Tamiya P38J 1/48 from Tamiya.

[themongoose]

May 30, 2024 8:20:15 GMT -5 paddy said:

I have to say, full marks to Tamiya here, the fit of the parts is exemplary, there is a reason why some consider them the Rolls Royce of kits.
Also a lot of thought gone into the build so there are no seams on the leading edges and all sprue attachments are on the "Glued" faces.
Its nice to have a period of hassle free building while the Eduard parts take a back seat.




Its even starting to look like a P-38

I couldn’t agree more! At some point, I am probably going to build a third one🍻

[floki]

May 30, 2024 8:20:15 GMT -5 paddy said:

I have to say, full marks to Tamiya here, the fit of the parts is exemplary, there is a reason why some consider them the Rolls Royce of kits.
Also a lot of thought gone into the build so there are no seams on the leading edges and all sprue attachments are on the "Glued" faces.
Its nice to have a period of hassle free building while the Eduard parts take a back seat.


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Its even starting to look like a P-38

Totally agree, this was the best fitting kit I ever built

[paddy]

I salvaged the eduard straps and i used the Tamiya radio set up and took a picture as most of this will be a bit lost under the canopy



The Tamiya box/kit comes with canopy masks which will make life easier then i need to decide what colour to paint it all

[406 Silverado]

Such good detail throughout this build paddy and your build brings the whole "best fitting kit ever" fact right on home. This REALLY looks good!!

[Leon]

Lots of nice detail there Paddy!

[kyledehart5]

You're cramming all of the detail into this one! It is coming along so nicely.

[paddy]

I spoke too soon

Tamiya describe this as "masking stickers" plural

Its one sticker, its not die cut so pretty much useless unless you can cut out 2mm circles for the landing lights with scissors.....

[keavdog]

Ya, I've had a couple kits from Tamiya with those 'masks'. I'm too lazy and buy the precut stuff.

[floki]

Jun 3, 2024 7:39:55 GMT -5 paddy said:

I spoke too soon

Tamiya describe this as "masking stickers" plural

Its one sticker, its not die cut so pretty much useless unless you can cut out 2mm circles for the landing lights with scissors.....

Except for the round ones they are easy to cut out, what I'm going to do next time I build this kit is import it to the Silhouette Portrait cutter program, trace them then let the Portrait cut them out of the sheet

[keavdog]

That's a great idea Clint.

[handiabled]

A Micro-Mark punch set would save the day for you with those masks as well. Either way your bird is looking excellent! Love all the detail that can be seen

[paddy]

Started on some paint the other day as hoping to get the D-day markings on today as its the 6th June :-)

[paddy]

So here we are
6th June 2024 , 80 years on from D-day when 4500 US, British and Canadian troops died on the Normandy beaches in France.
coverage here is in full swing with flypasts historic vehicles and soldiers commemorating and Celebrating.
On the TV we see restored landing craft from the US, restored fast patrol and torpedo boats from the UK. DUKW driving up the Normandy beaches and of course the obligatory politicians looking suitably concerned as they are trained to do at times like this.
Even our Cancer suffering King has arrived on Gold Beach apparently against the orders of the Doctors, to play his part.

And here is my P-38 in its D-Day stripes ( bit rough round the edges but i wanted to get them painted for today)

[406 Silverado]

Excellent work on the paint prep, color application and then on the invasion stripes!! Such a good build paddy! WOW .....WOW....WOW....and I DO mean me some WOW!!!!

[handiabled]

The detail, modulated paint job and invasion stripes you absolutely nailed! Terrific looking build so far

[keavdog]

I literally said WOW when I saw the pic. The finish and the gorgeous engine and gun bay detail - this is turning out to be something special!

[jeaton01]

Yup, looks right to me!

[kyledehart5]

Really incredible stuff!! Astonishingly good.

[paddy]

All done, not over impressed with Eduards contribution, the engine is ok but the rest was a waste of money TBH.
it is of course a tail sitter as its nearly 20g short because the nose and one engine pod cant be filled with lead :-)

[keavdog]

Made pretty quick work of that! Very nice build - great finish and did a good job of fitting all those extra bits in the kit. The added details are just fantastic.

[jeaton01]

I think you know how to get rid of that tail support in post processing, Paddy! A lovely build all the way. I really like the engine detail and of course the paintwork and weathering. I wonder if it would balance if the gun compartment and cockpit were left as Tamiya intended but the engine were added only.

[paddy]

Yes thanks John a quick swipe with the eraser tool or the clone brush :-)

I think if i did this again i would prefer 2 engines and close the gun bay, i think Eduard only do a left engine but i have seen a right one, maybe black dog ?

EDIT
yes here they are, no where near as detailed but they would do the job


www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114898223767?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338749368&toolid=20006&_ul=GB&customid=GB_220_114898223767.140118387062~1869596054561-g_CjwKCAjwjqWzBhAqEiwAQmtgTwyIV59TAkWUTZ2U4GsVORJsdyEkZa1Hvms2rHNVHlLaLzogJQlftRoCPekQAvD_BwE

[themongoose]

Jun 3, 2024 7:39:55 GMT -5 paddy said:

I spoke too soon

Tamiya describe this as "masking stickers" plural

Its one sticker, its not die cut so pretty much useless unless you can cut out 2mm circles for the landing lights with scissors.....

Yeah that bothered the crap out of me too! It’s nice masking material but impossible to cut out smoothly. For my last one i had a set of punches so made it work out good using those.

[jeaton01]

But they make great patterns for a vinyl cutter and I don't have to work from photographs. Hard to figure why they don't pre-cut them.

[floki]

Great looking build! The engine looks incredible!

[handiabled]

Wonderful weathered finish on this! I really like the extra detail you added

[kyledehart5]

This is an absolutely great looking build. I love P-38s. Would really like to build this sometime. I love all the detail you added in and its wonderfully weathered. Excellent work.

[406 Silverado]

Jun 12, 2024 9:37:14 GMT -5 paddy said:

All done, not over impressed with Eduards contribution, the engine is ok but the rest was a waste of money TBH.
it is of course a tail sitter as its nearly 20g short because the nose and one engine pod cant be filled with lead :-)

 What a great effort put forth on this kit Paddy. Beautiful detail work as well as all of the painting and weathering to compliment it. Sorry to hear the blues on the weights in the nose but you more than made up for it on the whole build up. Man.......I aspire to build to this level.

[jeaton01]

Paddy, did the right engine nacelle give you any fit issues? Paul Budzik had trouble with the one he built as a build review video:

vimeo.com/952949949/633776ddad?share=copy

[paddy]

Not at all John, i cant praise the fit of the std Tamiya parts enough ? maybe he had a warped part or just bad luck. I have seen this with some Kinetic Harriers where people have had real problems with wing fit and i built 4 versions and had no problem at all. Seems a bit of a lottery on some kits