist coats of Mr. Color OD 34087. For the Neutral Gray lower surfaces, I found Mr. Color Dark Gull Grey 36231 an almost perfect match to the chip in Archer's USAAF book (Monogram). The lead staining on the superchargers is Light Gull Gray misted on with the airbrush. The blue for the spinners is Model Master enamel True Blue lightened with a bit of white to match the decal stripes on the booms.
Decals are from an excellent Fundekals sheet, with the kit decals used only for stencils. Markings are for a plane flown by Capt. Robert Faurot, 39th FS, 34th FG, Port Moresby, New Guinea, February 1943.
Tamiya continues to outdo itself with each new kit the company releases. This one is absolutely superb in nearly every respect. Although it is a complex build with a fair number of small parts that could even be described as “fiddly,” its ingenious and exacting engineering makes basic alignment foolproof and attachment of items like landing gear doors positive and strong, while minimizing the number of seams to be filled. I have already purchased their follow-up P-38J and look forward to building it as well.
This is probably the best model produced by anyone. I loved building mine and I also bought a couple J's, H's and gave another F/G in the stash. Really great work and I look forward to seeing your J when she's finished!
Thank you Frederick. I agree — it's a really fabulous kit.
Your Lightning turned out great. I loved building mine (F and J.)
Excellent result, Pip!
Thanks as always, Spiros!
Really great looking Lightning, Pip @seawinder
This kit is indeed a masterpiece from Tamiya, a real pleasure to built.
Thank you John!
10/10 on this one Pip @seawinder
Great paintwork and exhaust staining. You really got the look of it right. I love the scheme you chose as well!
Thank you David, much appreciated.
A real beauty, Pip! Well done.
Perfect Pip. Another well-done build & paint job.
I second all the comments above. The build, paint and decal application are all excellent. I was hoping to see something more of a topside view in order to get a look at the superchargers and the associated staining around them. I used the Alclad paints on my Academy/Minicraft P-38J, then worked in various weathering powders. Getting back to your post, it is impressive work and the photography is very dramatic.
Thanks Russell! Sorry I didn't get a more birds eye view. I generally set my camera at scale eye level for most shots and do a few from slightly above. I used Alclad Stainless Steel for the base color of the superchargers and brought them down with mist coats of Hot Metal Carbon and Burnt Iron. Looking back at my build notes, I actually used (Model Master enamel) Camouflage Gray 36622 for the lead staining. It took a number of tries to get enough but not too much staining. I was after a modest amount since the rest of the plane was only slightly weathered (the way I generally like to do my models—I'm not much into Spanish).
Very nice build!
Lovely Lightning Pip (@seawinder). And you're right, it is an excellent kit that I have still yet to build. It came out but I already had several Academy, Hobby Boss, and Monogram Lightnings and wanted to get them built first. But my F and J models are waiting patiently .
Thanks, Carl! Having struggled through two Hasegawa P-38 builds and dabbling at one Academy, I'd say do one of your Tamiyas first and save yourself the aggravation. It's just in a completely different universe.
Sweet build of a very nice kit!
Nice work, Pip! I like your paint choices.
Excellent piece of work. 👍
G’day Pip (@seawinder),
This is a lovely build.
You wouldn’t beleive it, but I am reading Michael Claringbould’s “Pacific Adversaries V3” which tells the story of this aircraft.
Faurot claimed the first Pacific kill for the P-38 when he overshot his target and his bomb landed in the bay just as a flight of Zeros were taking off. His claim was that one of the Zeros flew through the resulting geyser and was flipped over and crashed.
The claim was denied because General Kennedy wanted a gun kill, not a freak accident, to be the first kill for the new (to the Pacific) P-38s.
Japanese sources show that no Zeros were lost.
Again, a great build.
Liked!
Thank you Michael for your comments and for sharing Faurot's story.