p38johnny

Hi Patrick, Yes, the Astrodome window on the top of the fuselage didn't change shape, only the covering of the opening. The window in the A/B airplanes was optically flat glass. When they went to the astrodome, it was just attached above the window opening. Here are some pictures that should help. John Clements

That's a great shot Patrick!!!

The blast shields were .019 stainless steel. The pad is a thin cloth material used as a barrier between the stainless and the aluminum skin. Even with primer, an additional barrier was used between dissimilar metals. I'm not entirely sure if rivets or screws were used. My first guess would be rivets. John Clements

Hey Jay: That is simply stupendous work!! Tha Dzus fasteners kill!! Don't forget to take the bumps off the wing bottoms, the J-15 didn't have those. But you probably know that. John

Hi Chuck! I feel that the plastic is fairly soft in this kit and could lead to problems a few years down the road. Couldn't hurt to give yourself a bit more rigidity. John Clements

Leave it Jay. That's accurate for your S/N airplane. I agree that trying to shorten it would probably not end well.

Excellent Jay!! Really excellent!

That cockpit came out just fantastic Jay!! Really wonderful work!

That is some really good looking work Chuck! But...... this is another one of those moments that I feel i need to interject for anyone doing a P-38 from 1944-45. The P-38 never used the K-14 gunsight in combat. Nor did it ever use the N-9 gunsight ....ever! The P-38 only used two sights in it's combat life, those being the N-3 through the J-5 model, and the Linn L-3 through the L model. I know the resource you are using for this information, and I know that some really bad assumptions were made using photographs showing a test installation. And I contributed to this book, so I was very dismayed to see that information in the final product. Anyway, it in no way detracts from what you are doing, as you have the license to do what you will in the criteria you have chosen. But, for those wishing to build a spec P-38, the N-3 and L-3 are the ones that were actually used in combat. Sorry if I'm being "that guy", but this is one of my hot button points. John

Hi Vandy: Yes, that is me with White Lightning at Reno back in the mid 80's. It is such a gorgeous airplane now with Red Bull. I think you mean Gary Levitz, not Tony LeVier. Gary raced that airplane till its gear collapsed in the pits at Reno, I think in '83. John

That's right Chuck, it's the same on the top and bottom. What I've done in the past is thin the trailing edges of the top and bottom aileron parts just a bit. then insert a piece of .005 plastic card between the two parts at the trailing edge as you assemble then. You then trim this "tab" to the contour of the aileron trailing edge, but let it protrude slightly. This is how the real airplane is, this "tab" protrudes past the trailing edge of the wing about a half inch. It's the same on the rudders and elevators too, as well as half way around the wing tips and horizontal stab tips. I'm not home right now, but I have pictures that show this. I'll try and dig them up later this evening. John

Chuck: I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to add something regarding the radio gear used in the Trumpeter kit and the Cutting Edge replacement for future reference by anyone wanting to build a P-38 from the 1943-45 era. Trumpeter copied the radio equipment that is installed in the P-38L at the Air Force Museum.This installation is nicely covered in the Aero Detail book on the P-38, and a few shots of it are also in Detail and Scale Vol. 58. But, while this an SCR-274N radio set, it is not the set-up seen as used in the P-38. Cutting Edge spruced up this same set with some nice detail additions, but then removed the radio controls on the right sidewall and added an SCR-522A radio set control in their place! A real head scratcher. Here is the set-up used in the P-38 for each radio: Not necessarily a problem for the restored airplane you are depicting, as you can say "We used what we had......" Your finish work is just excellent!

Hi Chuck: Have been watching this thread, some really nice work! Here's a scrap of the Superscale drawing showing how the trailing edge of the aileron is constructed. It's right in the center of the drawing. The ailerons, rudders, and elevators are constructed this way, as well as half way around the wing tips and the horizontal stab tips. The top edge of the aileron is the hinge point, and a piano hinge is used so there is just the piano hinge showing on the top of the wing, as shown in Vandy's picture. The bottom surface has a small gap, as shown in the other pictures. The drawing shows the aileron side view at station 182. Trumpeter totally missed these two items.

Hi Geoff: No, in this case the bottle in question is the tank for the turbocharger oil system, and there's one in each well. John

Hi Jay, I can help you with anything you need on P-38 wheel wells. John Clements

Yes, it is Glacier Girl.

