Tamiya P-38F Lightning

[Peterpools]

Thanks John

Shall do

[CANicoll]

21 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Thanks Kev

I'm very slowly making progress as this week I was transported to the hospital ER by ambulance, I'm home now and seeing my doctor today. Just seems it's always something.

 

Oh no!  Good to see you back home but worried about the episode.  Take care of yourself!

[Bomber_County]

Peter, I hope you are on the road to recovery. Have you tried the AK Camouflage Putty it’s so easy to use……

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Chris

Very much appreciated. Pretty scary episode but I'm OK and feeling better.

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Phil

Feeling better and had a follow up with my doctor yesterday and all seems to be OK now.

I haven't tried the AK Camouflage Putty yet but it's on my list. I doubled checked the free hand cammo work early this morning and need to make a few small adjustments and it looks good and I should be ready for glossing and kit (Tamiya) decals).  It's just hard getting used to working small again and air brushing needs to be done, ever so gently.

 

[Peterpools]

PRIMING & PAINTING TIME

It’s been too long since the P-38 occupied front and center on the bench and the focus of my build time. Picking up where I left off, dusting off the P-38F and taking care of the remaining pre-priming issues. My wife and I are managing our medical issues and things are starting to settle down for the time being. One small trip to the ER for me this past week.  

Front windscreen was attached with a gingerly bit of Extra Thin as it wouldn’t completely sit down quite right (absolutely my fault) and the rear canopy was attached with Micro Krystal Kleer. The closed center section was used for easy masking, as the build will have an open canopy.

The gear bays were masked off with bits of foam and paper towel and the seams were given a last once over. Easier to sit the P-38 on the JL painting stand that I’ve had for a good decade plus, so priming could be accomplished in one session.

Primer of choice: MRP Fine Surface Primer Black was used with no issues and a few very minor seams needed a bit of TLC.

The priming stage completed, time to head Back to the Future and remember how to do free hand cammo in 48^th scale. Paints of choice:

MRP-139 Olive Drab 41

MRP-141 Neutral Gray 42

Painting was accomplished with an H&S Infinity CR Plus .2 tip for the cammo color demarcation line areas and a H&S Infinity CR Plus .4 tip to fill in nicely the majority of the surfaces, using a working pressure of 1 Bar. Believe it or not, the smaller the scale the more delicate and difficult the air brush work becomes. The order of the day, low working pressures, thinned out paint and small tip size, got the job done.  

Prop Hubs were painted with Tamiya XF-14 Blue

The gear and wheels were painted with Tamiya LP-38 Flat Aluminum and the details picked out with Tamiya Black Panel Line Wash. Oleos will be BMF Chrome – not done yet.

Tires were done in Tamiya XF-69 Nato Black and then given a light dusting a Tamiya XF-56 Buff.

Prop Tips were masked and painted with Tamiya XF-3 Flat Yellow.

Getting ready now for the clear gloss and then decaling and took a good look at the decals; OH NO, the decals look thick and ugly. Placed an emergency order with Sprue Brothers for a set of Eduard P-38F decals #48047with all the stencils and markings. Of course, waiting as always.

I keep asking two questions about Tamiya:

Why can’t the masks be dye cut? Used Eduard’s brilliant EX666  set.

2. For what these kits costs, how about following a good portion of the modeling world and include Cartograf decals – what’s was in my box was terrible and I wasn’t even going to attempt to use them.

And of course, this is coming from a Tamiya Fan Boy.

 

Gear, wheels, tires and almost all the remain parts have been painted and ready to install.

 

 

[JohnB]

Not bad Peter, not bad at all. It even LOOKS like a P-38!!!!🙃

[KevinM]

Well ..Welll it's about dam time we see some paint Peter(in my southern backwood voice with a bit of a stutter/squeak) All is looking good Peter!

[belugawhaleman]

Looking great Pete!

[GazzaS]

Very smooth paintwork, Peter.  Well on your way to an exceptional finish.

[DocRob]

A beauty Peter, seeing yours, make me want to build my -H soon after the -J. Your paintwork looks stellar. I hope, the Eduard decals do the job, are these of the new type? Was there a reason to glue in the turbo chargers. with the -J it was easier to leave them off until finalizing the paintjob.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Thanks John 

Yup, she sure is looking like Kelly Johnson's Twin Tailed P-38 Lightening.

The old air brush trigger finger is starting to come back.

 

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Kev, much appreciated, as it felty so good to move past the primer and onto the color coats. Right now, I have a few hours' worth of small parts to finish up and then the clear gloss goes on (either Tamiya LP-9 or X-22) and then it's waiting time for the decals to arrive.

Should have checked out the decals BEFORE starting but I was so intent on using them, I never really took a close look. Just might use the few days to do some prep work on my next build.

[Peterpools]

Thanks Paul very much appreciated.

 

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Gaz

Very much appreciated. It felt good working smaller, playing with the paint and air brush for the subject at hand, as I use to do so many years ago. Took a few 'go backs' on a few errant demarcation areas but all in all, I was pretty pleased with the results. 

