Tamiya 1:48 P-38F

[Curt B]

Hammerhead - Beautiful work on your P-38!  I got two of these kits the moment they were available, as the P-38 is one of my favorite airplanes of WWII.  After seeing your great work here, and the build/paint that Chris Wauchup did on Miss Virginia, I plan to make one of my two into this same plane, though I can only hope to end up with a result that comes even close to what you have done here.  I just ordered a couple of sets of the Master Model Early Armament set AM48114; I normally wouldn't spend as much as I did for these, but given the barrels for the guns on a P-38 are so prominent, I want to have them be the best they can be!

 

Looking forward to seeing how your Miss Virginia turns out!

[Hammerhead11]

8 hours ago, AlienFrogModeller said:

Very impressive!!

 

Looks great!!

Thank you!

[Hammerhead11]

6 hours ago, Curt B said:

Hammerhead - Beautiful work on your P-38!  I got two of these kits the moment they were available, as the P-38 is one of my favorite airplanes of WWII.  After seeing your great work here, and the build/paint that Chris Wauchup did on Miss Virginia, I plan to make one of my two into this same plane, though I can only hope to end up with a result that comes even close to what you have done here.  I just ordered a couple of sets of the Master Model Early Armament set AM48114; I normally wouldn't spend as much as I did for these, but given the barrels for the guns on a P-38 are so prominent, I want to have them be the best they can be!

 

Looking forward to seeing how your Miss Virginia turns out!

Thanks!  This is definitely a fantastic kit.  I had though about getting a set of after market barrels, but I’m curious to see how the decals will work on the kit parts so I think I’ll give it a try.  If it’s absolutely horrendous I’ll get some AM barrels.  But I’m positive you will enjoy building the kit.  It’s been a lot of fun.

 

Brett.

[Falconxlvi]

Nice paint job- I like the masked lines around the nose and nacelles- it adds a lot of visual interest to a somewhat dull OD/gray scheme.  I’m looking forward to seeing more!   This kit is next on my bench too ☺️
 

Steve

[Hammerhead11]

3 hours ago, Falconxlvi said:

Nice paint job- I like the masked lines around the nose and nacelles- it adds a lot of visual interest to a somewhat dull OD/gray scheme.  I’m looking forward to seeing more!   This kit is next on my bench too ☺️
 

Steve

Thanks Steve, I agree, it helps break up the monotonous paint scheme.  I also decided to take a little artistic liberty with the weathering of the aircraft.  I wasn’t able to find any other pictures of White 147 that showed the over all condition of the airframe, so using other images of similar p-38s. I added some chipping around on the wing where the pilot and crews would have walked and some chipping around the engines where they would have removed panels for maintenance.  I also added the super charges and added some fading to the upper surfaces of the tail booms from the exhaust.  I’m hoping tomorrow I can get a gloss coat on it and start the decals.

[Curt B]

@Hammerhead:  Love your work so far.  Curious about the chipping on the inner wings, though.  I presume that you used the 'hairspray' chipping method.  If, not, can you tell me what you did use?  And if you did use the hairspray method, can you tell me which paints you used for the metal undercoat, and the top olive drab coat?  My experience with paint over 'natural metal' has not been the best, in that more often than not, the chipping turns into 'sheet removal' of the top coat, and not the finer 'chips' that we hope for, and which you clearly have accomplished.  I want to do a similar look to what you have achieved, and I'd love some guidance.  Thanks.

[Hammerhead11]

15 minutes ago, Curt B said:

@Hammerhead:  Love your work so far.  Curious about the chipping on the inner wings, though.  I presume that you used the 'hairspray' chipping method.  If, not, can you tell me what you did use?  And if you did use the hairspray method, can you tell me which paints you used for the metal undercoat, and the top olive drab coat?  My experience with paint over 'natural metal' has not been the best, in that more often than not, the chipping turns into 'sheet removal' of the top coat, and not the finer 'chips' that we hope for, and which you clearly have accomplished.  I want to do a similar look to what you have achieved, and I'd love some guidance.  Thanks.

