1/48 Academy Lockheed P-38F Lightning

Glacier Girl

by Adam Bates

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Hello to everyone, here is my latest creation, the Lockheed P-38F Lightning 'Glacier Girl'.

I have found this kit very different to the others I have worked with, the quality of the kit was quite poor. I had to do a lot of work with filling and sanding to make parts fit correctly and to cover gaps, so this has been a large learning curve for me, I'm sure all modelers out there would love kits to go together the first time without too much work on the aircraft itself, but its part of the fun!

This kit as the previous kits I have built has been brush painted (still need to get round to buying an airbrush kit), I found this easy to do as I can get the curves I want.  This was the first time for using Matt and Gloss finishes on a model and I found to get a better finish, which also helped when applying the decals. This time with the decals I trimmed them to hide the gloss finish that was a problem on previous models (thank you to all who emailed me about this on my previous model which was a Messerschmitt BF-109).

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

  

I choose the 'Glacier Girl' kit due to the history behind the aircraft and to the people who rescued and restored this aircraft.

During World War Two, the United States Army Air Force decided that England need as much help as possible to fight the war. On the 15 July 1942 a Squadron consisting of P-38 Lightning's and B-17 Flying Fortress crash landed in Greenland due to dense cloud and temperatures of minus ten degrees Fahrenheit. It would be almost 50 years before one of this aircraft would be found again.

From 1977 to 1990 Twelve different teams attempted to find these aircraft, until finally in 1992 a team managed to retrieve P-38F 417630. The aircraft was located 268 Feet below the surface of the ice cap and took 4 months to fully recover. 10 years later on Saturday 26th of October 2002 'Glacier Girl' finally took to the air again!

For more detailed information on 'Glacier Girl' please see www.thelostsquadron.com

Adam

Photos and text © by Adam Bates