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

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Let's start with the oil coolers. Tamiya does a good job of replicating the labyrinth of ducting to these coolers. It's good that I didn't paint these on the sprue as I would otherwise have been removing a lot of the paint for the glue surfaces. Each duct is made of 6 parts which, needless to say, fit together perfectly. Below you can see one finished assembly at left and the various parts that make up the finished assembly at right.

View attachment 698470

Here's one partly assembled main wheel bay. I need to shoot some more aluminum paint in here as I removed some ridges on the coolant pipe and glue seams on the duct to the turbo. I'll then need to pick out a few parts in black and give it all a wash to grubby it up (the wall was done previously but not the roof).

View attachment 698471

Some of the parts have a moulded-in "L" or "R" but this assembly didn't so I had to mark it with a Sharpie. Here's a closer view of the front bulkhead showing the delicate undercarriage structure that takes a bit of patience to assemble. Again there will be another shot of paint followed by a wash.

View attachment 698473

Thanks again for following along gents. More tomorrow no doubt.
Hi Andy!
Can you please show on your photos where exactly is the dust filter you've asked about? Did I understand it correctly, that Tamiya has the parts for the filter(s) but no instructions where to attach it?
Cheers!
 
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Hi CATCH 22 CATCH 22 Yves. Coincidentally, I was about to post these pictures. Tamiya have included the parts for the dust filters in this kit but the instructions do not mention them at all. All they say is to cut off some mysterious lugs from the main undercarriage. This got me curious and I asked Davecww1 Davecww1 if his Tamiya F/G/H kit had these parts and he said yes and that, in fact, the instructions for that kit address how to install these parts. That prompted me to do some digging and I found a schematic of the arrangement in one of my books and I also posted a separate question on the topic here: P-38 Air Filter

I am inclined to install these filters unless someone can tell me that they do not belong on a post D-Day, France-based P-38J. I dry-fitted the filter halves together and pinched them onto the strut as seen here:

22122002.jpg


When installed (temporarily) the assembly looks like this and the open end of the filter duct fits perfectly to the Tee in the intake duct:

22122001.jpg


I never knew about this filter until I saw it on the sprues. The Academy kit I did a while back has no such provision and so I was pleasantly surprised to find this feature on the Tamiya kit and I learned something in the process.

I have never seen a picture of the installation on the actual aircraft and period pics of course don't reveal it since it's buried in the wheel well. If you or anyone else knows of the use, or non-use, of these filters on ETO P-38J's I'd love to know more if it hasn't already been addressed in the linked thread.
 
Hi CATCH 22 CATCH 22 Yves. Coincidentally, I was about to post these pictures. Tamiya have included the parts for the dust filters in this kit but the instructions do not mention them at all. All they say is to cut off some mysterious lugs from the main undercarriage. This got me curious and I asked Davecww1 Davecww1 if his Tamiya F/G/H kit had these parts and he said yes and that, in fact, the instructions for that kit address how to install these parts. That prompted me to do some digging and I found a schematic of the arrangement in one of my books and I also posted a separate question on the topic here: P-38 Air Filter

I am inclined to install these filters unless someone can tell me that they do not belong on a post D-Day, France-based P-38J. I dry-fitted the filter halves together and pinched them onto the strut as seen here:

View attachment 699333

When installed (temporarily) the assembly looks like this and the open end of the filter duct fits perfectly to the Tee in the intake duct:

View attachment 699332

I never knew about this filter until I saw it on the sprues. The Academy kit I did a while back has no such provision and so I was pleasantly surprised to find this feature on the Tamiya kit and I learned something in the process.

I have never seen a picture of the installation on the actual aircraft and period pics of course don't reveal it since it's buried in the wheel well. If you or anyone else knows of the use, or non-use, of these filters on ETO P-38J's I'd love to know more if it hasn't already been addressed in the linked thread.
Thanks for the information! I saw your question in the other thread and tried to figure out where this filter might be. I too have never seen this relatively big element in a wheel well of a P-38 (mostly the restored ones).
Below is the only historical photo of the main wheel well I have:
LU8fY4x.jpg

On the other hand I do believe these filters were factory installed (as discussed in the other thread) and not provisional.
H, J and L had the same duct and filter. In fact this was the TURBO-SUPERCHARGER FILTER and duct assembly as per the part catalog for P-38 (similar to the scheme you already posted):
QdnjuL2.jpg

pGZ2wG4.jpg

It's really a nice addition!
Cheers!
 
Dust filter installation as mentioned above
The dust filter should be the item 31 on the P-38H diagram, or item 27 on the P-38J/L diagram. It required the wheel well to be opened (doh), for these to work.
During the 'normal' flight, the air entered through the ram air intake, item 81 or 59 on P-38H or 38J/L, respectively. Note the interconnected levers to shut or open the path for the air. Levers were connected to the commands in the cockpit for the pilot to operate them on the later P-38s, while the earlier models have had automatic operation.
Hope this helps :)
 
The dust filter should be the item 31 on the P-38H diagram, or item 27 on the P-38J/L diagram. It required the wheel well to be opened (doh), for these to work.
During the 'normal' flight, the air entered through the ram air intake, item 81 or 59 on P-38H or 38J/L, respectively. Note the interconnected levers to shut or open the path for the air. Levers were connected to the commands in the cockpit for the pilot to operate them on the later P-38s, while the earlier models have had automatic operation.
Hope this helps :)
i was about to ask why the filter and intake were inside the wheel bay, that would be closed in flight ?
thanks Tomo
 
Undercarriage assembled, painted, and washed. I added some hydraulic lines to the steering gear on the front strut with lead wire but other than that, all is per the kit with the filters added. The exposed oleos have been hit with a Molotov chrome pen and I'll add brake lines to the main struts next.

22122201.jpg


The wash doesn't really show in the photo but the effect is stronger in real life.
 
These new Tamiya kits are well researched as can bee seen by the fact dimensionally they are very accurate including their P-38. I added the filters in my build and showed you guys a picture of them fitted. There were no comments on whether they should be fitted or not and I was never able to find an actual period photo showing them fitted so assumed Tamiya was right.
 
Great work as always, the filters I did install on my F for last build, I guess I blindly follow the build. The main gear well, there is a lot of stuff not necessary that they ask you to install, door retractors etc that will hang out. I didn't install any of them till EoB! There is a gear retraction strut that does need be installed and I ended breaking both off dispite work hard not to. Love this kit and it and Tamiya P-47 have taken over this GB. I love watching everyone just in AW of the kit design, as always love your work
 
Thanks guys. No work done since last time as it's been a bit busy around here. More visitors tomorrow too.

These new Tamiya kits are well researched as can bee seen by the fact dimensionally they are very accurate including their P-38. I added the filters in my build and showed you guys a picture of them fitted. There were no comments on whether they should be fitted or not and I was never able to find an actual period photo showing them fitted so assumed Tamiya was right.

Dave, the reason I questioned the filters was because the J kit includes them on the sprues but says nothing about them in the instructions. I think one area Tamiya could improve is to provide a sprue map with parts that are not to be used shown shaded out, as Eduard does.
 

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