I want an early war P38 in 5th AF uniform - that would be a G for the most part. Academy makes one - so does Hasegawa. I have heard bad things about both (I know the old Revell is a mess) - but there are headaches and there are times when your mind explodes: like to avoid the later. I assume the later and more popular versions of both Hasegawa and Academy represent the basics of each makers kit. I'd like to wait for Tamiya to make one, but that could take a while. Any help here from wiser heads?
Eric

I've built the Hasegawa kit a couple of times and like it just fine. Sure, it's tricky to get aligned correctly, but not impossible. And I think the detail is a little better than the Academy kit (which is technically an E/F, I believe).

Michael

I have built the academy P-38J and didn't have much trouble with it.

Cheers Rob.

Eric, I have built only the Academy kit. I think in the end you'll get a nice model out of it with a little TLC. Especially where the twinboom meet the wings you will need a lot of patience (and some putty, too). But then you'll be proud of it. Remember, the kit is over 20 years old. An unbeatable argument for the Academy kit over Hasegawa is the price. I don't think, Tamiya will bring out a P-38 in the near future. Just think of the price. 50 Euros won't be enough, I guess ....
This is my P-38 H "Hold Everything" of 431. FS/475. FG, flown by 1Lt. Paul Morriss from Dobodura in 1943. Kit is Academy 1/48.


Rob, nice "Putt Putt Maru"! I think the later J/L of Academy goes a bit better together than the earlier G/F/H

Torsten

Hi guys. Both of the Academy kits look great. Nice job.

Kevin,
This is the Academy kit:
Joel

I do appreciate all of the input. I've decided to keep the Academy kit (F model I think - early war anyway). It's here, it's early war and the alternative doesn't sound good. But I'm not going to hurry it to the top of the stash. It strikes me as almost remarkable that one of the kit makers doesn't come out with a new tool rendition of a major WWII fighter - we've even got Russian fighters of recent release. Hobby Boss has a Romanian fighter (neat looking plane really) and you can get some fine Italian planes in styrene. Let's give Dragon or Eduard a couple of years (Eduard just did a new tool FW190 despite wide availability of their old AM based kit - so the existence of their box of the Academy might not mean much. Or I can be a really good boy and hope Santa has a good talk with the people at Tamiya - I've got their Ki-61 and it's a gem.