**** DONE: GB-56 1/48 P-38J-25 - Thunderbolts and Lightnings

[Crimea_River]

Username: Crimea River
First name: Andy
Category: Judge – Non competing
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Tamiya
Model Type: P-38J Lightning
Aftermarket addons: Possibly Sky Decals

I bought this kit a few months ago to enter into this GB and so I better try and get it done. The Tamiya kit is known to be a real cracker and should go together well and require minimal additional detailing. I have not landed on a definite scheme but at the moment I'm leaning toward using up some decals from a Sky sheet I bought many years ago. The chosen scheme is P-38J Lightning s/n 44-23677 "Little Buckaroo" coded H5-A flown by Maj. Robert "Buck" Rogers of the 392nd Fighter Squadron, 367th Fighter Group in France, August 1944. I've only found two period photos which I've directly linked from the originating sites:

Eduard makes a set of decals for this bird and interprets two different spinners on this plane so they must have other reference pics which sure would be nice to see.

I'll tackle this build as and when I get tired of working on the B-25 and suspect that I'll get a few progress pics up in a day or two.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Nice Andy, nice.

 

[fubar57]

I'll have a look when I get home Andy; would love to see those markings on

 

[Wurger]

 

[Jock Tamson]

Cool

 

[le_steph40]

Good choice Andy
I only found this but it doesn't help...

 

[Wurger]

Although not images of the real plane but may come in handy ...

Lockheed P-38 "Litte Buckaroo" 367th FG/392nd FS » Microsoft Flight Simulator

✓ Lockheed P-38 "Litte Buckaroo" 367th FG/392nd FS is a Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 mod created by Jan Kees Blom. Download for free to enhance your experience in MSFS 2020.

flightsim.to

 

[Wurger]

Also found this ... File:367th Fighter Group 392d FS P-38 Lightning.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
However it could be the early Maj. Robert "Buck" Rogers Lightning coded H5-A , serial 44-23579 that was crashed. It was a P-38J-20 while 44-23677 was P-38J-25. Both kites wore the same nick.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Both serials aren't in Baugher's database. I did come across those skins in my Google searches but I never trust those unless the designer shows or discusses reference pics of the real machine. Steph's image does show a sliver of the starboard spinner but not enough to confirm the yellow and black rings. The sliver looks lighter than black though.

EDIT: Just noticed Eduard's decals have the codes H5-B for s/n 44-23677 whereas mine has H5-A.

 

[Airframes]

Nice choice Andy, and I loke those markings.
I think I'd go with the photo evidence as seen in the colour pic, unless further pics can be found. I t looks like the spinner are bare metal, although the forward part may be white.

 

[Wayne Little]

Go for it Andy.

 

[fubar57]

I'm all settled down after night-shifts so I'll hit the books now. Odd that Eduard has the two tone spinner on the wrong side

 

[fubar57]

Found this but probably won't help. From the 367th FG Newsletter and it looks like Wojtek is correct. The newsletter also shows the same pic you posted in Post #1

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks very much for that Geo. Seems there are a few things wrong with that Eduard scheme unless they had proof that the a/c was coded "B". It stands to reason that if "A" was damaged and removed from squadron use in that accident then the replacement might also have been coded "A" since presumably "B" would have still been assigned.

Anyway, I thought I posted this last night but must not have hit the "Post" button. I did make a small start. I laid out all the parts that needed Interior Green and shot that and the black. One coat of gloss has been applied for a wash.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Nice start there Andy.

 

[le_steph40]

 

[fubar57]

Might be a help, might not be.....I dunno. In "Battle Colors Volume III", it shows the squadron colours for the 367th FG. They are: 392nd, red, 393rd, blue and 394th, yellow. So if we go by your colour photo, nose cap is 392nd red. The left spinner could be a replacement from the 394th, a washed out yellow. It looks to me like NMF tip, yeller band and NMF back. Possibly the right spinner is 392nd red. Still looking.....

 

[fubar57]

Seems there are a few things wrong with that Eduard scheme.....

Perhaps Eduard got a lot wrong. From the same squadron belonging to Maj. Horace M. Hartwig. Both spinners the same so if we can't find a photo of your right spinner....

DA WEBS​

EDIT: Looking at this photo again kinda blow my spinner colour theory in Post #18 out of the water.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Up, up and away Andy.