A Tale Of Five P-38 Lightnings (Maybe Six)

Started by Carl Smoot · 65 · 3 years ago
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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Like Tom, I like to see all these findings and comparisons to come, my friend @clipperboat.
    Nice sheet metal work on the cowling angles!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Some sanding and the cowlings look much better, Carl.
    Great work.

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    Carl Smoot said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Well that turned out to be not so bad and I am glad I did it. The cowlings look much better now. I just need to restore the panel lines and rivet detail and then they are ready to go. I stuck them on the plan temporarily just to show how they look. This is what I would expect the cowlings to look like from the front. Before they were too long almost like someone's jaw had dropped to the floor.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Great progress, Carl.
    That was indeed the correct approach to modify the cowlings.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Yep, now they look "right", my friend @clipperboat!

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    Carl Smoot said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Got the mesh in today and started working on the cowlings and boom radiators. Small stuff and this is steel so a bit hard to cut. But worth it. Looks the part.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    They are becoming great looking engines, Carl.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Love those small improvements, my friend @clipperboat!

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Oh yes!

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    Carl Smoot said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Thanks Erik @airbum, Spiros @fiveten, and John @johnb. I'm trying out the "@" here to see if it works. Not sure why we do this, but I figured I'd give it a try.

    The P-38 got the engine cowlings added to the booms yesterday after adding in some additional weights. It definitely sets down at the nose now as can be seen in the photograph.

    However, the cowlings had some fit problems with several steps around the perimeter requiring some trim work, sanding , and additional putty work. I'll have to go back and restore the details as well. Only the left engine has been started so far so I can use the right one for a reference for restoring detail.

    I also have to restore some detail on the booms after trying to get rid of ghost seams. I am going to apply an additional coat of primer on the kit to make sure I got those.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Nice steps, Carl!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    The "@" works, Carl @clipperboat
    Quite some work on those cowls.
    The term ghost seams is new to me, what exactly do you mean with 'ghost'.

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Nice progress Carl. The use of mentioning a person (the @ method) will make the site send a message to the person that he/she has been mentioned in order to draw the attention to the topic. I normally use it when I am about to post a new update, or in the new update so that people that has shown an interest in the build can see that an update has been posted. Just like you did in your update.
    Hope this explained it a bit?

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    Carl Smoot said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    Thanks Erik @airbum, Spiros @fiveten, and John @johnb

    John, the term "ghost seam" refers to a seam that that is still slightly visible after seam work (sometimes only by turning the model a certain way in the light) . Typically, it shows up best after application of a coat of paint over the seam area.

    Sorry, I sometimes forget that the English language, especially that spoken in the United States is full of phrases that can be confusing at times.

    So is there any easy way to access these "@" tags. Currently, I have to open up each profile for a user in order to copy their tag. This can get tedious if you want to include everyone who responds.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 2 months ago:

    No easy way for the tags, I'm afraid, my friend @clipperboat!
    Better news is that you get to remember them after a while!