ghodges Posted November 23, 2022 Report Share Posted November 23, 2022 Finished the newest Tamiya Lightning this afternoon. It was built OOTB except for lengthening and turning the nose gear leg. It's the most complex P-38 kit in 1/48, but also the best detailed. It fits together beautifully. I used no filler anywhere and only medium and fine sanding sticks. The only negative thing I can say is that there are some actuators in the main gear bays that have to be installed and then hang down in the way for the rest of the build. The kit includes kabuki masks that you have to cut out yourself, but fit perfectly when done. I used AK Extreme Metal Aluminum over Alclad Gloss Black for the overall NMF, along with some other Alclad metallics for varying NMF colors. I was going to do another scheme at first, but those decals were too old and brittle, so I defaulted to "Put Putt Maru". I used a combination of the kit decals and an old MicroScale sheet to do a later version with more kill markings than the kit decals offer. If you're going to build a 1/48 P-38J for competition, THIS is the Lightning you want! It takes longer to build, especially the wheel wells, but everything pretty much locks into place. The Alclad Gloss Black primer.... there were some bad batches of this, but mine worked perfectly and dried hard in 24hrs. The painted model and accessories. The 4-part prop hubs fit so well you can paint them first and then assemble them. And the finished model.... Critiques, comments, and questions welcome! Gil 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albymoore Posted November 24, 2022 Report Share Posted November 24, 2022 Waylon Jennings "Shine" comes to mind. Very nice work on that NMF, Gil. Cheers, Albert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
66Foxtrot Posted November 24, 2022 Report Share Posted November 24, 2022 I can't look at this without my sunglasses! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stikpusher Posted November 25, 2022 Report Share Posted November 25, 2022 Beautiful and shiny! 😎 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Deliduka Posted November 25, 2022 Report Share Posted November 25, 2022 Oh man Gil! I wish I could get my metal finishes looking half as good as this! Stunning work! Truly outstanding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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