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


chuck540z3

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Absolutely gorgeous work on the cockpit Chuck! The use of Roy's data stencil decals really brings it to life. It looks like you used the HGW seatbelts and seat survival pack from their Mustang set too. Nice touch.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

 

:popcorn:  :thumbsup:

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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.  

 

 

Trailingedge1_zps0lubcoov.jpg

Edited by p38johnny
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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:

 

 scan0009.jpg

 

scan0012.jpg

 

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!

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Hey Johnny, thanks for all the input!  Please continue to post things here about the P-38 as you see fit.  My other builds over at ARC always had experts on the aircraft I was building chime in now and again, which really added to the value of the thread, so keep it coming!

 

I noticed quite a few differences in the radio equipment myself while doing research on colors and cable placement and I had no doubt that some things were right while others were wrong, assuming accuracy was a priority.  For this build my focus is on "pretty" vs. "accurate" as sort of a holiday from what I usually do, which is to sweat all the tiny details.

 

Getting back to the ailerons, am I correct to assume the lip that wraps around the aileron to wingtip is centered and would look about the same on the top and the bottom?  That seems to be what I'm thinking now.

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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

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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

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Thanks guys for the info!

 

March 15/15

A small update, but after a lot of work.  As noted above, the trailing edge of the aileron looked weird because there was an overlapping tab that seemed too long on the bottom.  A quick review of reference pics shows that this tab exists on the bottom, but I couldn't find the same thing on the top due to lack of good pics, so I was worried that Trumpeter might have put the tab on the wrong side, which is not a stretch for Trumpeter!  As a matter of fact, when reviewing other builds of this kit, I found that some modelers had actually sanded the tab off because they might have thought it was flash and I even saw one build with the ailerons upside down!

Thanks to Vandy and John, I now know that this tab exists on the top and bottom.  Here's a pic of one of them from the top showing the fixed tab and trailing edge extension.  As with the other parts on this build, every panel line was re-scribed and every rivet re-punched, so I added some dark wash to show the detail.


Aileron1.jpg


To replicate the same the same thing on the bottom ,all I did was to scribe a thin tab to match the top.  
Being on the bottom, this is definitely “good enoughâ€!


Aileron2.jpg


All of the other flaps and the elevator were assembled and I spent a great deal of time getting them to look as good as possible, using lots of CA glue to fill small gaps and repair many flaws .  One item often missed by modelers is to get the trailing edges super sharp and thin, which you can barely see in this pic.


Aileron3.jpg


Since this build is supposedly “kicked up a notchâ€, I thought I should improve the gun sight, which is supplied by the kit and Cutting Edge resin set as the more commonly used N-9, which is quite boring looking, as seen on the left of this pic.  Fortunately, I still have a really nice K-14 gun sight from my Tamiya P-51D build leftover, which is made from 2 regular plastic, 3 clear plastic and one photo-etch brass part as shown on the right.  Some P-38's had them, so this bird must as well!


Gunsight%20parts.jpg


Using the same methods I used to paint and detail the cockpit, I cut off the N-9 gun sight and modified the K-14 to fit the existing kit gun sight arm, although I will need to add a cross brace to the front windscreen when I get that far in order for it to look more accurate.  Here it is dry fitted in the cockpit with tape.


K-14-1.jpg


A close-up from the left side.  Not only did those Barracuda stencils come in handy, a couple of them are actually made for this very part!


K-14-2.jpg



From the rear you can see the rear and front glass, which is often not covered by the black shroud on top.  I added an electrical cord to the back of the sight according to references.


K-14-3.jpg



The other side.  Here you can see the grip detail of the Cutting Edge resin steering wheel fairly well



K-14-4.jpg



This angle shows the two circular lenses under the glass, which were a bear to mask off properly before painting.



K-14-5.jpg



A little closer.


K-14-6.jpg




All in all a fairly successful modification if I do say so myself.  Thanks for checking in!

