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P-38G Old Ironsides in Guadalcanal: The patient has pulled through!


ChuckD

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hi

very nice interpretation!!! , my favorite version . well a little bit «sober» (sorry, MHO ) there is so much nose arts , but it doesn’t matter , we are only focused by the pure design of this bird .... I did the same conversion a few years ago and, of course, I encountered the same adjustment problems, especially with the intakes boom
hat off for your amazing P 38 

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Awesome presentation of that particular aircraft, you "mimicked" it very well, i guess it must have taken some time to study the original picture and try to get that image onto the model, so to speak.

But your finish inspired me to have the P38 nightfighter, which stalled on me,  to represent a picture of this aircraft, apparently abandoned after the war at a graveyard, sans the radarpod below .....

I hope to have the same result as you did on your model eventually!

 

good show,

 

Jack

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On 5/26/2023 at 7:53 AM, ChuckD said:

At long last! 

 

(This thread could be subtitled: The lengths I'll go to to avoid a natural metal finish)

 

Here is my rendition of P-38G s/n 43-2239 as it served in the 339th Fighter Squadron on Guadalcanal in early spring of 1943.  According to Michael Claringbould in his book "Pacific Profiles, Volume 9," this aircraft was badly damaged after a forced-landing following an attack against a floatplane base at Faisi.  The 339th ground crews towed it to the scrapyard where engineers from the 44th Fighter Squadron snatched it, brought it back to airworthy condition, and christened it "Old Ironsides."  Apparently there was something of a kerfluffle between the two units as the 339th later tried to reclaim the aircraft - no word as to who came out on top, but the aircraft was used as a hack at least until mid-1944.  From there, it fell off the radar and its final fate is ultimately unknown.  Claringbould's book features a picture of the aircraft after it was named by the 44th FS, but I don't want to post it as I don't want to run afoul of copyright issues.  In all my searches, I never found the second picture online anywhere and I suspect the original is in his personal collection.

 

In any case, if you were following the build thread for this, you know what an adventure it has been.  Most of that was due to my repeated, and uncharacteristic indecision.

 

This started life as the Trumpeter P-38L kit and it was my intent to build an ETO bird in natural finish.  But, I'd been sitting on the Grey Matter Figures backdate resin set forever and I knew if I didn't use it now, it'd go to waste.  Aaaand, I like the looks of the pre-J models better anyway.  So, with a little encouragement from @BiggTim, I decided to take the plunge and do the necessary surgery.  I've never attempted anything so dramatic before and it was one heck of a project that involved quite

 

Great job! I have one of these conversion sets, too, but haven't had the guts to start it yet!

May I post it on the website?

:clap2::clap2::clap2:

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Absolutely iconic. Thanks for posting. i wish there were more large scale P-38 offerings. it's actually a very elegant plane. as a kid it was the plane i wished i could fly - i always thought the cockpit was the coolest thing - and it is! Even thought pilots thought the layout was a dogs breakfast. One of the few (if any) truly successful twin engine fighters. You did it justice !

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