Adrian A. Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Hi Guy's, I guess since I voted for the Aircraft of the Aces category, I reckon I should enter. I haven't enter a Group Build in a while, so I hope this helps motivate me. I'll be trying to work the big Lightning in between finishing up my Airfix Mustang. This will be strickly an OOB build for me. I've already sold off most of my AM bits, but it's really a time thing for me. The more fiddley bits it has the longer it'll take & I really, really just want to build it. I haven't decided on a scheme just yet. I have some old Revell 'Marge' decals but I'm not too sure if I want to use them - if & when I do 'Marge', I'd like to use the Pyn-Up Decals - which I ain't got. Anyway, This is it - it takes up my whole work space! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian A. Posted September 17, 2009 Author Share Posted September 17, 2009 I had originally started a little painting on a previous Group build on this bird, but it falls wwaaayyyy below the 25% mark. I'm hoping to just get back in the swing of things with this build & enjoy it. The Lightning is my all time favorite warbird but I've rarely built it. And I've been eyeing this Trumpeter kit for a while now. Not much started at all, so I'm basically starting at the beginning with it. BTW, if anyone has a spare set of Revell P-38 props, let me know how much you want for them. I sure don't want to use the Trumpy props. I'll have more pics by the weekend I hope. Adrian A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Oh, great a P-38! Love those planes! Good choice Adrian! Cheers, Håkan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theseeker Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 I have this kit in the stash with every A/M item available. This is a big undertaking and I wish you luck. If you decide on "Marge," you will have to make it a J model. Rocky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Great subject Adrian! I'm really loving the variety of builds and kits popping up in this GB already, and here's another one to look forward to. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian A. Posted September 18, 2009 Author Share Posted September 18, 2009 Thanks Hakan, the Lightning has always been my favorite, with the Mustang a real close second. I just wish they weren't so difficult to build. (or maybe I should wish I was a better modeler?) I know what you mean about all the AM stuff for this bird Rocky, I had a good deal of it in my stash, but put all of it except the kit on ebay this week. As much as I hated to do it, I needed the money for another venture. I'll get it all back in spades before it's all over tho. As for doing 'Marge' and converting the Lightning into a J - I'm not sure yet. I know a lot of what needs to be done from a few of the other builds on here that I bookmarked. I don't know how far I want to go with it tho. Thanks Kev, I hope I can keep it up this time. I started off the night by bouncing back & forth from my 1/24 Mustang to this build. While the work on the Mustang was drying, I pulled out the engines & nose & taped them up in preparation for weighting them. I also put a styrene divider to keep the lead & glue from getting in the way of the gunports in the nose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian A. Posted September 18, 2009 Author Share Posted September 18, 2009 Next, I took some lead fishing weights, crimped them tight and stacked them in the engines. I also put one large one to fill the point in the nose before I started with the glue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian A. Posted September 18, 2009 Author Share Posted September 18, 2009 I filled in the areas in both with glue (Elmers Carpenters glue was as close to white glue as I had). I added more weights & glue until each was full. The engines still had room, but I wanted to make sure there were no problems with the manifolds so, I got it close & left it alone. I don't know how much weight wise it was but I'll see what happens when I get farther along if I need to add more weight. I gotta tell ya tho, them engines are some pretty heavy little suckers & the nose ain't no slouch either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian A. Posted September 18, 2009 Author Share Posted September 18, 2009 Last pic for the night. I'll let these set for a day or so then take the tape off & clean up the excess glue. That's why I went with the Elmers glue - easy to clean up after it dries. Thanks for looking in! Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 Good start Adrian! I guess this bird need some weight to sit right! Cheers, Håkan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theseeker Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 Adrian, Nice tips on the weights! LMK how much weight you used. Rocky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian A. Posted September 19, 2009 Author Share Posted September 19, 2009 Hakan, yes this bird needs some weight to keep the nose down. On one of the P-38 builds that I have bookmarked mentions that it's equivalent to 24 Canadian pennies. I'll have to check which one. Rocky, I don't have a scale to tell you the weights but I used 6 of the 8mm & 10 of the 4mm lead weights in each engine & 2 8mm & 10 4mm weights in the nose. Those weights were not enough to equal the 24 pennies so I added 3 more 8mm weights to each engine. My 'high tech' method to determine if the parts equaled the pennies was a metal ruler taped to a pencil in the middle & viola instant seesaw. Good enough to see if the engines/nose equaled or exceeded the penny weight. I spent a couple of hours working on the engines last night. I have to say that the engines for the P-38 are the best scale engines that I have built to date. I know it's been mentioned in other P-38 threads but it's really a shame Trumpeter didn't think of putting an open panel or two to view the engine. I'm not sure I want to start cutting to open up any panels tho. This first pic is what I did to reload some more weights in the engines. I used the kit manifold piece as a guide to getting the other 3 8mm weights in where they would not interfere with assembly of the rest of the engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian A. Posted September 19, 2009 Author Share Posted September 19, 2009 This is the first of the two engines. I somehow lost several pics of the build progression when I deleted some a fuzzy pic so I don't have any progression shots of either engine as I only took the photos of the first one I built - rats!! Operator error not equipment failure. I deleted one pic (I thought) & when I downloaded my camera after building, I saw that about 6 pics were gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian A. Posted September 19, 2009 Author Share Posted September 19, 2009 A clearer shot of the first Allison. I still have a few touch-ups to do on each engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian A. Posted September 19, 2009 Author Share Posted September 19, 2009 Second Allison built, with # 1 on it's engine mounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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