1/48 Academy P-38J Lightning

by Hyuk-Jin Choi

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338th FS, 55th FG, Nuthampsted, England, Spring 1944

Here is my attempt to build a model of the P-38J Lightning. There was some difficulty to make this model, but the process was very interesting.

The kit
The kit is the 1/48 kit from Academy.  I used a cockpit set from Legend. The nose is divided into three pieces and each piece didn't fit well.  Detail in landing gear bay is very poor. But, I didn't do additional work. ^^;;

Assembly
Some problems were encountered during assembly. I had trouble assembling the nose, I used putty and sand paper. And there was trouble to assembling the right fuselage, left fuselage, and main wing parts.

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Painting and Marking
I produced "Stinger". 338th FS, 55th FG, Nuthampsted, England used this machine. Olive drab was used on the upside, Neutral gray was used the lower part. I used CSI Creos lacquer for basic painting and the wash was done with oil paint (Raw umber). After this, to achieve the desired color tone, I filtered several times by various oil paints.

The decals is the "Lightnings in Drab Battle Dress part " supplied by Aeromaster Decals.

Weathering
I used Oil paint (Burnt sienna, Raw umber), and enamel flat black to simulate oil stain. Enamel buff was used around cockpit to simulate dust, and chipped paint was done with Testors silver color.
Choi

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Photos and text © by Hyuk-Jin Choi