P-38F Lightning "Glacier Girl" (Academy 1:48, kit #12208)

[Lorenzo]

I'm going to give this a shot... here goes my first-ever Group Build/build thread! Please bear with me as I figure out how this is supposed to be done...

For "Warring Weather," I've chosen one of my favorite aircraft of all time, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. For those of you not familiar with the P-38, it was a twin engine aircraft of the Second World War, used in all theaters and in multiple roles such as interceptor, bomber escort, recon, etc. (You all already knew that, didn't you?) Wikipedia has a wealth of information (most of which is presumably true), as does the Lockheed-Martin website.



This particular aircraft, "Glacier Girl," ran into her own "warring weather." Air & Space Magazine has the full story, but here's a quick summary: in 1942, she was part of a flight of six P-38s and two B-17s on their way to Europe when all aircraft were forced down by weather over Greenland. The first P-38 tried to land on an ice field with wheels down, but the nose strut collapsed and caused that airplane to flip over. The pilot survived, but none of the others wanted to repeat that experience, so the remaining seven planes made belly landings on the ice. Fortunately, they were able to contact friendly forces before going down, so emergency supplies were soon airdropped and a rescue team sent to recover the pilots and crews after a few days; all personnel survived the ordeal, but their aircraft would be abandoned in place. Fast forward a few decades: after several attempts, a privately funded recovery effort brought the mangled plane out of the ice and into a restoration hanger in 1992. After ten more years of restoration, she took to the skies once again in 2002 Now owned by Lewis Air Legends, she can be seen flying at numerous airshows.

The Kit:
Grayscale instruction sheet looks pretty standard, but includes a nice retelling of the "Glacier Girl" story as of 2006, when this kit was produced.


Decal sheet contains two options: "as crashed," in 1942, and "today's markings," as she appears at airshows. I haven't yet decided which scheme I will choose.


The sprues were all individually bagged and appear on first inspection to have minimal flash. There are a few pin marks and sinks to be dealt with, however.




Vinyl tires included. More on those in a bit.


So that's the preliminaries out of the way. I'm looking forward to getting going on this kit; thanks for reading!

[Lorenzo]

I was about three minutes into this kit before I hit the first snag. Those vinyl tires I mentioned above? Apparently vinyl and polystyrene do not coexist well together:



That's the tailplane, and those two half circles are indentations (gouges, really) where the vinyl tires attached themselves while still in the package. Spiffy. So the very first thing to do is fix that, which I did by shaving off the raised portion of each gouge, then fill with Perfect Plastic Putty and sand. Here's what I've got so far:


This seems like it's a chemical reaction between the vinyl and the styrene as the deformed plastic is surprisingly soft. I want to let this air dry/cure (whatever the appropriate verb is) before I rescribe the panel lines and check my work with a primer coat. Has anyone else ever run into this before?

[Willem]

Nice save. Strange how the two materials should do that.

Great intro and good luck with your first build thread.

[ElCapitan]

Good luck! Hopefully that's the bad luck over and the rest of the build will go smoothly!

[Lysus]

Get that bad luck out of the way early I say

Love a P-38, but I've avoided them due to those booms...so tricky to line up.

[Avgas]

weird about the tyres.

[Tomcat64]

Another one for the watch list - really interesting aircraft.

[demarcation]

Looking forward to this. P38 is indeed a very beautiful aircraft.

[Lorenzo]

I was finally able to squeeze in a little bench time, so I have a bit of progress to show. First, however, I have to correct something I wrote above: the decal sheet included with this kit does not represent the same aircraft in pre- and post-restoration schemes; it offers a choice between today's P-38F "Glacier Girl" (as shown on the box) and LT Murray Shubin's P-38E "Oriole" of the USAAF 339th Fighter Squadron. I was under the mistaken impression that the wartime scheme shown was for the P-38F LT Harry Smith belly-landed on the Greenland ice; this is not the case, and I hope my error hasn't steered any of you wrong.

So with that clarified, and with the decision point rapidly (well, by my standards) approaching, I have decided to build the modern-day "Glacier Girl" scheme.

Meanwhile, I have continued working on that damaged tailplane. After much sanding and scribing and sanding and scribing and sanding and scribing, it feels flat, but a primer coat tells a different story:



More sanding and scribing and sanding and scribing are in my future. With luck, there will be some tailplane left at the end of it all.

