1/32 P-38L "Kicked Up A Notch". Jan 15/16: FINISHED!

[Loic]

I love to see P-38 builds !

[scvrobeson]

Chuck,

Welcome to LSP, I really look forward to this build. I've been following your builds on ARC since you started there, it's great that you've made the jump over here as well.

 

 

I'm sure this one will turn into another masterpiece.

 

 

 

 

Matt 

[chuck540z3]

Thank you everyone for the very warm welcome.  I realize that many of you are P-38 experts to some degree, so I'd appreciate any technical input you can provide along the way.  As usual at the start of my builds, I know almost nothing about the P-38, other than it looks beautiful and I have to have one, so I'll need all the help I can get!

 

Cheers,

 

Chuck

[dmthamade]

Hello Chuck, long time no talk. Looking forward to the Lightning build. Great you decided to do a build over here at LSP.

 

Don

[Out2gtcha]

Great start!

 

 

Thank you everyone for the very warm welcome.  I realize that many of you are P-38 experts to some degree, so I'd appreciate any technical input you can provide along the way.  As usual at the start of my builds, I know almost nothing about the P-38, other than it looks beautiful and I have to have one, so I'll need all the help I can get!

 

Cheers,

 

Chuck

 

 

Our own Jerry Rutman is one of the best of those..............

[Steve Eagle]

I can attest to the improvement in the shape of the props that Jerry did (Now GMA).  He also did an interior that was nice then.  Be very careful with the wing and nacelle joints. I didn't add any additional spars to the wings for the -J build and this joint seemed to pop open easily due to flexing.  Adding a spar to bridge from the inner to outer upper wing is what is needed, buy tricky to do. Had tried to build a -J that ended up s#$t-canned because of my inabilities to correct this.  Built an -H that turned out much better.

[chuck540z3]

I can attest to the improvement in the shape of the props that Jerry did (Now GMA).  He also did an interior that was nice then.  Be very careful with the wing and nacelle joints. I didn't add any additional spars to the wings for the -J build and this joint seemed to pop open easily due to flexing.  Adding a spar to bridge from the inner to outer upper wing is what is needed, buy tricky to do. Had tried to build a -J that ended up s#$t-canned because of my inabilities to correct this.  Built an -H that turned out much better.

 

Thanks for the tips!  Is GMA the same as Grey Matters Figures?  I have the Grey Matters Figures props already.  Also, why exactly do the wings need to be stiffened, which I've seen a few times in other builds of this kit?  Is it just the stress of the nacelle joins or are there warping and alignment issues?

 

 

I've dug into the kit a bit more last night and I have found that I really have my work cut out for me!  This is going to be very tricky, but I'm up for the challenge.  I made up the engines with half the parts since they will never be seen, which only serve to provide the vent and screening under the prop and to hold the prop itself- at least as far as I can tell.  With the engines dry fitted into the nacelle, I detect alignment problems with the engine holding the prop a bit too low, leaving a lip at the top which looks wrong.  I've already decided to install the engine into the lower vents at the last minute when everything is glued into the nacelle, so that I can tilt the engine a bit upwards and correct the alignment issue.  Has anybody else had this problem before?  I've checked a few completed builds of this kit and some have it and some don't.

 

Thanks,

 

Chuck

[Guest]

Chuck, I would use as many parts front of the main gear. It's a real tail sitter. If your going to close up the guns, leave the guns out and us that area for nose weight , you'll need it......Harv

[chuck540z3]

Chuck, I would use as many parts front of the main gear. It's a real tail sitter. If your going to close up the guns, leave the guns out and us that area for nose weight , you'll need it......Harv

 

Thanks Harv.  To tell you the truth, I filled the engines with lead, so weight will not be a problem.  If things work out I should have some pics up in the next day or so.

 

Cheers!

[chuck540z3]

Nov 27/14

Note:

I plan on showing just about every step of this build.  Sometimes, like today, the update will be pretty straight forward and maybe a bit boring with nothing very novel to show.  I'm doing this because I hope to have a good step by step guide to put this particular kit together one day, so every step is important- and it helps me remember what the heck I did a year from now when I finally finish!

Not really knowing where to start this project, I decided to go to the first page of the instructions.  What a concept!  Anyway, the first page shows how to put the two engines together.  Although I'm no expert on the Allison engines, they look pretty darn good and they have lots of tiny parts.  Unfortunately, I'm not showing mine because :

1)    There are no removable panels, so the engines are buried unless you do tons of work to expose them.