Hey Alberto: That's coming along. If you go back to the first pictures I posted on page 2 of this thread, you'll see how Lockheed mounted the guns. In the first pic I posted, a page from the parts manual, Item 24 is the rear mount for the right inboard gun and is attached to the lower partition between the two sets of ammo cans. In the second pic, also a page from the parts manual, Item 32 is the rear mount for the right outboard gun, Item 39 is the casting used as the rear mount for the left inboard gun, and Item 42 is the rear mount for the left outboard gun. If you look at the next picture I posted, you'll see Item 42 with the gun mount post in the center foreground of the picture. Now look up that trough, and you'll see the casting, Item 39, halfway up the trough, and the portion that protrudes to the other side has the rear mount post for the left inboard gun. Now in front of that casting is the front mount for the left outboard gun, which is Items 1-5 on the second pic/page of the manual. Now look behind and slightly right of the left inboard rear mount, and you'll see the right inboard rear gun mount, Item 24, with its mount post. Here is another pic from the maintenance manual that shows the right inboard gun with its rear mount post. You can see the front mount for the right outboard gun just to the right of the inboard guns rear mount post in the above pic. (Items 1-5, second pic from page 2.) It looks like you're trying to use as much of the kit part as possible, so it will be difficult to protray the gun mounts the way Lockheed built them because the kit part is so far off. The forward troughs you've completed look OK, but the left one should extend to the rear a little more, as this is where the front mount for the left inboard gun is located. (Right in the center of the pic 2 manual page. Also, look at the first two pictures at the top of this page.) So it depends what you want to do, and it looks like you could just mount small pieces of round stock of the right lengths to make the guns level on the kit parts. Otherwise, more scratchbuilding is in your future! Let me know if I can help more. John

Hey Alberto: I've finally located all ofthe my gun bay information. I have a number of pictures of the P-38 gunbay, early and late airplanes. Some like the ones above I took myself, some pics from Lockheed, and some pages from the maintenance manuals. From your previous comments I believe you've done a web search, and may have found pics you can use. I did a quick google search and found some good ones with guns installed. Is there something specific you're looking for? John

Hi Alberto: These should be better. The outboard guns mounts sit in a trough-like structure that have castings for the rear mounts of the inboard guns. There are shorter troughs for the front mounts of the inboard guns. These are of Glacier Girl under construction, and the pedastal structure for the rear of the left trough hasn't been installed yet. These should give you a clearer picture of the structure. If you need more help just let me know. John

Hey Alberto: Here are a few pics and some pages from the parts manual. Those are fake gun barrels in the pics. I have more if you would like. Still sifting through to find the best ones. I'm very unorganized unfortunately! John

Hey Alberto: Don't give up, sorting through pics and drawings to give you the best info. Tonight for sure. John

Hey Alberto: I'm away from my files until tomorrow night. I'll be happy to help you then if you can wait. John

Hi Alberto: The ammo cans in all P-38s were unpainted stainless steel. Those parts are depicted pretty well in the kit, but unfortunately the structure and gun mounts you are concerned about have no basis in fact. If you are interested in doing some scratchbuilding I can help you out with some information. John

Hey Alberto: If I may, the spec on the P-38 wheel wells called for silver lacquer up until the G-10, when it changed to "...camouflage color ...", which was Neutral Gray. This was continued into J model production even after the airplanes were delivered in natural aluminium. At some point in late J production, the spec for painting the wheel wells was eliminated, and the wells received no paint at all. But, the inside of the well doors were painted silver lacquer because of the fabric patches used to cover the lightening holes. These pictures you've posted are of restored flying airplanes, and show what the individual owners wanted in the wells. Being involved in the warbird restoration business, I can relate that sometimes what the owners want is not based on any original colors, but on what they think looks good at that particular time. What I would go with is: Silver lacquer through the F and early G models, Neutral Gray in the G-10, but aluminium lacquer in the F-15 and G-13 and G-15. Neutral Gray used in the H and J models through the J-20, then unpainted aluminium in the J-25 and L models. Also, it was not unusual to see Neutral Gray gear legs in unpainted gear wells, as the supplies of gray painted legs were used up after the paint spec was eliminated. Hope this helps. John

Look on page 28 of Detail &r Scale Vol. 58 on the late model P-38s. The hinge is set up to be flush, but you could simulate it with a very small diameter piece of sprue or wire set in a shallow groove. John