So, onto the cockpit -- and the next snag. This kit does not include an instrument panel! There's a decal for the instrument panel, but no panel. The instructions don't even make reference to the panel, they just expect the builder to attach a decal to... what, exactly? (Ref. steps 1 & 4) So I'll be scratch building something to attach that decal to.



The rest of the cockpit is coming along, however. Gray Stynylrez primer, Vallejo Model Color and Model Air paints, and a bit of detail added via graphite and colored pencils. After assembly, I'll give it some light weathering:



And I've begun to assemble the fuselage booms:



So it'll be slow going. Good thing Warring Weather lasts four months!

[Lorenzo]

So... where was I? Oh yeah, the cockpit, now assembled:



I have opted not to bother with scratch building an instrument panel after all, since it is now apparent that it would be entirely invisible once I seal up the canopy. Still a bit dismayed that the manufacturer chose not to include one, though, given how many other duplicate parts are included in this kit: wheels, control yoke, nose, radio rack, armor plate... clearly, this kit is a hodgepodge of pieces from various versions of P-38 kits.

I'm sorry; I thought I'd taken a photo of the nose that illustrates this, but I can't seem to find it. Bear with me.. The very tip of the nose is one piece, behind which are two left and right intermediate pieces (found on their very own sprue, just to reinforce the whole "collection of parts" nature of this kit), and these are then attached to the wing/cockpit assembly. Not a locating pin or tab to been found anywhere, either; everything is butt-jointed together.



Prior to closing all that up, I added the nose weight called for in the instructions. The hollow nose provided sufficient space forward of the nose wheel bay to add 20 grams of BBs held in place with a plug of plumbers' putty. I like to use plumbers' putty because it works easily after it's been warmed up, but sets fairly hard when it cools, and it stays in place.



So then I moved on to assembly. Dry fitting revealed some significant gaps, especially between the undersides of the wings and the booms. All in all, though, the geometry looks good, and that is usually the major downfall of a P-38 kit. Getting the wing parallel to the tailplane without resorting to major reconstructive surgery is a welcome relief, even if I do have some substantial filling and sanding in my future.



It's starting to look like something:

[Lorenzo]

Just parting the cobwebs and brushing off the dust...

A family vacation, some "emergency yardwork" (removing a collapsing structure), a ridiculous heat wave (temps around 100F in my un-air conditioned work space), the Photobucket debacle, and the general mojo-sucking quality of this kit have all taken their toll on my polystyrene productivity. But that's all behind me -- back to work!

I'm taking a stab at black basing, but since "Glacier Girl" is a well-maintained, neat and clean display bird, any tonal variations will be minimal. Step one: black Stynylrez primer:



Over the primer, I applied a minimal marble coat of Vallejo white and Light Grey paints, but I seem to have botched the picture. Which brings us to the base colors, Vallejo Model Air 71.016 US Dark Green on top and 71.275 USAF Medium Gray underneath.





The second coat of AK Glossy varnish is currently drying; decals next. Now I'm off to replace the Photobucket links in my previous posts with Flickr links. What fun!

[DrSprue]

Wow, its looking really nice so far. Good luck.

[Tomcat64]

Great to see you getting back to this - really looking forward to seeing how you finish it off.

[Lorenzo]

Thank you for the encouragement -- It think I'm going to need it!

This thing has A LOT of decals, most of which I have not botched up, and many of which are too tiny to read in the first place. Why am i bothering?

[Lysus]

Why am i bothering?

I ask myself that every time I start decals. If it helps at all, I usually tell myself I'll do it for 10 minutes and stop. Most times I get into the groove and go a lot longer, sometimes even finish them.

[Lorenzo]

Decals are finally done! It only took three days! I tried every single variety of decal solution I could find, but none of them wanted to help these slab-like decals lay down any better.



After decals, two coats of AK Glossy Varnish, and since I have yet to have any luck at all with that stuff, a coat of Future on top of that.



(The toothpicks and rubber band are just temporary landing gear.)



After that, I added some black Tamiya Panel Line Wash and Dark Dirt, Earth, and Rust Ultimate Washes. As I noted previously, weathering on this model will be mild as "Glacier Girl" is a recent restoration, and I'm sure she gets a loving rubdown with small-batch artisanal massage oils after each and every flight.

Lastly, I've attached the exhausts atop each boom.



And I'm not actually done with the decals yet (yes, I lied, sorry); there are some that need to be placed on the canopy, which I am obviously putting off until everything else is done and I can remove the masking.