Hi Curt.  I had contemplated using the hairspray method, but I wasn’t happy with the results I got using that on a previous build so I chose to just add the chipping on top of the main color.  I did this using a combination of the sponge chipping method and using a very small brush.  The paint I used is Vallejo’s duraluminum airbrush color.  It’s super thin so a little difficult to get good results with a sponge, so I just use the sponge to define where I want the chipping, then use my small brush to fill it out and add chips in very specific places.  I feel that this method gives me the most control over the look and density of the chipping.  I hope that helps, and thanks for looking,

 

Brett

[Curt B]

9 minutes ago, Hammerhead11 said:

Hi Curt.  I had contemplated using the hairspray method, but I wasn’t happy with the results I got using that on a previous build so I chose to just add the chipping on top of the main color.  I did this using a combination of the sponge chipping method and using a very small brush.  The paint I used is Vallejo’s duraluminum airbrush color.  It’s super thin so a little difficult to get good results with a sponge, so I just use the sponge to define where I want the chipping, then use my small brush to fill it out and add chips in very specific places.  I feel that this method gives me the most control over the look and density of the chipping.  I hope that helps, and thanks for looking,

 

Brett

 

Thanks, Brett, that helps a lot!  I have Alclad 2, and AK Xtreme metal colors, and they are also very, very thin paints, made for airbrush and not brush painting.  However, I also have Mr. Hobby Aqueous Silver, which, unlike the Tamiya silver that I have used over the years, has extremely fine pigments, in particular for a water based paint (in my opinion, anyway).  I think I'd be inclined to try to use that for chipping, using the sponge and small brush method that you employ.  I haven't tried doing that yet, but my guess is that that paint would work really well.  A thought for your future builds, if you continue to use this process. 

Edited December 15, 2019 by Curt B

[Majja13]

She is looking so very good.  I can not wait to see this plain when it is finished.  Just simply amazing.

[Hammerhead11]

1 hour ago, Curt B said:

 

Thanks, Brett, that helps a lot!  I have Alclad 2, and AK Xtreme metal colors, and they are also very, very thin paints, made for airbrush and not brush painting.  However, I also have Mr. Hobby Aqueous Silver, which, unlike the Tamiya silver that I have used over the years, has extremely fine pigments, in particular for a water based paint (in my opinion, anyway).  I think I'd be inclined to try to use that for chipping, using the sponge and small brush method that you employ.  I haven't tried doing that yet, but my guess is that that paint would work really well.  A thought for your future builds, if you continue to use this process. 

I’ve been looking at trying the AK extreme metals, I’ll have to give it try.  Thanks for the tip!

-Brett

[Hammerhead11]

27 minutes ago, Majja13 said:

She is looking so very good.  I can not wait to see this plain when it is finished.  Just simply amazing.

Thanks so much!

-Brett

[Hammerhead11]

Quick update.  While I was waiting for the gloss coat to cure, I managed to work on some of the smaller details.  Got the landing gear and wheels painted.  Drop tanks have been decalled.  Gear doors have been prepped.

 

I did start on the decals, here is a little teaser:

Thats all for now.  I have a lot of decals to apply, I’m doing all of the stencils.  So I’m not sure when I’ll update next (I’m really slow at decals).  Thanks for looking,

 

Brett.

[Falconxlvi]

19 hours ago, Hammerhead11 said:

Quick update.  While I was waiting for the gloss coat to cure, I managed to work on some of the smaller details.  Got the landing gear and wheels painted.  Drop tanks have been decalled.  Gear doors have been prepped.

 

I did start on the decals, here is a little teaser:

Thats all for now.  I have a lot of decals to apply, I’m doing all of the stencils.  So I’m not sure when I’ll update next (I’m really slow at decals).  Thanks for looking,

 

Brett.

I love that last shot Brett- the paintwork is excellent 👍🏻👍🏻
 

Steve

[Hammerhead11]

6 hours ago, Falconxlvi said:

I love that last shot Brett- the paintwork is excellent 👍🏻👍🏻
 

Steve

Thanks Steve!  

[Scooby]

Beautiful work!

[Hammerhead11]

7 hours ago, Scooby said:

Beautiful work!

