Holdfast

cant wait to get into the painting so i decided to do one of the drop tanks. One of my reference pics look like it has mismatching drop tanks, so one will be the aircraft colour, the other in olive drab/grey. Photos arnt very good from the phone, still a bit of weathering to finish it yet. .

Started to get some paint on the interior, with the wheel wells some references show silver some green, not sure so i went the green. still have to colour and detail then weather it all.

I love the painting of models and getting as realistic as possible the finish. Weathering for me is a must and i always look for subjects with plenty of it, that's why as soon as i seen these Haze Lightnings i just had to do one. I have been gathering as much as i can get as examples, even though the colour will be a bit subjective, i think this will make a really good looking model. Lots of different weathering techniques will be involved.

i used the Grey Matter kit, unfortunately fit is not perfect, and in areas filling is required. yep the cockpit details do vary on the early models, im not really a rivet counter, so am not to concerned if some smaller parts in there are incorrect, especially in the cockpit where is a bit hard to see once closed up, if overall the aircraft looks correct im happy.

Some progress shots, unfortunately I dont get a lot of time to work on this, a few hours a week, so it going to take a while. Started on the cockpit, using the Eduard PE upgrades. Overall impression of the kit so far is that fit of parts is a bit average. So a lot of filling to come i assume. The big modifications is the removal of the engine nacelles and the chopping out of the boom radiators and replacing them with the resign parts. They fit ok but in places they dont line up the the fuselage so a lot of filling is required. I can do with putty no problem, but when i go to re-scribe panel lines and rivets, putty dosnt hold up very well to it, so im thinking i may have to fill in with layers of sheet plastic? will see. i build models so i can paint them to try and achieve as realistic as possible, the painting and weathering is my thing, but unfortunately i must build the model first.

very nice

This is my first aircraft model in 20 years, and have jumped in boots n all on this one. I seen images of the early F-4's, photo recon version of the P-38, painted in the Haze paint schemes, and just wanted to do one. I am doing one of the RAAF F-4s loaned to 75 Sqn RAAF in 1943. the Haze paint schemes did not weather very well an after a short time the paint faded and weathered very quickly making for a great weathering subject. I am using the Trumpeter 1/32 P-38, and got a resign kit which converts it back to an early F-4 version, with a new nose, engine nacelles, new boom radiators and various other smaller bits. I am sure chopping this model up to fit the resign parts is not going to be a straight forward job.