Progress. Heat index in the outside world is 105F(40.8C) so working inside. Twin booms together and in place. Landing gear in place and doors in place. Rear tail assembly in place and trying to straighten out the right boom which is twisted. The front photo recon nose temporarily in place. This is a heavy tail-sitter and its going to take lots of weight in the nose to bring it down. The 4 photo windows will be put in after painting as they are too small to mask View attachment 501836View attachment 501837View attachment 501838View attachment 501839
Thank you gentlemen. The photo schnoz is big and empty so I packed it with tungsten putty and a couple of lead fishing weights. The balance pivot point is the two main landing gear which gives the tail a much longer leverage arm. Add to that the tall front gear and it's going to be tricky to get this bird off its tail
Just catching up after being away for five days. It's looking good so far Mike.
I built the Academy P-38J some years ago, and managed to get plenty of weight in the (gun) nose, so you shouldn't have a problem with the camera nose.
Michael, my guess is that the Germans didn't want any friendly 109s or 190s taking pot-shots at their prize P-38. It ceretainly made for a very quick ID.
More progress...superchargers installed and detailed