Thank you!

[Hammerhead11]

Well, here is a quick update, sorry it’s light on pictures.  Decals are done and the final gloss coat has been applied.  Also, she’s standing on her own feet now!  This makes me happy, glad to see that the included weights work just perfectly.  (Wouldn’t have expected any less though.)  trying to finish up all of the smaller details until the gloss cures and then I can finally get on with the weathering.  It feels like I’m in the home stretch now.

Thanks for looking,

 

Brett

[Curt B]

Really nice work, Brett.  Just last evening, I finished my 1/48 Eduard Tempest Series 2, and I started unbagging and snipping parts from the sprues for my P-38... I can only hope mine comes out even close to as nice as yours!  😊 

 

Oh, by the way, regarding using a sponge and paint for chipping, on my Tempest. I used a sponge and the aqueous Mr. Hobby Silver (H008) that I’d told you about previously, and the chips came out great!  Also, I used the new AK watercolor pencil, the aluminum color, for some of the smaller chips. Highly recommended,  but I had to use the pencil on a matte finish.  My workflow of late has been a gloss coat {I just started using Alclad Aqua Gloss), then decals, a second gloss coat, then weathering (panel lines, etc.), a flat coat (AK Ultra Matte Varnish [water based]), where I do the pencil chipping, followed by a satin final coat.  I note that I have to touch up the pencil chips, because the satin coat seems to fade the pencil chips a bit.  More than you probably cared to hear, but just thought I’d mention what I’ve been doing recently, in case anyone finds it of value.

Edited December 23, 2019 by Curt B
Spelling and additions

[Hammerhead11]

17 hours ago, Curt B said:

Really nice work, Brett.  Just last evening, I finished my 1/48 Eduard Tempest Series 2, and I started unbagging and snipping parts from the sprues for my P-38... I can only hope mine comes out even close to as nice as yours!  😊 

 

Oh, by the way, regarding using a sponge and paint for chipping, on my Tempest. I used a sponge and the aqueous Mr. Hobby Silver (H008) that I’d told you about previously, and the chips came out great!  Also, I used the new AK watercolor pencil, the aluminum color, for some of the smaller chips. Highly recommended,  but I had to use the pencil on a matte finish.  My workflow of late has been a gloss coat {I just started using Alclad Aqua Gloss), then decals, a second gloss coat, then weathering (panel lines, etc.), a flat coat (AK Ultra Matte Varnish [water based]), where I do the pencil chipping, followed by a satin final coat.  I note that I have to touch up the pencil chips, because the satin coat seems to fade the pencil chips a bit.  More than you probably cared to hear, but just thought I’d mention what I’ve been doing recently, in case anyone finds it of value.

Curt, I hope you plan on posting pictures of your tempest.  I’ve been thinking of building one.  Eventually.  Well I’m glad you were happy with the results of your sponge chipping, you’ve used many products I’ve yet to try, I guess I need to be broadening my horizons!  Anyways, I’m glad you provided an update and I never grow tired of hearing others experiences, so don’t be shy to share on my threads!

 

cheers

Brett

[Curt B]

Hi Brett...you sure don’t need to do anything different based on the superior results you get with how you do things now, but it never hurts to have options!   I’ll try to shoot a few pictures of the Tempest.  It’s not quite as ‘shake and bake’ as a new Tamiya kit, but it’s not far off, either!!  It came out moderately okay, in spite of my limited capabilities. 

[Hammerhead11]

On 12/24/2019 at 4:27 AM, Curt B said:

Hi Brett...you sure don’t need to do anything different based on the superior results you get with how you do things now, but it never hurts to have options!   I’ll try to shoot a few pictures of the Tempest.  It’s not quite as ‘shake and bake’ as a new Tamiya kit, but it’s not far off, either!!  It came out moderately okay, in spite of my limited capabilities. 

Curt, you’re too kind.  I’m sure you will enjoy the p-38 though, it’s been a lot of fun.  