2)    Exposing them means open panels and I want to show the sleek lines of this bird without clutter.

3)    I spent months detailing my 1/32 Tamiya P-51D engine and I haven't seen it since.

4)    I just spent 20 months on my last Trumpeter build and I wouldn't mind a bit of break.

5)    The cockpit and wheel wells are going to be super detailed anyway.

If you're not going to display the engines, their only use is to hold the props and lower cooling ducts, so you don't need more than about 9 parts per engine.  Here's what I came up with as a “base caseâ€.  The composite part on the left is the lower ducting, which also serves as a cradle to hold the engine (right) on top.  All you'll be able to see after the model is finished is the front duct.





The lower duct comes with a brass screen in the kit, which I painted Alclad Steel so that it would show up against the black I painted the interior of the duct and lower part of the engine, after filling gaps and cleaning the parts up.  Normally you might glue these two main parts together now, but I strongly suggest you wait.





With the engine/duct combo dry fitted into one of the nacelles, you can barely see the metal screen behind it with the face plate taped on.  If you don't paint the interior black, you could probably see the plastic parts and seams behind it.   With the kit prop dry fitted on, however, you can see a problem at the top….






For at least this kit and what I've done so far, there's a gap at the top of the prop base .  This is how things would look if I had just glued it in as is.







Fixing this problem is easy as long as it hasn't been glued in yet, so I will not install the engine until the nacelles, landing gear well and lower ducting have been glued together.  Slipping the engine in from behind later, I can tilt it up a degree or two and get a much more flush fit.

BTW, I will be slipping in brass tubing into those oval cutouts just behind the prop, to replace the engine kit parts that would normally go there.  The tubing looks way better and I don't have to fiddle with thin plastic with no detail.







I checked some of the other builds of this kit to see if the props drooped a bit, and I found it on many, but not all of them.  Maybe the other modelers got lucky, I was unlucky or maybe the props were glued into place once they found out there was a sagging prop problem.  Who knows!  All I know is that I have it and I can fix it early before it's a much bigger problem at the end of the build.



I left the top of the engine open for a reason.  Now I can fill each engine with “Pencil Lead†I bought at a sporting goods store, to attain the 60 grams (~ 2 oz.) of weight required to keep this model from being a tail sitter.  I'll likely add a bit to the nose too, because I won't be exposing the gun bay either.







For the next step, I plan to re-scribe every panel line and re-punch every rivet on all the major pieces, then clean them all up, because most of the pieces are full of molding flaws that are driving me CRAZY!   This could take a while, so thanks in advance for your patience.


Cheers,
Chuck

[Guest]

As far as props drooping, a lot of these kits (if not all) the engines don't sit level. IIRC they sit low so prop shaft is a bit low. On mine, I just cut them off and glue the prop spinner to the nausill(?) And about nose wieght, if you haven't completed the engins yet, fill them with shot for more ballast.........Harv

[chuck540z3]

As far as props drooping, a lot of these kits (if not all) the engines don't sit level. IIRC they sit low so prop shaft is a bit low. On mine, I just cut them off and glue the prop spinner to the nausill(?) And about nose wieght, if you haven't completed the engins yet, fill them with shot for more ballast.........Harv

 

 

Thanks Harv.  I haven't finished filling the engines, which I'll do much later.  I kind of like this "Pencil Lead" better than shot because I don't have to worry about shot getting all over the place.  The other good thing about it, is that I can slip in chunks to the nose if I need a bit more, without the need for containment.  I just add a bit of CA glue and I'm done.

[Guest]

Chuck, I was going to post a link to my P-38M build, but I cant find it. It was started aroundJan 2010. I stopped posting in April of this year to join the Viet Nam group build.There is a lot of info that can answer a few of your questions.......Harv

 

I think I've found it........http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=27591&hl=   It is long.....Harv

Edited November 27, 2014 by Guest

[Uncarina]

Chuck,

 

Thanks again for sharing your build! I always learn something, and the manner in which you present your builds is always fun to follow!

 

Cheers, Tom

[Kagemusha]

Great to see you posting this build on here Chuck, Aeroclub should have some pewter, lead-free, metal u/c available soon, be a better option than the SAC gear.