Catch22
Major
Nice!
1/48 P-38F-15-LO – Mediterranean Theatre of Operations
- Thread starter Crimea_River
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- 1/48 depict model p-38f-15-lo s/n
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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Good stuff Andy.
Well done on the cast Andy, glad you got a good result.
chris brown
Senior Airman
Nice job on the pit and good work on the resin cast Andy. I'm not sure I would of had the nerve to try it.
- Thread starter
- #86
Crimea_River
Marshal
Drilled out the chin scoops which looked pretty bad, having been molded over. Also spent a couple of hours sanding out seams on both booms and thinning the radiator intakes. I didn't take a before pic of that.
I want to don as much sanding and rescribing on the booms as possible before gluing them to the wings for ease of access.
I want to don as much sanding and rescribing on the booms as possible before gluing them to the wings for ease of access.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Looks the biz Andy.
- Thread starter
- #90
Crimea_River
Marshal
Appreciate that guys.
A long session today smoothing out the port (unbroken) cowl, rescribing panel lines, and adding rivets which were removed during sanding [Pic1]. I did the same as far as I could on the starboard side which will receive the new resin part tomorrow. Before installing the wheel wells, I inserted some plastic card into the noticeably empty radiator housings though there is still a gap that I could not close [Pic2]. I should have done this before gluing the boom halves together. Oh well....
The booms were then carefully glued to the wings using the loosely installed horizontal stab as a spacer and alignment guide. The assembly is clamped to set overnight.
A long session today smoothing out the port (unbroken) cowl, rescribing panel lines, and adding rivets which were removed during sanding [Pic1]. I did the same as far as I could on the starboard side which will receive the new resin part tomorrow. Before installing the wheel wells, I inserted some plastic card into the noticeably empty radiator housings though there is still a gap that I could not close [Pic2]. I should have done this before gluing the boom halves together. Oh well....
The booms were then carefully glued to the wings using the loosely installed horizontal stab as a spacer and alignment guide. The assembly is clamped to set overnight.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Looking good, and nice riveting Rosie !
le_steph40
Chief Master Sergeant
Taking shape Andy, look forward to that new resin piece blending in....
fubar57
General
Looking good Andy. I remember having issues with the main landing gear and decided to build it wheels up(bad choice). I'm afraid I can't recall the problem, it may have been lack of building experience.
Geo
Geo
- Thread starter
- #95
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks all. Hope to get the resin piece on today.
- Thread starter
- #96
Crimea_River
Marshal
This morning I plopped the resin cowl into place and after carefully lining it up as best as I could, I added a few spacers and secured it all with CA glue. Unfortunately, the fit was not perfect as the cowl that I used for the master was slightly wide.
In hindsight, I should have added the lower cowl piece to the master to suck in the sides before creating the mold. That way, it would have come out the right width. As it was, I had to thin the casting sacrificing some of the nice detail in the process. During the shaping process, it became apparent that the resin hadn't cured perfectly hard as there was still some springiness to it which made filing and sanding difficult. I took it to a point where I wanted to check how it looked and then applied a primer spray. Below is the result, revealing that there's some work to do yet. I hope the resin hardens some more.....
Also on the agenda was to take care of the rather poor fit where the booms meet the back of the wing. In order to make sure that the booms fit properly along the joints in the wings, it was necessary to sacrifice a nice fit at these locations which are easier to access for sanding and fitting.
After an initial rough filing, I coated the joint with Tamiya light curing putty and filed and sanded again
And after coating with primer to check how it looks, the result is a lot better than I started with though there's more to do.
Having got bored with that, I turned my attention to the instrument panel. The one supplied with the kit is unacceptable, being far too deep in the nose and too shallow in contour so I made a panel backing with a piece of sheet styrene cut to size and glued it onto the panel provided, which brought the surface closer to the pilot seat. The kit only supplied a decal which I promptly discarded and replaced it with a spare P-40 decal.
The portions not covered by the decal were then filled in with a 0.5mm felt pen to create the appearance of a few more instruments and buttons. The result is a purely fictional instrument panel but one that looks pretty good to my eye. It's also virtually invisible deep under the glare hood and, with the canopy closed, will hardly be noticeable.
Thanks for looking in everyone.
In hindsight, I should have added the lower cowl piece to the master to suck in the sides before creating the mold. That way, it would have come out the right width. As it was, I had to thin the casting sacrificing some of the nice detail in the process. During the shaping process, it became apparent that the resin hadn't cured perfectly hard as there was still some springiness to it which made filing and sanding difficult. I took it to a point where I wanted to check how it looked and then applied a primer spray. Below is the result, revealing that there's some work to do yet. I hope the resin hardens some more.....
Also on the agenda was to take care of the rather poor fit where the booms meet the back of the wing. In order to make sure that the booms fit properly along the joints in the wings, it was necessary to sacrifice a nice fit at these locations which are easier to access for sanding and fitting.
After an initial rough filing, I coated the joint with Tamiya light curing putty and filed and sanded again
And after coating with primer to check how it looks, the result is a lot better than I started with though there's more to do.
Having got bored with that, I turned my attention to the instrument panel. The one supplied with the kit is unacceptable, being far too deep in the nose and too shallow in contour so I made a panel backing with a piece of sheet styrene cut to size and glued it onto the panel provided, which brought the surface closer to the pilot seat. The kit only supplied a decal which I promptly discarded and replaced it with a spare P-40 decal.
The portions not covered by the decal were then filled in with a 0.5mm felt pen to create the appearance of a few more instruments and buttons. The result is a purely fictional instrument panel but one that looks pretty good to my eye. It's also virtually invisible deep under the glare hood and, with the canopy closed, will hardly be noticeable.
Thanks for looking in everyone.
Last edited:
Jeff Hunt
1st Lieutenant
Another superlative effort to date and the results are excellent.
Cheers,
Jeff
Cheers,
Jeff
T Bolt
Colonel
Nice work on the replacement part. This kit was on my short list for the next GB but with those fit problems I see your having I think I might take a pass on it right now.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Good stuff Andy, and once that cowling is finished, and the model painted, in time you'll forget it's a resin piece ! Sounds like perhaps a touch more hardener was needed in the resin mix.
BTW, from memory, I don't recall much fit problems with the tail boom joints on the Academy 'J' model, although they did two versions of this - the kit I got, and the earlier 'Minicraft' kit.
BTW, from memory, I don't recall much fit problems with the tail boom joints on the Academy 'J' model, although they did two versions of this - the kit I got, and the earlier 'Minicraft' kit.
