1/48 Lockheed P-38F/G

[Gnomey]

Looks good so far!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. I ran into a problem though. I messed up one of the No Step Decals and need a replacement. Anyone have one from Tamiya or Hasegawa they don't need?

Hi Dave

All I have are these and you are welcome to them. Academy decals - the red looks darker than yours and the height of the letters hits the border of the strip. 12mm end to end. PM me with your address if you want them.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Totalize]

Hi Dave

All I have are these and you are welcome to them. Academy decals - the red looks darker than yours and the height of the letters hits the border of the strip. 12mm end to end. PM me with your address if you want them.

View attachment 699712

Thanks Andy. I have those ones as well. I compared them with the tamiya ones and its a no go. Thanks for the offer though. The only other ones I can see that are close to the Tamiya ones are the Hasegawa set. I have emailed the Tamiya agent for Canada, Borgfeldt. Hopefully they will help me.

 

[Crimea_River]

No problem. The ones in the J kit are red lettering on clear film for NMF birds so when you talk to Tamiya, make sure they understand which kit you want them for.

 

[Totalize]

Thanks Andy. Yes, I quoted the decals part number from the F/G kit.

Merry Christmas!

 

[Totalize]

Last update before Christmas.

Props done and mounted. Cockpit complete. Canopies are dry fitted. First decal placed.
When doing the canopy decals I didn't see the instructions for the escape panel release decals. I used a photo as a reference to place them.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

 

[Airframes]

That's really looking the biz !
Hope you have a great Christmas.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Looks great.

 

[le_steph40]

Excellent work Dave and Mery Christmas

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Looks good so far!

 

[Crimea_River]

Very nice Dave.

 

[Totalize]

Thanks Gents.

The struggle with Tamiya decals is real. As I mentioned before I wrecked one of the DO NOT STEP decals as I was trying to place it. How? by applying a liberal amount of Microsol which caused it to disintegrate. Now, you may be asking yourself given how thick Tamiya decals have been historically how the hell do you melt their decals with Microsol which is pretty tame. Good question. Next up their stencils. first placed a couple as a test with no gloss coat and added microsol. While they didn't melt they silvered. Next I applied a gloss coat and repeated the same process. Still silvered. Total garbage.

I have asked Tamiya and their agent in Canada for a replacement set. No joy there. So, I found a complete stencil set for the Tamiya P-38F/G from Fundekals and ordered a set from them. Hopefully their stencils are better. I did order a set of their U.S. WWII late national insignias about 6 months ago and they are okay. A little thick but I used them on the P-38.

*** One thing I forgot to mention. For the 1943 National insignia on the port wing I used a decal from the Accurate Miniatures Yankee Spitfire MK.VC kit. This is an old kit but the decal I used went down with no problem and took Microsol very well. No gloss coat used.

Stay tuned.

 

[Totalize]

More decal work including some warn/fading on the port wing national insignia. Also, made an antenna mast for the nose from plastic card and using the one in the Tamiya P-38J kit as a guide.

 

[Totalize]

I originally had the neutral grey extend all the way to the end of each each boom at the engines. However, in looking through some photos I discovered that this was not the case. The neutral grey only went up to a point just past the radiator intakes. I corrected this on my build which you can see below.

 

[le_steph40]

excellent

 

[Wurger]

 

[Snautzer01]

Very nice, very nice.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Good spot.