<-- **** DONE: 1/48 P-38J Hill's Angels - Twin Engined Aircraft of WWII

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Thanks gents! I'm creeping along with this Lightning. Slowly approaching the point where I will be attaching the booms to the wings.
 
Weekend is here for me and I'll be at home mostly so I'll be able to put some more time in on the P-38J. Spent this week cleaning up the booms as much as I can prior to attaching them to the wings.


Primer on the joints revealed some seams that still need work.


Glue seams were filled with Mr Surfacer 1000, which is also used as my primer when thinned with Tamiya Lacquer Thinner.


Panel lines were rescribed using a scriber tool or a sewing needle mounted on a pin vise.


The spinners have been re-puttied and re-painted. I'll spray a flat coat on these and start weathering them.


I picked up a set of Eduard canopy masks, which I tend to use on every model...if they are available. The clear parts are not yet glued in... debating whether I should do it before or after attaching the booms.


The tail finlets are added at this stage. I'll need to fill the bottom joints with some Milliput.


Thanks for checking in!
 
Thanks for the comments! I decided to attach some of the clear parts. Before the windsreen goes on, I put on the gun sight and also add back the many levers that were broken off on the throttle quadrant during the putty/sanding process. I'll leave the seat out until the very end.


The inner frames of the windscreen are painted in interior green prior to attachment. There is a little photoetched handle that was added to the top of the windscreen.


The rear canopy is also attached.


Finally, the booms get attached to the wings... a big step! Fit was ok but I'll need to perform quite a bit of cleanup work to make the joints acceptable.


Everything seems to be aligned correctly.


This is the worst joint. The port boom gave me the most trouble and this joint required multiple applications of Tamiya Extra Thin and tape to hold it in place while the bond was secured. One of the landing gear legs worked loose during boom attachment.
 
Thanks guys! The sanding work on the boom/wing joints has been tedious stuff. An initial application of Milliput to bridge the noticeable gaps and then Mr Surfacer to help blend the transitions. The primer coat helps identify the imperfections that need attention. You can see straight through the radiator vent openings. I should've blocked these off with plastic card before I sealed the booms together. It's too late now. The vent doors should block the view a bit but it's still an unfortunate miss on my part.




The joint between the top of the wing and the engine cowl line up well so I simply stuffed any gaps with Milliput and wiped the excess off with a wet paper towel.



I've reduced the majority of the boom joints to spot repair, which is a nice milestone to get across. Now I'm creeping ever closer to painting so I decided to mask off the cockpit using tape.


After spraying the frames with the interior color, I like to put on a coat of black to make sure that the frames are opaque. Light shining through supposedly solid canopy frames can really spoil the look.


Using the black overspray as a cutting guide, I can cut out precise masks for the cockpit opening.



The cockpit opening is nicely and neatly sealed off and ready for painting.


I think I should add the radiator vent doors so the interiors are painted. I've added some actuation rods using brass tubing.
 
Airframes said:
Nice work on the booms John, and my apologies - I spotted that you hadn't blanked-off the rad vents, but forgot to mention it !
Click to expand...
Quite alright Terry! I did notice it before gluing the boom halves together but I pushed it off and as a result, forgot to address it until I started looking at the photoetched vent doors. The actuating rods have no place to attach to! That's why I painted them black... so that they can just fade into the darkness of the opening, hopefully.
 
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