[Hammerhead11]

Here is my Christmas Day update.  Being Christmas Eve last night, the kids were anxious to get to bed early, so I managed to get a little more done on the p-38.  Panel lining was done and a matte coat applied.  This means that the masking could come off the cockpit, happy with how it turned out.  Got the gun barrels put in.  I ended up using the decals and too be honest, I don’t think they turned out all that bad.  I did make a goof though.  I thought I could keep the gun sight and armored glass out of the cockpit until after removing the masking.  (I didn’t want it to get knocked loose during painting.). But, it turns out it won’t fit now, so I will have to pull up the front windscreen and add it, hopefully the repairs won’t be too extensive.  Live and learn I guess.  I’ve also got the gear doors added as well.  Next up will be to add some exhaust and oils stains, finish up the drop tanks and the remaining cock put glass and add the antennas.
 

Thanks for looking and happy holidays!

Brett

[Curt B]

Hi Brett, Merry Christmas to you and your family, if a day late 😊.   Really remaining impressed with your P-38.  Good info on the gun site, as I would probably have tried what you did.   Thus far, my few glued parts and dry fitting of my own Tamiya P-38 shows the fits to be beyond incredible!  I have never encountered the kind of fit between pieces of plastic that this model has...all I can say is that it’s the best I have seen. Ever. I dislike being so effusive in my praise, because it sounds so false, but it’s true. 

 

I agree with you that the guns, with their decals, look really good in the   photo, better than I thought would be the case.  Maybe I wasted a bunch of $$ on the metal ones.  

 

Really looking forward to seeing it all done!  

 

Oh, and sorry I didn’t post any Tempest pictures yet. I promise I’ll get some up this weekend. 

Edited December 26, 2019 by Curt B

[Curt B]

 Brett,

 

I have a question.  I just ordered a few more aftermarket items for my P-38s, including the Eduard super chargers, the Look pre-painted instrument panel and seatbelts, and a first for me, the Eduard canopy masks.  I know the kit has masks included, but not pre-cut.  Plus, with the canopy being as big as it is, I want to make it as good as I can, so I got the set that has masks for the inside canopy framework, too.  Do you know what color that interior framework is?  Interior green?  Or something else?  Thank you, sir!

[Hammerhead11]

2 hours ago, Curt B said:

 Brett,

 

I have a question.  I just ordered a few more aftermarket items for my P-38s, including the Eduard super chargers, the Look pre-painted instrument panel and seatbelts, and a first for me, the Eduard canopy masks.  I know the kit has masks included, but not pre-cut.  Plus, with the canopy being as big as it is, I want to make it as good as I can, so I got the set that has masks for the inside canopy framework, too.  Do you know what color that interior framework is?  Interior green?  Or something else?  Thank you, sir!

 

Hey Curt, I don't think you wasted any money on the AM barrels, while the decals don't look terrible, but I think brass barrels will be far superior, especially upon close inspection.  I think it was a good purchase.  From the research that I did, I found that the majority of the time the interior framing is black with a little bit of Interior green.  Caveat to that however, the majority of color pictures that I found if the interior framing were all from restored aircraft and not period pictures, so that may not be entirely accurate.  But I painted mine all black for simplicity.

 

Having used the Eduard pre cut masks on a previous project (F6F-3 Hellcat) I will admit, as nice as the Tamiya ones are, I would imagine the Eduard masks to be superior.  Even with a brand new fresh blade, I found cutting out the Tamiya masks to be a little difficult.  Especially the smaller pieces for the small side windows. Having masks for the interior of the windows will be really nice and help the interior framing to look good, since when the cockpit is open you can see quote a bit of the framing.  

 

As far as the fit in your earlier comment, I get what you mean, it feels like false praise, but the reality is, it's just that good!  I'm hoping to be able to finish the kit off before the new year.  That way I can start fresh next year with some fun new projects.  

 

Here the framing for the front is black but the sides are Interior Green

 

 

In the upper right of this image you can make out the black of the canopy framing, this appears to extent to the entire front canopy.

 

This is an image of Glacier Girl, it's not 100% certain, but to me, the interior framing looks black.

 

This last one is a little difficult to see, but it appears to be a combo of black and Interior Green.

 

 

Hope these help.

Brett