Rob's P-38 "Scat II" *FINISHED*

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rob_van_riel
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Rob's P-38 "Scat II" *FINISHED*

Post by rob_van_riel »

Theory says I'm supposed to be building USN jets and other Phantoms, but somehow I keep getting distracted by these "group build" things. So, in a slightly desperate attempt to stay close to my intended subjects, I decided to do one of Robin Olds' planes. OK, it's a P-38 instead of an F-4, but at least it has some Phantomic credentials :ha:

Like hordes of others Olds' flew aircover over the beaches, and had next to nothing to do because the Luftwaffe wouldn't show up to take the beating they had so carefully prepared for it. This may be the only group of soldiers in Normandy that day that were bored and frustrated, instead of fighting for their lives.

WWII fighters are usually small enough that I can affort the extra size that comes with building them in 1/48 instead of my usual 1/72, and for uniformity's sake that gets extended to larger planes the lightning. My victim for this build will be the Academy kit:
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Quite a lot of parts there just from the kit, but I'll also be adding a few aftermarket sets, cockpit, langing gear, and turbochargers. No pictures of those yet; hopefully I'll remember to take pictures before I start hacking away at them.
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Re: Rob's P-38 "Scat II"

Post by rob_van_riel »

Slow start for me, I'm afraid. I had just a few loose ends to tie down for a diorama club project, and we all know how much time loose ends swallow up. By the time I had my hands free to start on the Lightning, I was tired in that nasty way that makes you clumsy, so I didn't really dare tackle anything remotely complex anymore. With the resin cockpit and metal undercarriage involved, that meant the only things I could reasonably work on were the droptanks, and the nose section. Even these proved less than trivial, and I'm fairly certain that is not entirely my fault; fit just isn't all that great.
The instructions suggest, with great optimism, the addition of 20g to the nose cone, to avoid a tailsitter. Just to get a feeling for what that meant, I filled the nose cone with lead shot. It held all of 10g. Fortunately, the cone is mounted on another section which appears to have several times as much internal volume, which will be just as invisible. I'll check to make sure once I'm properly alert again.
I did get some research done yesterday, and it seems the painting instructions that came with the decal sheet are completely wrong. They think the plane should be in olive drab over gray camouflage, but despite all that old pictures can do to confuse us, I don't believe for one moment that this plane is anything but NMF:
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(found somewhere on the web..)
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Re: Rob's P-38 "Scat II"

Post by rob_van_riel »

First off, as promised, a snapshot of the various after market parts that I intend to use for the build.
Image

I've joined up the main wing halves, mostly because I need those assembled to fit the cockpit module. If that module had cooperated, the same might have been said about the wing booms, but this was not to be.
I've hacked the large and very inconvenient pouring block off the cockpit floor plate, as well as the much more managable sidewalls. Initial dry fitting of the results sent me looking for a stiff drink (hazmat-strength tea, since I never understood why anyone would voluntarily drink anything with alcohol).
After recovering from that, I sanded down the floor plate as far as I dared, but still the thing won't fit in. I need to find close to 1mm of material to destroy, and that is going to be a challenge, since as far as I can see the only candidate (the top of the front wheel well) is thinner than that. I can file it down to translucence, and once the cockpit is in place add a backing plate to the section that will support the undercarriage. Fortunately, there is room for that. I'm just not sure if that is going to be enough. Time will tell..
Image
I guess that if all else fails, I can always build the cockpit module as a separate model, there's enough detail in there for it to be treated as such :roll:
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Re: Rob's P-38 "Scat II"

Post by rob_van_riel »

I took a different approach with the front wheel well. I've just spent over an hour very carefully cutting out the roof of the well, and then smoothing it over so that it will fit snugly between the sides again. The sides can now be filed down the to support the cockpit floor at just the right height, at which point I'll re-attach the roof to the bottom of the cockpit floor. This will result in the wheel well being about 1mm too shallow, but it starts out deep enough that I think I can get away with it..
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Re: Rob's P-38 "Scat II"

Post by iggie »

Looks like this one is going to fight you all the way!
Best wishes

Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
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Re: Rob's P-38 "Scat II"

Post by rob_van_riel »

iggie wrote:Looks like this one is going to fight you all the way!
I guess it just doesn't want to disappoint me; after all, any kind of conversion, including after market stuff, is looking for trouble, so apparently, I want trouble...
As long as I don't have to start fighting the kit itself, that is, run into trouble I didn't bring down on myself, it should be fine. One more session should have the cockpit tamed, two or three more should see the areas around the turbochargers fall in line. UC should generally be OK. By the end of the week, I should have all the self-inflicted stuff under control. If not, we'll have to re-evaluate the fighting spirit of this kit...
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Re: Rob's P-38 "Scat II"

Post by rob_van_riel »

I've tamed the cockpit. The picture below shows the resin cockpit on the right, with the kit cockpit on the left (yes, I have two of these). Leaning against the hull with the new cockpit is the bottom of the front wheel well, waiting for the time when it can go home :grin:
Image
Once the wheelwell had been de-capped, things fell into place almost by themselves; all that was required was some minor filing at the top of the well, and some grinding away at the thickness of the fuselage walls at the very back, where the rear bulkhead is. Of course, that did involve grinding down to the very scary point where the plastic becomes translucent..
The cockpit module has now been primed, and I hope to start painting soon.

