Just finished this Academy 1/72 scale Lockheed P-38 Lightning. It was an easy build for the most part and the decals actually performed alright! How about that. The kit is painted and marked in 20th fighter group markings, based in England sometime in later 1943 or early 1944. Hope you enjoy looking. Russell

Nice work, Russell. Any hint or tips on this one? I don't think I have an Academy one in the stash, but with 3 fuselage joints and 4 wing joints there has to be a few challenges in there.

Hey, thank you for the kind words about my model! Actually, the kit has a pretty tight fit, other than seam work on the fuselage and the leading edge of the wings and the booms which are in two pieces of course; there isn't a lot of filling to do. The decals were what had me worried; however, Academy has made some improvements and they worked fine. Not the best decals in the world but certainly a far cry better than what Academy has offered in the past. Again, thanks for looking. Russell

P.S. Another Academy kit I recommend is the relatively new Messerschmitt 262. The only downside, it has very close tolerances when fitting the fuselage and wings together. I had to force them together it was so tight!! Good kit though and nice decal selection.

One interesting thing I was noticing, there were no codes, letters or numbers that came with the kit for the olive drab and neutral grey paint job. Wonder why? Russell

Well, I found some codes for P-38's and put them on. Guess that settles that. Ha ha Russell

another excellent build Russell, you seem to be pumping out aircraft on an almost production line rate lol good to hear there's no real issues with the P-38 as i've got one in the stash

The Academy P-38 is an excellent kit - best I've seen in 1/72. I would recommend it to anyone.

thanks
Mike

Here are some more photos, this time the model has appropriate codes on the booms. Take a look. Thanks, Russell

A couple more shot of the Lightning, after some touch up work with a little paint.