Good work so far Andy!
**** DONE: GB-50 1:48 P-38F-15-LO - Zombie Build
- Thread starter Crimea_River
- Start date
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- Thread starter
- #122
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks all and onwards we go.
I ended up opting for some spare drop tanks from my old Tamiya P-47M kit as these had nicer details on them. They had been painted in aluminum Alclad already and so it was an easy matter to shoot the camo colours on and scratch them up a bit. I used a darker OD for the uppers since these would not have seen the same amount of fading as the aircraft itself. The stencil decals were scrounged from my spares.
The mirrors have been finished but the effect is so-so. The areas around the polished sections received some glossy dark OD for the reason mentioned earlier. Note also that I added silver dots at the cowl fastener locations.
The finished exhaust stains:
The drop tanks have been hung in place. I elected not to go with the asymmetric load out of one tank and one bomb as this would more likely have been used in 1944 after the 1st FG moved to Italy.
At the cockpit, I cut the roll-up side windows, painted and decaled them and stuck them into place. I made the one on the starboard side stick out a little more just cuz. I also enhanced the crash pad and added the red emergency hood release handle which I made from lead wire.
At the pointy end, the guns have been installed. The cannon was replaced with bass rod and the MGs are the kit parts. If you build this kit, the instructions for these parts are very unclear and seem to mix up the gun barrel numbers so check your references and don't go by the instructions. The barrels have yet to be painted.
All that's left to do now is to modify the canopy hood and glue it into place, add the pitot tube and the props and do some finishing touches. Thanks again for following.
I ended up opting for some spare drop tanks from my old Tamiya P-47M kit as these had nicer details on them. They had been painted in aluminum Alclad already and so it was an easy matter to shoot the camo colours on and scratch them up a bit. I used a darker OD for the uppers since these would not have seen the same amount of fading as the aircraft itself. The stencil decals were scrounged from my spares.
The mirrors have been finished but the effect is so-so. The areas around the polished sections received some glossy dark OD for the reason mentioned earlier. Note also that I added silver dots at the cowl fastener locations.
The finished exhaust stains:
The drop tanks have been hung in place. I elected not to go with the asymmetric load out of one tank and one bomb as this would more likely have been used in 1944 after the 1st FG moved to Italy.
At the cockpit, I cut the roll-up side windows, painted and decaled them and stuck them into place. I made the one on the starboard side stick out a little more just cuz. I also enhanced the crash pad and added the red emergency hood release handle which I made from lead wire.
At the pointy end, the guns have been installed. The cannon was replaced with bass rod and the MGs are the kit parts. If you build this kit, the instructions for these parts are very unclear and seem to mix up the gun barrel numbers so check your references and don't go by the instructions. The barrels have yet to be painted.
All that's left to do now is to modify the canopy hood and glue it into place, add the pitot tube and the props and do some finishing touches. Thanks again for following.
fubar57
General
Good stuff Andy
N4521U
Colonel
That is Topps!!!
Damn fine work Andy.
le_steph40
Chief Master Sergeant
with all above 
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Really looking the biz Andy.
Maybe use some kitchen foil for the nacelle mirrors ?
Maybe use some kitchen foil for the nacelle mirrors ?
- Thread starter
- #128
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks guys. Yes, Terry, I had thought of other options. My usual go to would be the highly reflective aluminum tape that I have but in this case I was keen to try the chrome pens to see how they would work. As it turned out, they weren't suitable for this application and I'm willing to accept the result as a learning experience rather than sanding the cowl down to bare plastic and starting over. I have made several concessions on this model, most notably leaving the very sparse wheel wells alone and so I'm ok with leaving these mirrors as is.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Yep, good call Andy. I find chrome pens OK for such things as oleo legs, and small, flat, square or rectangular areas, such as windscreen - mounted mirrors, but anything larger can be a bit hit or miss.
that looks really great Andy
Nice work so far Andy!
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
It really is a cool looking airplane.
- Thread starter
- #134
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks all. On final approach now with the props added. A small issue is that the starboard prop, the one that fits onto the newly cast resin cowl, revealed that the cowl is not quite correctly shaped as there is a bit of a step between the cowl and the spinner. It's not horrible but certainly far from perfect but there's no way I'm going to fix that now.
The canopy hood needs modification for the subject plane. As the kit is actually for the E model, I had to add the rear view mirror and rear hinge seen on the F-15. The E had a side-opening hood and no mirror, Here's the hood before:
And now after with the added parts. The hinge was build up from card and the mirror, which on the real plane is a moulded hunk of clear perspex, was carved from a piece of clear sprue and the back edge dabbed with a chrome pen. All rather hard to see in these pics.
That will pretty much do it. After mounting the hood, I'll take some final pics and call this one done.
The canopy hood needs modification for the subject plane. As the kit is actually for the E model, I had to add the rear view mirror and rear hinge seen on the F-15. The E had a side-opening hood and no mirror, Here's the hood before:
And now after with the added parts. The hinge was build up from card and the mirror, which on the real plane is a moulded hunk of clear perspex, was carved from a piece of clear sprue and the back edge dabbed with a chrome pen. All rather hard to see in these pics.
That will pretty much do it. After mounting the hood, I'll take some final pics and call this one done.
fubar57
General
Nice mods
Grant Barr
Senior Airman
Top work Andy. This one is coming up a real treat. It's interesting to note your results with the chrome pen - I haven't had the best outcomes with these either, even in smaller applications.
Lovely work so far Andy!
Real Nice man....
- Thread starter
- #140
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks again guys. "DONE" shots:
My thanks to all who followed the build and chimed in with comments and support. It was a long haul but I'm glad it's now done!
My thanks to all who followed the build and chimed in with comments and support. It was a long haul but I'm glad it's now done!
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