In other news, I've liberated the turbo chargers from their outrageously big bulky pouring blocks. I admit this was a scary prospect, but in the end, it wasn't so bad. The only resin part left that has me a bit apprehensive now is the seat, but the scary parts are hard to see and at the bottom, so I can cheat if necessary.

I've started work on the main gear wells. Fit is dubious, but with carefully phased assembly I ought to manage (some parts need to be forced into shape, and glueing under tension is not something you want to rush).
The SAC white metal landing gear is, quite frankly, disappointing. If anything, it looks like a direct metal copy of the plastic parts that came with the kit (I had a similar suspicion with their 1/72 Dakota gears). Detail is no better, there is some minor flash, and while there are no ejector marks on the metal parts, most of them need bending into shape. I can see their use in replacing lost parts, or upgrading kits other than the ones for which these sets are intended, but other than that, it is quite beyond me why anyone would want to spend ten pounds on these sets. I might end up fitting the kit parts. Still, at least I have spares now if anything goes wrong.

The air intakes have been added to the tail boom halves. Some work with filler will be needed, as fit isn't too good (I get the feeling I've said that before in this thread..).
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Re: Rob's P-38 "Scat II"

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

The SAC gear sets started as highly detailed replacements for large models, possibly crammed full of aftermarket, whose plastic gear might not take the weight (over time); since that time, they seem to think everything needs SAC replacement gear and I think their focus has been lost.

FWIW, IMO.
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Re: Rob's P-38 "Scat II"

Post by rob_van_riel »

jRatz wrote:The SAC gear sets started as highly detailed replacements for large models, possibly crammed full of aftermarket, whose plastic gear might not take the weight (over time); since that time, they seem to think everything needs SAC replacement gear and I think their focus has been lost.
That sounds like a valid explanation for all the observed facts.
I don't usually go for large models, so weigth is typically not an issue for what I build. Just how bad is this at larger, heavier scales? Do the legs slowly deform, or do they break at some point? If it's bending, wouldn't the very soft white metal legs perform just as badly (from bending them into shape by hand, I'd say it actually takes less force to permanently deform the metal than the equivalent plastic.)?
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Re: Rob's P-38 "Scat II"

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

32nd scale certainly expands the market. Regardless, I've never used them.

I think it a combo of bending under weight or breaking if you bump your model, particularly if suitably scale thickness gear. I'd also agree about the white metal being somewhat fragile, particularly if you have bent & straightened it. While suitably experienced with other white metal parts, I am always leery of cleaning them up (and they need a lot) without breaking, bending, etc.
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Re: Rob's P-38 "Scat II"

Post by rob_van_riel »

iggie wrote:Looks like this one is going to fight you all the way!
It does indeed appear to have taken an interest in fighting :frown:

I'd already concluded that fit was going to be problematic enough that most seams would require filler and sandpaper, and there appears to be very little interest in proving me wrong. It has, however, shown itself to be a devious piece of work. The propeller blades seemed to fit onto the hub remarkably easy, fitting snugly and stably. Unfortunately, in this position they were also skewed to the rear. By the time I caught on, the blades on both props were fused rock solid to the hub.
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I dug out the spare kit again, and tried to fiddle that one's props into shape, but there is simply no stable configuration that looks right. I could of course try to glue them on one by one in the instable but correct position, and no doubt each individual blade would get stuck on just about right. Just about is not the same as exactly, and with my talent for messing this sort of thing up, I'm certain I would end up with six glaringly different interpretations of just about right, messing up the model as certainly as the current back leaning props. Circumstances may yet force me to attempt this, but I'm betting there is enough time for an order for Quickboost replacements to arrive. A cop out to be sure, but this is a fight I can do without.

I scrounged around the web a bit and found more than decent pictures of the interior of a Lightning. Painting up the cockpit proved no problem.
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Except for the control column, which was ready for installation, all other parts of the cockpit can be installed from the top, so I finished the tub. Due to the way this plane is built, I can put off installing the cockpit module until the very last stages of construction, which I consider a good, if unusual thing. Couldn't resist doing a quick mock-up though :grin:
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I've assembled the tailbooms with the wheel wells. Not surprisingly, every seam needs filler :sad: Still, it's beginning to look like a P-38, at least as a rough mock-up.
Image
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Re: Rob's P-38 "Scat II"

Post by iggie »

That cockpit looks superb; very busy!
Best wishes

Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
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Re: Rob's P-38 "Scat II"

Post by rob_van_riel »

iggie wrote:That cockpit looks superb; very busy!
Thanks, although most of the hard work was done by the people at Aires.
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Re: Rob's P-38 "Scat II"

Post by MarkyM607 »

That pink mass under the P-38's nose isn't a finger.. is it?.... :ha:
Hoping to return to modelling sometime this year!! :lol:
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Re: Rob's P-38 "Scat II"

Post by rob_van_riel »

MarkyM607 wrote:That pink mass under the P-38's nose isn't a finger.. is it?.... :ha:
Certainly not one of mine :twisted:
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