Welcome to the Fork Tailed Devil Campaign!

The campaign will run from May 1, 2015 through October 31, 2015.

If you haven't signed up yet, or want to see the rules, go here.

Please post your initial and in-progress photos as well as campaign discussion in this thread. Please post your finished build photos in the campaign gallery.

Looking forward to some great models honoring the unique P-38 (and F-4/5) Lightning!

Michael

I'll start off with a treasure hunt for my DML P-38(L?)

I have not been able to locate a kit with my usual sources and the campaign starts manana in the Western hemisphere. Since I do not have a kit yet I will just post a couple of pretty photos:



Bob

Ok, lets kick this thing into gear shall we
Here is my entry for this campaign, the Academy P-38 Lightening in 1:48 scale







I am going to build this particular box o' bits into a photo recon variant of the P-38, so this is probably going to be entirely out of box. Also this is only my second attempt at a bare metal finish, so that could prove interesting!

cheers, Simon

Simon, what is you impression of the Academy kit? I was looking at purchasing it online last night, but could not make up my mind.

Bob

Bob,
my first impressions of this kit are pretty good, the plastic looks well moulded with recessed panel lines which are not too deep and a nice width too. In addition there is no noticeable flash on the parts, I am not sure about the ejector pin mark situation as I have not started cleaning up the parts yet, but at a quick glance I cannot see many problematic ones.

With regards to the decals, those look pretty damn good too, the only slight problem I have with them is that there do not seem to be any stencil markings provided, however the decals that are provided seem to be pretty nicely printed and to my eye they look perfectly in register.

There is no P.E provided with this kit, but there are a set of PVC tyres for the landing gear. Other than that, the detail is all moulded in the plastic and to be fair Academy have done a nice job of it from what I have seen, especially in the cockpit, although I have no doubt that there will be plenty of after market clobber out there to help it along a bit.

Four variants are provided out of box, the plane pictured on the box lid, a P38J flown by Col. Charles H. Macdonald, a P38 "Droopsnoot" which I think was a light bomber variant (bombs, drop tanks, HVAR rockets and Bazooka rockets are provided)as well as a P38L pathfinder, and an F5E photo recon variant (my chosen subject) so your are pretty spoiled for choice really.

All in all, this looks like a nice kit to me, the instructions are nice and clear, but there is not too much room for notes on them.

I hope this helps you out a bit, if there is anything else you want to know about this kit, just ask!

Cheers, Simon

On a second look. there are indeed stencil marking on the decal sheet, so 10/10 for observance on my part

No need to worry about the decals lacking detail, they are fine, my observational skills on the other hand....those might be a different story!

Again, I hope this helps

Cheers, Simon

Simon, thanks for the over view of the kit. I will now see if my LHS has it first then go online if not.

Bob

For my fellow Academy Lightning builders, I highly recommend following Paul Budzik's advice on building an alignment jig:
http://paulbudzik.com/tools-techniques/Eduard%20P-38/eduard_p-38_boom_alignment.html
I have previously built their multi-version kit as an F-5E without the benefit of that jig. It went together but caused me some frustrations I could have avoided with his tips.

As for myself, I am doing a double dose of Academy Lightnings for this and the Lockheed campaign.

-Well, I dredged deep into the stash and found the DML 1/72 P-38J. Looks a lot better than my Heller / Airfix 1/72 P-38(E?). Looks like it has real wheel wells and a detailed cockpit. Downside is only one marking set.

@Mark: what is in front of your stash of kits, or is yours like mine? No rime or reason! How have you been Mark?

@Paul: I enjoyed that link, it gave me some thinking to do.

@Simon: I went with the Hobby Boss P-38L-5-LO Lightning, since my usual online supplier has not had any P-38 in 1/48 for some time now. UPS states a delivery date of 5/6/15. So I feel naked.

Bob

Right now, my stash is in ~ 10 boxes in the pool house, a short stack in my closet and possibly one more box in a storage locker or in the unfinished part of the basement and there might be another box full of hanger queens somewhere....

Hi folks,

I'm in! One of my favorite aircraft. I'll be building the Trumpeter 32nd scale P-38 with a few aftermarket items. Here's my entry:




Looking forward to building this beast and looking forward to seeing a lot of great work from you folks in this build.

Joe: welcome to the campaign. How big is the Trumpeter 1/32 kit? And what are your impressions at a first glance?.

