1/48 P-38J-10 Lightning – Pacific Theatre of Operations II

[Vic Balshaw]

Glenn, Sergio, Andy, many thanks for those kind words guys.

Manage a little time in the hanger today, got the cockpit side walls finished and the cockpit assembled. All that's needed now is the armour plating behind the pilot.

So while the paint dries on the armour I turned my attention to the boom radiators and supercharger air intake. There is some excellent PE grills for the radiators, they were a bit fiddly to place, particularly the forward on as the instructions advise fitting externally, but this would the present a gap when the radiator lip is attached, so I decided to fit them internally, hence the fiddle.

The resin supercharger air intakes are also nicely detailed a nice addition to the boom.

 

[Catch22]

Awesome work Vic!

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far Vic!

 

[chris brown]

Top notch work on that cockpit.

 

[Crimea_River]

It is that.

 

[vikingBerserker]

What a fantastic job!

 

[destrozas]

delicate work

 

[fubar57]

Great stuff Vic.

Geo

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Thanks for looking in guys and for all your praise, most encouraging. It's been a few days but in that time I've not been idle, with fitting, gluing and sanding, it's a slow work in progress.

Here we are with the cockpit all buttoned up.

I'm not wanting this one to be a bum sitter.

Wheel bay's assembled with just a little extra thrown in just for fun.

Lastly a set of shiny wheels, just been given a protective coat as I find that the Vallejo rubber paint marks very easily but to my mind, gives the wheel a better rubber colour.

 

[fubar57]

Coming along nicely Vic. I like to use RLM66 for my tires.

Geo

 

[Catch22]

Nicely done Vic!

 

[T Bolt]

Looking fine Vic.

 

[Gnomey]

Looks great so far Vic!

 

[chris brown]

Nice progress, Vic!

 

[mikewint]

Hey Vic, back from the mines, washed 16tons of #9 dirt and your build is looking really fantastic. Going to reference this if/when I do another P-38

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Thanks for the encouragement guys and hope you enjoyed the sifting or 16 ton of dirt Mike.

Have a little setback at the moment. Joined the booms to the wings yesterday and was doing a bit of a clean-up, it slipped out of my hands. Normally this maybe would not have been much of a problem but with the weights in the nose and engines, it was heavy and on landing, busted one undercarriage leg and bent tother.

Nothing too drastic but a bit of a pi$$.

 

[mikewint]

In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,

 

[Vic Balshaw]

In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,

Och eye, yer nee wrong thare laddie


Slow steady progress. After busting the olio, a day's work fixed them both with strengthened metal rods. So were all together now, bumps filed down, seams sealed and ready for a bit of panel line highlighting.

Not a very heavy load, but the PE fins helps to give better proportion to them.

 

[fubar57]

Glad you got the little faux pas straightened out Vic. Those PE fins look great.

Geo

 

[T Bolt]

Yes those fins look great. Really looking like a lightning now!