[Tomcat64]

I had the same problem with the decals on my recent Academy build.

It's a little after the party but the only thing that made them behave was this:


And even that took several applications to get the curved surfaces sorted out.

Anyways she's coming along really nicely - nearly there

[Lorenzo]

It's a little after the party but the only thing that made them behave was this:

Thanks for the recommendation -- you wouldn't happen to know where I could acquire any of that stuff on my side of the pond, would you?

Anyways she's coming along really nicely - nearly there

Thank you!

[Tomcat64]

It's a little after the party but the only thing that made them behave was this:

Thanks for the recommendation -- you wouldn't happen to know where I could acquire any of that stuff on my side of the pond, would you?

I think these guys are in Atlanta? Might be worth a shot if you've got some more thick decals on the horizon.
https://www.redstarscalemodels.com/category-s/116.htm

Hope that helps.

[Lysus]

You're really forging this bird into shape, love it!

[Lorenzo]

You're really forging this bird into shape, love it!

I've got a deadline! End of the month or bust!
Cheers!

[Lorenzo]

It's a little after the party but the only thing that made them behave was this:

Thanks for the recommendation -- you wouldn't happen to know where I could acquire any of that stuff on my side of the pond, would you?

I think these guys are in Atlanta? Might be worth a shot if you've got some more thick decals on the horizon.
https://www.redstarscalemodels.com/category-s/116.htm

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the tip! I was not aware of that retailer. They're out of stock on the DACO strong, but I've added my name to the email list. Thanks again!

[Lorenzo]

Further progress: Landing gear are in. The vinyl tires needed to be soaked in some hot water before they'd soften up enough to fit onto the wheels. Struts are painted in Vallejo Metal Color Steel.



And then things became annoying. See part D19? That's the peg that holds the prop hub in place; you'll notice it has no support behind it and can easily slip into the boom. This can of course be avoided by gluing it in place, but I like props that spin. So I left it free in the boom, secured with tape through the rest of assembly and painting until today, when I wanted to attach the props. Butterfingers that I am, after removing that tape I almost instantaneously pushed the peg all the way into the boom. D'oh!

(Perhaps I need to pursue a hobby more in keeping with my level of dexterity. Boxing, maybe.)

Not my finest moment as a modeler, to be sure, but the reason I mention it at all is to share how I resolved the issue. First of all, there are no openings on this boom through which I could either remove the peg or insert a tool. I contemplated cracking the glued boom halves apart, drilling out a section, cutting along panel lines to create an opening, and, of course, heaving the thing at a wall in frustration.

I did none of those things.

Instead, while holding the model nose down, above my head (so gravity would work in my favor), I poked a thin probe through the opening and maneuvered the peg into a position where its forward end was just visible. I then took a piece of very thin wire, put a dab of superglue on the end, and attached it to the end of the peg. After waiting as long as I could hold that whole ridiculous assemblage overhead so that the glue would have time to cure, I pulled on the wire and the peg came back through the opening. Success!*

Hold peg in place with knife, slip prop hub over peg, add glue, remove knife, grab peg with tweezers, push hub as far back as it will go, walk away muttering. Pictures of this entire affair might have been amusing, but I lack a sufficient quantity of hands to do this and operate a camera simultaneously.



*Success, except for the fact that I seem to have picked up an involuntary muscle twitch from all this. That'll be all for today...

[Lysus]

That's some super hero work there. Far more dedication than I I wouldn't underestimate boxing, some of those lumpy dudes are really fast...

Relax, you did something most wouldn't do to fix the problem. It's Miller Time!

[Tomcat64]

Nice save! And great perseverance

[Lorenzo]

Just a few last little bits to do...

Guns are in, but I've chosen not to add the armament included in this kit as Glacier Girl doesn't carry bombs or HVAR. I've also chosen not to include the underwing attachments for the drop tanks, even though Glacier Girl does have those, because I think they spoil her graceful lines.



Last bits added were the gear doors, which gave me the opportunity to attach a curved edge to a flat edge. Fun.



A few touch-ups here and there, some more Tamiya Panel Line wash, peel off the masking and add the canopy decals, and... and...



...and I've run out of things to screw up. I must be done.



Reveal thread will be posted after I take some better photos.

[Lysus]

Ha! Great way to look at it. From these shots I'm sure it'll be a job well done.

[Lorenzo]

Reveal thread is posted: viewtopic.php?f=604&t=23161