P-38L-5-LO from Trumpeter kit in 1/32

[Airframes]

That's not good, considering the high price they charge for their gear legs.
And the cat has a guilty look on its face as if to say "Who, me? I didn't do it, honest!"

 

[prem895]

Send your cat to me,I need new violin strings. I agree with Terry that for the price we pay for this stuff,they could at least get it right

 

[Wurger]

Yes, I love my two cats if not today I would probably kill one of them, this:
View attachment 249824

I have a better idea.. offer your cats to one of China modelling firm. I woud suggest the Trumpeter. I think you could get a good price for these cats and pick up a couple of nice kits.

 

[Wayne Little]

Cat bombs dropping from the heavens....not had that modelling obstacle to deal with...

 

[Airframes]

Catastrophic.
I've got me coat ...............

 

[Crimea_River]

Bad luck Alberto. I've not known white metal to bend. It usually snaps.

 

[al49]

Bad luck Alberto. I've not known white metal to bend. It usually snaps.

Well, this isn't new to me.
I the past I did several 90 mm figurines starting from white metal alloy kits.
If they were on horse-back, like these two examples:

It was common that, after a while, the weight (over one kilo) will start bending horse legs so it was mandatory to put a metal rod to support, but I wasn't expecting this to happen here because the total weight of the model is just about half kilo and is supported on three points.
One more lesson learned: next time I will save money and troubles.
Alberto

 

[Crimea_River]

Nice work there.

 

[Airframes]

Beautiful work !
I've used white metal guns and some undercarriage parts years ago, and found they can easily be bent too. But for the size (and price) of the P-38 gear, you would have thought a better 'grade' of casting would have been used.

 

[Wurger]

 

[vikingBerserker]

NICE!

 

[Wayne Little]

Nicely done Alberto!

 

[al49]

Today, the last day of the year, I also did the last bit of this build. Not yet ready to be moved to the "complete" session because I need to took better photos of the whole thing, so I just present one of them:

A bit better are close-up pictures:

Happy New Year again!
Alberto

 

[Wurger]

Great....

And Happy New Year to you too.

 

[prem895]

Great job on her.She looks the part. I like the rolled down window on the left

 

[Airframes]

Very nice work Alberto. I like the dried mud in the tyre treads. Hope you have a great New Year.

 

[Wayne Little]

Not bad at all...!!

 

[Lucky13]

Awesome work Alberto!

 

[al49]

Many thanks for all comments.
I'm fairly happy of this build, even if there are here and there a number of small faults.
I don't know when I will do an other NMF but, with this one, one lesson I surely learned: don't always trust people in model shops.
For the painting of the model I used Alclad II products: various shades of metal lacquers and, as a base coat, "Gloss Black Base".
In my experience, the latter is a very good base but absolutely not what the seller told me: a primer.
The adhesion to bare plastic is good but cracks, scratches etc. aren't highlighted like with any normal primer and I discovered them only after the first metal paint was applied.
Therefore the need to sand, polish and repaint some areas.

By the way I also learned how helpful can be metallic waxes like those shown here:

Stamperia

The work perfectly to cover any defect on metal surfaces.

Alberto

 

[Crimea_River]

Beautiful model Alberto.