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

[JayW]

Oh forgot to mention Chuck - great progress!  Just beautiful detail work.

[Guest]

Up is correct. Though it looks better down, IMHO, my research shows ,like most other WWII aircraft, they are raised while taxing in to keep from being damaged by FOD........Harv

[BiggTim]

Up is correct. Though it looks better down, IMHO, my research shows ,like most other WWII aircraft, they are raised while taxing in to keep from being damaged by FOD........Harv

 

I gotta ask...FOD?

[LSP_Kevin]

I gotta ask...FOD?

 

Foreign Object Damage.

 

Kev

[Out2gtcha]

Foreign Object Damage.

 

Kev

From all the FOD walks we took on deck everyday it was always referred to as a

"Foreign Object Debris" walk.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Out2gtcha

[Gid Adkisson]

Chuck, I have just discovered your work and you now have a dedicated follower. I am learning a lot. I have the Trumpeter P-38 in my stash and have set it aside because, after poring over walk-around photos, have noted that almost all of the rivet patterns on the wings are wrong. I dread doing an extensive rivet job, but the inaccuracy is very aggravating. You seem to be proceeding without re-riviiting. Can you comment on this? 

[Out2gtcha]

Also even though it appears it's already been established, every one of the 3 or so P-38s @ AirVenture last week all had their flaps up at all times when on the tarmac.

[chuck540z3]

Chuck, I have just discovered your work and you now have a dedicated follower. I am learning a lot. I have the Trumpeter P-38 in my stash and have set it aside because, after poring over walk-around photos, have noted that almost all of the rivet patterns on the wings are wrong. I dread doing an extensive rivet job, but the inaccuracy is very aggravating. You seem to be proceeding without re-riviiting. Can you comment on this?

 

Hi Gid,

 

I'll answer in 5 parts, which will hopefully explain why.

 

1. Although I haven't made a big deal about it, I have added many rivets that I found missing while checking reference pics, especially on the booms. I haven't added many to the wings- just the leading edge after glueing.

 

2. I try to modify panel line and rivet detail on those parts of a build that really show and maybe are characteristic of the aircraft. This was true of my A-10C build where I changed just about everything on the forward fuselage.

 

3. I won't add or modify rivet detail if you are unlikely to see it at scale. The front of the wings, for instance, are full of rivets (and a seam line) which you can easily see at 3-4 feet but not 12 feet on a 1/1 P-38. This is a bit over an inch away at 1/32, which not even a contest judge will be looking at and even if I did, it would likely be too large for scale.

 

4. I often add missing rivet detail, but I rarely remove it and place it elsewhere if it's wrong. This is because only about 1% of most viewers will know what's right and what's wrong. Truthfully, does anybody really know what the correct rivet pattern is on the top of the wing? How do you get good close-up reference pics of this often never seen area?

 

5. You have given me a good heads up to re-check everything once more and likely add a few more rivets here and there before I glue on the booms. Thanks, you may have saved me a lot of grief later!

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[skydivin]

Chuck,

Again great work... I have a question if you have time to answer.  How did you finish your exhaust?  Is it done with various ALCLAD?  Looks great.

[LSP_Ron]

[chuck540z3]

August 21/15


An Update - and a very important one at that!

I got in a few hours of modeling tonight, so this is where we stand on this project.  The actual attachment of the two booms to the upper wing and central fuselage is not for the faint of heart, or so I thought.  Other builds of this kit always have trouble with this step and there are many gaps to fill, but the most important  issue I wanted to get out of the way is landing gear alignment.  All 3 gear legs are cemented in, as per instructions, and there are no adjustments available after the fact.  If the booms are crooked, so are the landing gear- a fatal model contest deduction!

I dry fit the booms to the wing to see how things lined up.  If you get the upper portion of the booms to align with the wing, the main gear is almost perfectly straight, although you can't really tell from this pic due to a few angles that are not dead on.  The front gear is dead on- and it's slightly crooked compared to the vertical red line!







I agonized about this for a while, until I realized that I can still gain access to the inside of the nose where the leg is attached, since the nose cone and guns have yet to be installed.  Whew!  I really don't see how this could be “user errorâ€, since the front landing gear and gear well installation is fixed and there really is no play to the fit.  In any case, a future fix is on the way.  

