Call me crazy, but I got a wild burr to build P-38's when the news of the new Tamiya P-38F/G kit was announced. I'll be buying one as soon as I can. In the meantime I had three other P-38 kits in my small stash. The venerable Monogram kit, an Academy P-38 combo kit, and the Hobby Boss.

The plan is to build five (or six) different versions of the Lightning simultaneously (or nearly so) using these kits and an additional P-38E kit from Academy which I acquired. And as I mentioned the Tamiya kit when it becomes available. I purchased a cheap second copy of the Monogram kit for parts to improve the worst features on the Hobby Boss kit. As for the sixth kit, well, here's hooping that Tamiya releases a later version down the road.

Using the kits at hand, I will be accomplishing the following.

1. Academy P-38J or L built from the combo kit with natural metal finish. Aires cockpit
2. Hobby Boss kit converted to a P-38M Nightfigther using parts from the spare Monogram kit and some "imagineering". True Details cockpit
3. The first Monogram kit built as a Droop Snoot with Olive Drab finish. Imagineering will be involved here as well. Scratchbuild and dress up kit cockpit.
4. Academy P-38E kit built as an early version of the photo recon bird used by the RAAF. Finished in RAAF camouflage. Aires cockpit.
5. The Tamiya P-38F/G built as is possible into an H depending upon which scheme I choose.
6. Likely to be later but hopefully a second Tamiya P-38 (later version ), built as a late version photo recon bird with the Haze Blue paint

I am not going to make any promises to how quickly this will occur because I have a much bigger project going on (building a wooden cabin cruiser) that has priority. But modeling will also occupy some of my time so I will endeavor to make progress on these kits.

Here's some shots so far. Not much yet, but a good start. Keep in mind my use of the word "imagineering" when viewing these pictures. I am trying to give the impression of detail, not make a scale replica. 🙂

Very ambitious and interesting. Looking forward to following your quest. You didn't say if your wooden cabin cruiser was a model or 1:1 scale. Both would be a big project, but one would be a BIG project.

A little movement on this. I have been working on a Hawk 75 for awhile and have gotten back into this kit as I get closer to finishing the Hawk. For the P-38 project, I am going to focus just on the Hobby Boss kit for now. I want to get my airbrushing down a bit more before taking on the other P-38s.

I still also have my big project going (the wooden cabin cruiser) which takes up most of my time. In case anyone is interested, I've include a photo of it.

Rather and ambitious project Carl, along with the boat. Time management in getting to tinker with each project as Louis himself with his cars and trucks manages very well to get things along. Seeing the Hobby Boss P-38 kit for the first time shows how much different their approach is having the fuselage in upper and lower halves with the booms moulded into the wings. The "M" Night Lightning mod looks great so far. Working on the Tam P-38F and Hase P-38J at this moment, So doing multiple build on a single variant is something I know as I get my miniature version of Louis's iron works. Also a pair of Invaders are also on the bench, a Monogram and ICM. On board to see these through. Cool stuff

Great P38, Carl.
Also that cruiser is looking fantastic.
Can imagen that it consumes most of your time.

Thanks Greg, Chuck, Spiros, John, and Louis. The boat project is a 9 year labor of love. Rather than go off subject here in IModeler, I would direct you to ClipperModeling.com.

Regarding the HobbyBoss P-38, I cannot tell you yet how it builds up other than the fit of the upper and lower halves seems good. There are some issues with the kit regarding shape. The lower cowlings are squared off when they should be more rounded. There is no wash out of the wing tips, and I replaced the cockpit with a True Details cockpit. The kit cockpit is okay, but I had the resin AM parts so decided to use them on this kit.

The nose guns are molded into the nose so aftermarket versions might be desirable. Wheel well detail is so so. There was a pretty good write up by Lynn Ritger on Hyperscale a few years ago. I do think it will turn out nice when finished and I do like the approach that Hobby Boss used for the plane.

This build is on the slow burner at the moment because I want to finish the Hawk 75 and Spitfire kits first.

Great 'tiny' modifications I have to say, Carl.
Those are really a nice addition, well done.

Thanks Spiros and John. Back in my younger days, before the advent of aftermarket cockpits and detail parts, I built up several kits trying my hand at making cockpits from scratch. I was pleased with the outcome of those efforts at the time although the painting of the kits left something to be desired.

But the important thing it did for me was gave me the confidence to see model kits as a canvas to be improved. I certainly enjoy building a nicely detailed wunderkit like we have today, but there's also quite a bit of satisfaction in being able to look at models as a means to an end (i.e. acquiring a sample of an aircraft).