[Peterpools]

Rob

Thanks for the very kind words. As you pointed out on your P-38 build, the kit is typical Tamiya, nearly flawless in design,  execution and the instructions are clear and concise. As far as the decals go, I normally buy then from Sprue Bros and the selection of P-38 decals in 48th scale is pretty slim these days. I did do an online search and found others available, but I knew SB would for me be the best and fastest option. I'm not sure if they are Eduard's new or the older type and I'm really not sure how to tell the difference. Eduard decals are dated on the bottom and I'll compare the P-38 decals to the decals in their latest Limited Edition 48th scale P-51 kit and I might be able to tell from there. If they are the old type, they will be applied as normal and if the new type, I'll try to remove the carrier film. 🤞

Rob, I know on you build you are using Eduard's new Raise Rivet Decals... and since they carrier film on them isn't to be removed, there might be some type of marking or notation as to what to look for. 🔍

Yup, absolutely jumped the gun and should not have added the turbo chargers at this point in the build, as now it's going to be a lot more finicky to paint and lightly weather them. 

Just enjoy your vacation and you awesome Lightening build will be waiting when you are back home, well rested and with recharged batteries,  

 

[DocRob]

18 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Thanks for the very kind words. As you pointed out on your P-38 build, the kit is typical Tamiya, nearly flawless in design,  execution and the instructions are clear and concise. As far as the decals go, I normally buy then from Sprue Bros and the selection of P-38 decals in 48th scale is pretty slim these days. I did do an online search and found others available, but I knew SB would for me be the best and fastest option. I'm not sure if they are Eduard's new or the older type and I'm really not sure how to tell the difference. Eduard decals are dated on the bottom and I'll compare the P-38 decals to the decals in their latest Limited Edition 48th scale P-51 kit and I might be able to tell from there. If they are the old type, they will be applied as normal and if the new type, I'll try to remove the carrier film. 🤞

Rob, I know on you build you are using Eduard's new Raise Rivet Decals... and since they carrier film on them isn't to be removed, there might be some type of marking or notation as to what to look for. 🔍

Yup, absolutely jumped the gun and should not have added the turbo chargers at this point in the build, as now it's going to be a lot more finicky to paint and lightly weather them. 

Just enjoy your vacation and you awesome Lightening build will be waiting when you are back home, well rested and with recharged batteries,  

I looked for my P-38's supplied decals and you are absolutely right Peter, they look thick and the carrier film is very visible. Tamiya started to work with Cartograph for motorbike and car decals, luckily and it's about time, to do so with planes. 
I read that the Eduard decals from 23.06.2020 on are of the new type and have only used them once with USS Arizona, where it was hard to peel off the carrier film and the decals were partly lifted doing so. The preparation might not have been meticulous. Before I use them again, I would test them thoroughly on a well prepared spare part.

For my -F/G, I bought a set of decals from Xtradecal (#48214), which looks well printed by Microscale Decals. I never used decals from this company and have to add stencils from another set.

Cheers Rob
 

[Peterpools]

Rob

Since I now know the magic date, I'll check the date as soon as the decals arrive.  I'm also willing to bet all those included with the latest Profi versions of the kits I've been purchasing will also be of the new type. I just might decal as normal, leaving the clear film as is and see what happens. Absolutely will test then before using as I have a lot of the newer 48th scale profi kits in the stash. 

Back in the day, the number one decal company was Microscale. They were excellent and worked beautifully. From what I remember (?) there were two brothers and one wanted to put their focus on model railroading and the other scale modeling.  

I've rarely purchase from Hannants as shipping is expensive across the pond. 

Peter

 

[BlrwestSiR]

Lovy paint job Peter. The P-38 looks fantastic. 

Glad to hear you're feeling better. 

As for Tamiya decals, I'm not always the biggest fan but one trick I have found to help get them to adhere is to use a damp hot cloth to press down on them. Put some decal softener on them, wait a bit and then press down with the cloth. I use a microfibre one for that. Some folks use a hair dryer to get the same results. 

On my Grey Nurse Spitfire, I used the kit decals for the shark mouth as the masks didn't work out. They managed to confirm to every rivet and fastener nicely. 

 

[Bomber_County]

Flawless as ever Peter, Tamiya really must look at their decals. For my P38 I still have some Cartograf decals that came with the Eduard P38 (Academy) boxing, can’t remember what’s left though…….

[Peterpools]

Carl

Nice looking Spit and I should have thought about that before buying the Eduard set. When I built my Birdcage Corsair, I did use a lot of the kit decals and with a lot of fussing, they went down pretty well. But I'm so leery in 48th scale with much smaller surfaces to work with, the decals will have issues. See how all this goes. 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Phil, much appreciated. 

Just never made sense to create brilliant kits and then only subpar deals and masks. How much more could it cost to go the full route?

 

[GusMac]

Don't know if/when Tamiya updated their decal supplier but the kit decals on the the F-14A I did recently were excellent and way better than any Tamiya ones I've used previously. The quality and ease of use certainly made me wonder if they were from Cartograph.

[Peterpools]

I'm not sure either but I'm just going by how thick they look and the appearance of the carrier film on the decal sheet. When I start to decal later this week, I'll test the Tamiya decals alongside of the Eduard decals and see how they compare.

 

[CANicoll]

Peter, your paint work as usual is flawless, but I really appreciate the commentary of what you are using and especially the airbrush/pressure details.  Thanks!!  Like you said, in 1/48, pressure and paint are a big deal.  I think you nailed it.

The -38 is looking terrific and I hope the decals get sorted.  Agree about the Tamiya decals - but I was not aware of the dates so will have to look.  I think most of mine are a bit older now - maybe pre-2020.

How about these for decals:  I have a set of the Pyn-Up decals for the Fork-Tailed Beauties, Part 2.  The only thing is that the set for the camo P-38 is an H-1-LO.  John Cohn's Hot Box Annie.  The other aircraft is Bong's NMF Marge.  These are from 2004, but they have been very well stored - I bought them new from Meteor Productions when they were open here locally.

Chris