My kit for the campaign which is suppose to be delivered 5/6/2015:


Bob

@Paul, thanks for the link, I have a feeling that is going to prove useful...I just need to scrounge some wood from somewhere and try not to bugger up the jig its self since I have never really used a proper jig before..this is already turning into an interesting build, and I'm not even half way through the cockpit yet!

Bob,

It's pretty big... 19 inch wingspan. I'm just opening up the bags and inspecting. Riveting looks extensive, but good. I've had the opportunity to be up close with a CAF P-38 and they are covered in rivets, so this looks realistic to me so far.

It comes with rubber tires that I won't be using. Have the Aires set instead. Wish Trumpeter would stop the rubber tires and provide resin especially at this price point. I've read where the shape of the props aren't quite right. I'll check that out and use the props from the old Revell kit I have.

A really nice feature of the kit is the decals. They're from Eagle Editions whose work I really like, and printed by Cartograf. Look nice and in register with great colors. I'm not sure however what I'm going to use at this point as I may want to do McGuires bird with decals from Eagle or go to Kits World and use their Robin Olds decals. To be decided.

Although I have the Big Ed edition of Eduards etch I may not use all of it. We'll see as I move along.


So to sum it up first impressions are pretty good, and what you'd generally expect from Trumpeter.

We'll see how it builds

Joe: so the P-38 does have rivets? Something I did not know, thanks for the review.

Bob

Bob,

Yeah, stainless steel flush mounted rivets, but very visible.

Academy 1:48 P-38M Night Lightning

I will be doing a complete build log for this campaign. I picked up Academy's discontinued P-38M and hope to really make her shine.




I don't think I will get started for a couple of weeks but here she is, ready to go. I'll include a couple of select photo updates here as I go along.

I'm in as I said I'm going to try and build two kits both of them have their issues and I'm nothing if not a glutton for punishment! I'll be building the Monogram kit as the P-38M Night fighter/Intruder and the Italeri kit will of course be the photo recon version but it'll be the shark mouth from Mountfarm UK August 1944 in RAF photo recon blue which should look quite stunning and different from the usual bare metal or olive drab birds out there. I've only got the one reference for this build but it's quite comprehensive and has a set of plans for it as well.

@Chris: you really a gluten for punishment with the Monogram kit. Those molds have been used so many times that every parts tree comes out warped. I spent a summer trying to make a build some what decent, the best thing that I did was to toss it into the trash. The Italeri kit looks promising, I have not seen that kit.

@Paul: that was the version that I was trying to accomplish with the Monogram kit, so I will watch your build with interest. Can you imagine being the RO cramped in the back seat

Bob

Hi Bob both kits have their challenges and to be honest making the kit go together is the part I actually quite enjoy. The Italeri kit has one piece props and back plates the props look awful! It does have wheel wells however but they have little or no detail. I do however have a number of prop blades left over from my Eduard P-39Q build that I'll utilize with this or the Monogram kit and hopefully I can get the quickboost prop set and adapt it to the Monogram kit.

First progress update on the F-5E,
I have to say, I can think of much worse ways to spend a bank holiday Monday than sitting down to work on a model, with some lovely Twin-boom eye candy from Lockheed on the screen, and some classic rock in the background!

This is as far as I got, I have done most of the cockpit work now, but there is still a little bit of final finishing to do here and there, especially on the radio gear behind the pilot's seat but its nearly there





So, that is it for now, any feedback is very welcome, and there is more to come soon hopefully

Cheers, Simon

@Chris: I wish you all the best with the Monogram P-38 it would be great to see someone make a silk purse out of that kit, the Iteleri P-38 should be a fine kit IMHO. I will be watching your progress to see if I can pick up some helpful hints for my build.

@Simon: you are already rocking and rolling on the office. If I remember correctly the P-38's office was a little bit cramped. I wonder how it felt for the fellas who went on long mission flights such as the one to intercept Yamato.

Bob

bob and Chris,

I have some nice reference pics of the Night Lightning's R/O station from the P-38 Walk Around. I think there are 4 good ones: one of each sidewall, the "seat", and kind of an overall shot. None of the kits do it much justice from what I know so it may help people flesh it out a bit if they wish. I'll see if I can figure out a way to get them scanned and posted, or is that a no-no?

The "seat" is the really interesting part, it's basically just an armored plate for the back (with 4 bolts sticking out in the corners!) and a canvas bench to sit on. The R/O ended up hunched over his radar with his legs stretched out alongside the pilot's seat. The armor plate for the pilot was removed, I guess to reduce weight.

I absolutely would not want to try and fit my 6'2" frame into that space, Bob!