Here's another shot from above.  With the lead weights I have in the two engines, all I need right now is 4 quarters to keep this bird from being a tail sitter.  Those engine spindles are nice and centered now too, so prop alignment will be a breeze when I get to that stage.









Gluing on the right boom to the wing, the fit isn't too bad on the outside, although I'll need to fill that gap at the front.  I am not going to glue the left boom on until everything is fixed on the right side, for ease of handling.  With the large size of the model and weights inside the booms, it would be too cumbersome to do so.









The rear fits better, although I'll still need to sand things down and re-scribe panel lines.









The inside of the boom is a different story.  There is a huge gap at the bottom of the wing, which is a common characteristic of this kit, especially if you fix and brace the correct wing dihedral as I did earlier with chop sticks.  This also causes panel lines to be wildly offset, which will be a real pain to fix.







Here is the Grand Canyon from below, which is NOT a panel line and it needs to be filled.








The other inner side looks much better, although that small gap still needs some work.  That little pin, as it turns out, is supposed to be a small vent, so I cut it off and will insert a new brass vent later.







Normally I would just fill the big gap with CA glue and sand it smooth, but this is an area of wing flex and there is a high chance of it cracking.  Instead, I inserted some ordinary 0.75 mm styrene pushing it as far back in the wing as it would go, then glued the rear of the strip with Tamiya Extra Thin Cement (TETC).  








After that dried for a few minutes, I flexed the strip downward to conform to the wing root curvature, then applied more TETC to hold it in place.  I repeated this in 4 stages, then filled the rear of the wing root with 0.5 mm styrene to fill the remaining gap.  With that all in place, I applied another liberal coat of TETC to the entire wing root, allowing capillary action to suck the glue into all the remaining gaps.  This makes the styrene swell, creating a putty like mixture that will dry super strong- and won't crack later.  Here's how it looks before sanding.








To fill that thin gap on the other side I used an old trick I used on my Mustang build, by filling the gap with ordinary thick plastic cement, in this case the Tamiya version in the orange bottle.  This also makes the plastic swell, closing the gap slightly.  Here I could have used CA glue to fill the gap and then rescribe the panel line, which DOES exist, but this method is so much easier IF you are not in a hurry.








Now the hard part.  If you use this method of using lots of plastic cement to fill gaps, don't even think of sanding or re-scribing panel lines for at least a WEEK!  The plastic is now a low grade version of liquid sprue, which takes a long time to dry before it's hard enough.  If you rush it, the plastic will tear and you'll make a big mess.  Trust me I know!


In the mean time, my next efforts will be directed towards the top of the boom, to smooth the fit and correct panel line and rivet detail while the bottom joints dry.  Thanks for checking in!


Cheers,
Chuck

Edited August 21, 2015 by chuck540z3

[Guest]

Chuck, bravo!I went through all of it and did succeed like you. If you get a chance, please stop by my WIP o f my P'38M and let me know what you think. Just getting back to it. Yours has helped me crave to start back. Excelent work so far.... Harv

[zaxos345]

Always happy to see your updates!!! Great work Chuck!!

 

John

[dodgem37]

Really good show, Chuck.  Happy Belated Birthday.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[chuck540z3]

Thanks Guys!

 

That crooked from landing gear was driving me crazy, so I went straight to surgery while the rest of the glue on the boom was drying.  The front of the gear leg has two pins that fit into two holes, with a "D" shaped hole on the right and a circular hole on the left.  The gear leg slanted left a bit before:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The solution is to raise the left circular pin about a mm or so and thankfully I did not apply much glue to this area for fear of crazing the interior green of the gear well.  By using a drill, I drilled a few holes above the pin, then opened it up a bit with a #11 knife.  Drilling another small hole underneath the pin, I then raised the pin to the desired height.  As you can see, it is a tight fit and I didn't have much room to work with, so the view from this side is a little crude.  Fortunately, you can see nothing on the inside, even with a flashlight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Checking my work, things look a lot straighter now.  I will cement the leg in after I attach the left (right in this pic) boom permanently, just in case there are any more adjustments necessary.  For you guys building this kit, I suggest you don't use any glue on the front gear leg until this stage, just in case this is indeed a kit flaw, which I think is very likely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm calling this SAVE # 6!