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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 

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Ha!  That is one of the reasons I went for the "restored" or "what if" look.  For my F-4E, P-51D and other builds, I tried to stay as close to what was accurate for the time period I was trying to portray, which was both fun and sometimes painful.  My "source" as you know, is on page 19 of "that" book.  Oh well, I care, because to tell you the truth, almost none of the restored P-38's still have a gun sight at all any more.  It looks like it really gets in your front vision and if the guns don't work anyway, why have it?

 

Thanks again John for keeping us on the most accurate path for those who wish to keep their P-38 build true to a particular time period.  I value your input, so please keep it coming if not for me, for those who might benefit from your specific knowledge of the Lightning.

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Man that cockpit just totally rocks, even if some of the stuff in it isn't totally accurate. Wish I could do that level of detail - my eyes are not what they used to be.

 

 

You have made so many awesome parts from scratch Jay, that those eyes must see something!  If you're having difficulty seeing stuff up close, here's a tip you might be interested in, since I have the same problem- or at least had.

 

There are lots of closeup magnifying glasses on the market, some with big headsets and lights that look heavy and cumbersome to me, so I sort of "invented" a pair of glasses for myself.  At 60, my close-up vision started to leave about 10 years ago and by 55, I was wearing progressive lenses.  These lenses have normal vision at the top, corrected or not, with lenses on the bottom that are better to see items fairly closely, like maybe a book or newspaper at 12 to 18 inches. The lenses overlap, so that you "progress" from one to the other almost seamlessly.  Unfortunately the close-up lenses on progressives are not very good for real close-up work like modeling, so ordinary "magnifiers" with varying degrees of magnification of +1, +2, +3 and everything in between are needed as well, so you are always changing glasses as you look around your workbench.

 

To solve this problem, I had some ordinary bi-focal lenses made, but instead of having your normal vision at the top of the lens, I had the lower portion of the progressives placed at the top and a magnifier of +1.75 on the bottom.  To get as much working area as possible in the lens, I chose a tall circular "Harry Potter" lens, which allows me to rotate my head less often, as I tilt my head up to see through the bottom or tilt my head back down to see through the top.  With modern looking glasses that are narrow and popular these days, there is not much room from top to bottom, so you would be tilting your head up and down constantly to see anything.  With these glasses on, I have super clear vision from literally 2 inches to 2 feet, which is good enough for most modeling tasks.  I don't even have to tilt my head that often, because I just place my work lower when I need close-ups and higher when I don't.  I just love them and they were not expensive, because bi-focals are much cheaper than progressives.

 

 

CloseupGlasses.jpg

 

 

Now a bit of an update, albeit small.  In my first post I documented how poorly the main wing section was created straight out of the box, with damage to the trailing edge caused at the factory, because nothing else was damaged.  With lots of work with liquid sprue and a heat gun, I think I've got it repaired so you will never notice after everything is glued together.

 

Well, I found some more factory flaws, this time a real big one on the nose where the guns go.  Nice, right at the front where everyone looks!

 

 

Factoryflaw4.jpg

 

 

A close-up.

 

 

Factoryflaw5.jpg

 

 

The culprit is “pin damage†that creates the pin marks we all hate, as the plastic is ejected from the mold from behind.  This “pin†is L-shaped, and literally crushed the front of the nose cap.  Note the circular pin marks to the right, which is a more normal occurrence.

 

 

Factoryflaw6.jpg

 

 

 

Other parts of the fuselage are quite rough and the rivet and panel detail too shallow, like the belly below the cockpit.

 

 

Factoryflaw1.jpg

 

 

The gun shroud panel is poorly cast as well….

 

 

Factoryflaw2.jpg

 

 

 

What is more common is better rivet detail, like this on the bottom wing, but with HUGE sprue attachments that are very difficult to remove without leaving a mark.

 

 

 

Factoryflaw3.jpg

 

 

 

So what's my point?  I need a lot of time to repair and smooth out these items and I'm taking a break from modeling to catch some sun, so my next update will be a few weeks off if I'm lucky.  Thanks again for your continued interest in this challenging build.

 

Chuck

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