Tamiya 1/48 P-38G Lightning

Awesome!

STATIC CAPITAL

LOCKHEED P-38G Lightning

This P-38 was assigned to Capt. Bob Petit of the 339th FS/347 FG while operating from Kukum Field on Guadalcanal in 1943. On April 18th of that year Lt. Rex Barber flew this aircraft while taking part in Operation Vengeance. This was the mission to intercept the Japanese flight carrying Admiral Yamamoto. The flight was intercepted over Bougainville Island where Lt. Barber successfully engaged and shot down the G4M ‘Betty’ bomber carrying Yamamoto who was killed in the ensuing crash.

The main assembly of this kit was done by Brett Green. My work started with the painting and addition of wiring to the radio gear using 0.2mm and 0.3mm lead wire.

Red and blue placards were carefully painted on.

In place behind the pilot’s seat.

The super charger/exhaust units. These were first painted silver then sprayed blackish brown. They were then shaded with blacker brown and given…

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Flying the P-38 Lightning by Bill Harris: 15.5 victories, 339FS and 18FG

Intermission – P-38 Lightning

Weapons and Warfare

During training at Muroc Dry Lake, later named Edwards AFB, I learned to pre-flight the P-38. With two engines etc. it did take longer than a single engine fighter but it was simple to do so. Also, it was my first fighter and one that I had dreamed of for years to fly, so it was an act of love to check it out and just be around it. Later in combat the pre-flight was second nature and you trusted your Crew Chief and ground crew.

The cockpit was about perfect in size for me at 5’8′ but some of my taller pilot friends could be a bit cramped. A 6’6″ wingman and former B-25 pilot was not able to wear a seat pack parachute when flying but adjustable seat and rudder pedals helped. Early cockpit heating was poor. Even in the tropics at altitudes over 25,000 feet the cockpit…

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Intermission – Frank Stiegler’s Me 109

While I am waiting to finish my three builds, I am posting this rendition of Eduard Bf 109G-6 flown by Franz Stigler II/Jg 27.

http://www.historicalwings.com/?page_id=1987

December 20, 1943 Special Brothers — Today in History

“You follow the rules of war for you – not for your enemy”, his commander had said. “You fight by rules to keep your humanity”.

via December 23, 1943 Special Brothers — Today in History

It’s all about nostalgia

John wrote a comment about this post on My Forgotten Hobby…
My passion dates back to the late 1950s and early 1960s. I could never get enough reading about airplanes especially about World War II airplanes.

It was about my passion for aviation since 1958…

Here’s what I had written…

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Monogram Models was the best model airplane kits back then. All these box arts are still etched in my mind.

When Monogram released the Avenger I had to build it.

Working features, figurines… the works!

What more could you ask out of life back then. I bought another Avenger in the late 1980s or 1990s, and it sat in his box for more than 25 years.

The box art was different, but the instructions were the same.

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Now the comment…

Love it! Even just the instructions alone are a masterpiece of nostalgia.
A nice little feature article some years ago regarding one of its sister kit in the series, the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver.

He sends me this link.

http://www.hyperscale.com/features/2000/helldiverjh_1.htm

While I’m at it…

While I’m at it, why not add another build while I am waiting to put a finishing touch on these…?

I had another Me 109 G in my stash bought 20 years ago.

Last year my youngest son asked me to build him a Me 109 for Christmas. I had already one built when he was a young child back in the 1980s.

I just could not wrap this one up…

So I have decided to build a new one which should be the last Me 109 I would ever build.

Binge Painting

I had a binge painting yesterday when I found out I had the right dark green colour for the Do335 A-O.

These Polly S paint jars I had bought in the 1980s were still usable.

I had painted the Stuka and the Fw190 with Polly S Paint black green before so I could now finish up the camouflage.

I still have some touch-ups to do. I have painted a strip of Scotch tape for the canopies since the frames on all three model kits are very narrow.

That will be my next binging…

Intermission – Three war crimes, two Sunderlands and one Ashley Wilkes (3) — John Knifton

Last time I was explaining the connection between the Short Sunderland flying boat and “Das Fliegende Schtachelschwein” aka “The Flying Porcupine”. This thorny porcine epithet comes from an aircraft which was based at Invergordon in north east Scotland in 1940. My story will be based primarily on the work of John Robertson in 2010. I […]

via Three war crimes, two Sunderlands and one Ashley Wilkes (3) — John Knifton

Intermission – Three war crimes, two Sunderlands and one Ashley Wilkes (2) — John Knifton

Last time, I was showing you round what is probably the same aircraft in two different locations, that is, the Short Sunderland flying boat at Hendon and then at Duxford. Just to remind ourselves, the Sunderland was a mighty war machine: The Sunderland had a panoply of weapons. Something for every occasion: There was also […]

via Three war crimes, two Sunderlands and one Ashley Wilkes (2) — John Knifton

Intermission – Three war crimes, two Sunderlands and one Ashley Wilkes (1) — John Knifton

One of the world’s most bewitching aircraft is the Sunderland flying boat. When I was a boy, I never did save up enough pocket money for the Airfix kit, although it was only fifty pence or so in the 1960s. I should have bought it then, though. They’re fifty pounds now! The Short S.25 Sunderland […]

via Three war crimes, two Sunderlands and one Ashley Wilkes (1) — John Knifton