1/18 Scale P-38 Lightning

[JayW]

Remember me? I think I had not realized how much work I did on the LH engine cowling, because it's taking me forever to do the RH engine cowling. But there is an end in sight. All the hundreds of Dzus fasteners are in, lines scribed, and painting has begun. And while the yellow paint cures, I have done some much anticipated work on the center fuselage.

 

First, I installed the nose LG door which has been sitting around for roughly a year. One of the hinges needed a spacer under the fuselage side attach fitting. The other three fit fairly well, and teh actuator rod slid in just fine. Take a look:

 

 

 

And then I installed the nose LG itself which has been sitting around at least that long:

 

 

Also notice the radio mast in front of the gear. It's just like the one on my 1/18 Mustang, honed and filed out of plastic bar stock.

 

So the center fuselage is done - here is what it looks like supported by the NLG:

 

 

Pay no attention to the sad state of my modelling table working surface. Once I finish the cowlings and booms, I will do some major house cleaning.

 

A couple more pics of the supported center fuselage:

 

 

 

The model is getting very large - I have to pay close attention to the situation when I am handling it. Don't want to break off the NLG door or the antenna spike!

 

Very soon I hope to have the cowlings and booms permanently installed and painted, with the main LG. So she will be sitting on her legs for good. Stay tuned.

[Ironwing]

JW

 

Ive been waiting for you to get back. What youve done here ranks right at the top. The undercarriage is just spectacular as are all the details youve added. Coming along very nicely Bud...keep her going. Good to see you back...

 

Geoff

Edited September 6, 2015 by Ironwing

[Ironwing]

bump...

[Guest Peterpools]

Terrific work on the gear ... looking fantastic

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[JayW]

I have probably shown too many sneak previews for it to have much impact to you - but tonight I present a super milestone.  After roughly a year and a half, every part which I have made from scratch or modified (a whole lot of them) or just used (practically none) are all final installed on one big model.  In order to do this I have had to make a fixture of sorts to hold this big heavy thing in position:

 

 

This is critical to continued building as well (the MLG doors).  Here -

 

 

You also see in that picture the completed RH engine cowling and center boom, with MLG strut, to match the LH side one.  Painting was a nightmare, as some paint would come off with the masking.  But it's done.

 

Take a look how this thing fills up my work bench:

 

 

 

Maybe the pictures don't do the size justice - here it is with my Trumpy 1/32 Lightning:

 

 

Lucky Lady was a studly looking aircraft; it is my fervent hope to do it justice. 

 

You may recall the main tires were the first item I did on this project - they are now installed permanently with the axle caps.  Baby's got legs!

 

 

A shot closer in, of Lorraine:

 

 

Lastly, before I first tore into this project I took a picture of the 21CT toy as-is, with the intention of doing a before - after.  Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

Now, to take a deeeeep breath.  And move on.  My very next job is to clean up the boom areas right behind the MLG bays and apply stenciled insignias.  Masking will be a *****; but I had to wait until now because part of the insignia is on the center assembly. 

 

And then, the MLG doors with their 20 studebaker hinges.  I have been waiting a long time for that.  It will be a big challenge.

 

You can see I am starting in the middle and moving outward.  One day I will commence work on the outer wings (big challenge) and the aft booms and tail feathers (also a big challenge).   I STILL don't know where to put this thing.

 

Stay tuned!

[Ironwing]

love it...just love it...

 

G

[Guest]

Doesn't get any better than this ! Fantastic.........Harv

[JRutman]

Yup,

That is Noice!

J

[richdlc]

wow, it looks so awesome

[JayW]

Hello folks - I have a modest update. Randy (aka Sluggo) has been supplying some of us with stencils. He provided the US insignias for the fuselage and wings. Thanks Sluggo!! But I am afraid I didn't do it justice at least on this example I am going to show here. The fuselage stencil goes over a major joint which is not very smooth nor will it ever be smooth. It was just beyond me to smooth it out like some of you guys can do. Furthermore I already had the area painted which changed the order in which to apply the stencils and paint.

