<-- **** DONE: 1/48 P-38J Lightning - Twin Engined Aircraft of WWII

[Airframes]

Coming along nicely Robert, and those joints should sand out OK.

 

[JKim]

Looking good Robert! It's obvious that the Academy kit that I'm working on owes alot of its assembly design to this Revell kit. The main parts breakdown looks very similar.

 

[Airframes]

Yes, I think you're right John. I've built both, and when building the later Academy kit (not the earlier Academy Minicraft kit), it was like jumping back thirty years to the (then) Monogram example - except for the superior detail and finesse, of course.

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far!

 

[Robert Porter]

Thanks all! I mentioned earlier that I had a bad part and a messed up decal set. Revell, at no cost to me, shipped me a new part which arrived today! They however did send a weird set of decals with it that have nothing to do with my kit. Does anyone out there want or need a set of decals for an Atomic Cannon? Pics below.

 

[Robert Porter]

Also made glued up the Booms. With partial landing gear. Going to put the rest of the gear parts on after I sand and fill the seams. The landing gear doors have been filled and sanded and will also go on towards the end.

 

[Wurger]

Looking good though.

 

[Airframes]

I think someone accidentally packed the decals, which were probably destined for another person - easily done.
Good stuff so far Robert. Are you going to eloiinate those 'Made on the Clyde' rivets ?!!
They scale out at about the same size as the bolts on the Brooklyn Bridge !

 

[Crimea_River]

Good progress Robert. With Terry on those rivets.

 

[Wayne Little]

Yep, doin' ok man....

 

[JKim]

Looking good Robert!

 

[Robert Porter]

Thanks everyone!

The rivits are huge! Not sure how exactly to handle those yet...

 

[Airframes]

Scrape them off with the edge of the scalpel blade, running it over them two or three times, until they go. This should leave a feint, 'ghost' image of the rivets or fasteners, which should look fine under paint.

 

[Robert Porter]

Scrape them off with the edge of the scalpel blade, running it over them two or three times, until they go. This should leave a feint, 'ghost' image of the rivets or fasteners, which should look fine under paint.

Cool I will give that a go!

 

[Crimea_River]

I'd use a fine file but there's more than one way to skin a cat, as they say.

 

[Robert Porter]

I did end up using the blade approach, it certainly helped. Sprayed another coat of primer and they do look better. Also attached the booms now. A few seams, well actually a lot of seams need some work but luckily no huge gaps anywhere and the seams I do have seem pretty symmetrical and uniform which is nice as some of the reviews I read of this kit said there was a tendency for warped parts. I seem to have avoided that particular issue. I did notice that one wing tip is slightly higher than the other, but it is only noticeable if you hold a straight edge up to it.

More pics to follow as I begin working on the seams. By the way thanks to whomever posted the tip on here about priming and then taking close up pictures. It really does show the flaws! Ouch! I found some ejector marks that I had totally missed with the old Mark 1's, emphasis on old.

 

[Crimea_River]

Yep, the close-ups are brutal but effective.

 

[Wayne Little]

They make there point alright...

 

[Robert Porter]

Started working on seams today. Decided to try the Squadron Putty followed by the Q-Tip dipped in Nail Polish Remover method.

Pic 1 is the seam prior to beginning.
Pic 2 is the seam after masking and beginning to apply the putty.
Pic 3 is after fully applying the putty and then removing the masking.
Pic 4 is the result. I think I either rubbed too hard or did not wait for the putty to dry long enough. Its not bad but will need to try again as I rubbed too much off in spots.

But it is obvious with a little more practice this should work well for me! Thanks for the tips everyone!

 

[JKim]

Great to see you learning and applying new techniques! You can also do this with Milliput. The good thing about Milliput is that it is water-soluble, which simplifies the removal portion of this technique.