I'm currently building Hasegawa's 1/48 P-38 Lightning with Eduard's PE detail set. There are lots of parts for the cockpit, wheel wells, and landing gear, as well as screens and doors for the intercoolers and intakes. It's a beautiful detail set.
Eduard includes a prepainted Zoom fret, along with three others for this kit. The prepainted instruments aren't done very sharply, so I used the ones that are printed on regular paper. I wish Eduard would go back to the acteate ones !
The paint flaked off the tops of the prepainted shoulder harnesses when I bent them around the bar behind the seat. I touched it up as best I could.
This will be done in the markings of Richard Bong's "Marge." Hope you like it so far !

Despite the lack of interest in this project, I thought I'd share the next stage of construction with you.

I finished adding the PE to the nosegear well, and one of the maingear wells. The PE really dresses up their appearance. The parts for the door actuators are tacked in place with white glue. I'll CA them after the airframe is painted.



The gear doors, without the PE hinges. The wells and door interiors will be interior green, and the hinges metallic.


I found a way to attach the main wheel wells that ensures correct placement and alignment. Assemble the wells, and glue the boom halves along the bottom. With the tops of the booms unglued, just slip the wheel wells into position through the wing openings. You can then glue the tops of the nacelles together. I also found it necessary to trim the forward bulkhead of the wells to get the sides to sit flush with the openings on the bottom of the booms.

Now to do the right main gear well !

Looking great Bill!
Always inspirational seeing your builds and Im looking forward to seeing this progress.
I certainly dont thing theres a "lack of interest" ,the forum has been very quiet the last few days.
Nige

Hi Bill

That's lovely work as usual! I see what you mean about the instrument panels - they don't look quite as sharp as I've come to expect from the latest pre-painted accessories from Eduard. That's a useful heads-up on the seat harness. I've always been worried that the paint might flake, but (touch wood) it's never happened to me. This will remind me not to get complacent...

I've never used the etched wiring runs (I thought they'd be too 2-dimensional), but they look great in your wheel-well. I've got some of them in the detail set for the Hellcat I've had on the back-burner for ages, so I'll give them a try. I'm intrigued by the overlapped detail on the main-wheel doors - the "holes behind holes", so to speak. Without any refs to hand, is that correct?

Looking forward to seeing this one progress!

All the best

Rowan

That is really starting to take shape now Bill, and the wiring in the wheel bays does look good. I like the cockpit, excellent work.
Is the P-38 unique in having a "shelf " in front of the instrument panel, it looks really weird, as i have never seen this in a plane before.
Keep posting the updates.
Andy (++)

Bill,

That is extremely nice work you have done.
I was wondering from your first few pictures whether the instrument panel was a decal, it looks great.
Please keep posting pic's.
Cheers Ted

Thank you very much Nigel, Rowan, Andy, and Ted !

Nigel - it was just a little disheartening to see that the topic had been viewed over forty times without a reply. I didn't think anyone else liked it enough to offer a word. I like it, and that's what really matters. It will sit on my shelf when it's done, and I'll like it.

Rowan - I usually glosscoat, wash, Dullcote, and drybrush the belts with the rest of the cockpit. I didn't do that this time (lesson learned), so it may make a difference.
I always used to replace PE wiring with fine wire too. When I used their set for my Ar 234, I noticed that they had a "shape" to them. They didn't look "flat." Using them probably saves me ten hours work on each build, and they look good after washes & drybrushing.

Andy - the P-38 has that elongated box of instruments attached to the length of the bottom of the IP. This aircraft was unique in many ways, and could probably be considered the first project of Lockheed's "Skunk Works" (some say it is the P/F-80). One thing's for sure - no other bird looks like a Lightning !

Ted - the face of the instrument panel is the best part of Eduard's prepainted fret. The stencils and black bezels are prepainted onto the IP face. I used the plain paper instrument faces, since the prepainted ones weren't very sharp. I wish I could paint stenciling that looks that good. Stencils and data plates are found on so many places in the cockpit and landing gear on a lot of aircraft. Heck, I'd even buy decals if they were available.

Thanks again !