 

Here is the recommended way to use these stencils: First paint the general area white and let dry thoroughly. Then apply the stencils for the star and the two bars. Then apply blue to the general area and let dry thoroughly. Then apply the basic outline stencil, aligned properly to the star and bar stencils already applied. Then paint silver. Remove stencils and voila.

 

That is not what I did. First I applied the negative of the full outline and masked all around it:

 

 

Then I applied the star and bar stencils:

 

 

Then on goes the blue:

 

 

Unmask, and the result was a little rough:

 

 

Not surpringly the blue leaked into the crack. So anyway with some touch up work, I got it to look OK:

 

 

It would have looked better with the recommended sequence but my build sequence prevented me from doing that, really. That will not be the case with the wings, where the proper sequence will be followed.

 

Meanwhile, wouk has begun on the MLG doors. The toy parts look like this:

 

 

 

All that stuff on the inside got dremmeled off, and I cut/sanded away some of the periphery on all four sides. Then I added some .02 inch thick plastic sheet to the inside surface to get the total thickness up to .08 inch which I think is somewhat to scale:

 

 

This part will serve as the inner door. I will bond an outer skin to it, some inner frames, and of course five studebaker hinge mechanisms. All that times four.

 

The hinge links are smaller than the ones for the nose LG door. I am afraid I will go blind before I finish them (all 120 of them):

 

 

Next post I would hope to have one door all done. Stay tuned.

[JayW]

Hi, its Jay again after a month.  Even if I had not been so busy with life, this update would have taken quite a while.  The gear doors are very hard work and laborious mostly due to part count, many parts being very small.  The 6-bar Stdebaker hinge mechanisms are almost twice as small as teh ones for the nose gear.  I think I know why - the nose gear door and center fuselage pod has alot of curvature to it, more than the relatively straight tapering booms and main gear doors.  That means the hinge mechanism has to reach out more, kind of like a big gooseneck hinge.  Not so much for teh MLG doors, so I think that is why the mechanisms are smaller.  Whatever the reason, they are much harder to fab and build.  Let's get on with it:

 

This just shows how small one of the studebaker hinges is:

 

 

 

Here is the front of the door (sorry it's fuzzy - what a lousy photographer I am):

 

 

You see I have "skinned" the door with .015 plastic sheet.  The next door is going to be with .020 sheet, as the .015 got a bit wrinkly with the glue.  Also you see a fuzzy hinge mechanism, and a slot for the forward drive rod.

 

Here is the aft end of the door:

 

 

What you see there is my scale production of a sheet metal support for the drive rod.  The "sheet metal" is made from .005 plastic sheet where I created flat patterns and bent up flanges.  The little round covers are not-very-convincing fabric coverings for all the lightening holes in the inner skin. 

 

And voila!  Here is the installed door:

 

 

Five hinge mechanisms, two drive rods, many other parts.  This was a very difficult sub-build.  Some more shots:

 

 

 

So I was worried that I didn't have an accurate computer model of the hinges and the door shape and cutout shape.  But it all fit pretty well.  I was also worried the drive rods wouldn't turn out - but they look good.  Recall the drive rods mate up with the dorr actuation trolleys I built up ages ago.  Anyway that's kinda how a P-38 MLG door really looks.

 

Flip her right side up and here is how it looks:

 

 

 

One down......three to go.  No guarantees how long it will take, but hopefully not a month each!!  Very laborious, wish me luck.

[ClumsyDude]

This is some seriously brilliant work. I'm going to disappear to my bench and feel inadequate. 

 

Jim

[JRutman]

Nice update!! And a big THANK YOU thank you THANK YOU!!! for covering the lightening holes with fabric. That is a battle I have fought for almost as long as the wing panel lines on the P-51. The holes were covered guys!! So no crud got in there.

J

[Guest]

Just fantastic !.......Harv 

[BiggTim]

I really like the LG door hinges, they look awesome! I want to make some for my Trumpy 1/32, and you have inspired me!