P-38 with teeth

Tamiya P-37F/G kit. My beautiful wife bought this kit for me when it came out in 2019. I don’t know why I waited three years to build the damn thing. This is the highest quality, best engineered model kit I’ve ever had the pleasure of building. I cannot wait to build my next one! This is the new gold standard of model kits. 

Eduard decal sheet  

Cockpit and nose weight installed. I added a few bits of wiring to the control boxes and made my own seatbelts from lead foil tape. Eduard photo etched buckles finished the job. 

Model Master Enamel interior green  

SAC metal landing gear with True Details diamond tread bulged resin wheels 

.015” lead wire brake lines 

All sub-assemblies complete 

Eduard Resin Superchargers. Model Master Metallizer burnt iron, Vallejo washes and AK weathering pencils  

I filled the cockpit tub with a piece of soft foam, then masked off the entire cockpit area with poster putty. I stuck it to my T-shirt first, so it wasn’t quite as sticky and wouldn’t cause damage upon removal. 

After Tamiya primer was applied, and overspray / orange peel removed with #0000 steel wool, I pre-shaded the belly with model master enamel engine gray. 

Pre-shading of the top with dark green model master enamel. After pre shading , I rubbed the entire model down again with the steel wool. From primer, to pre shading , to paint, to stripes, etc., I rub my models down with #0000 fine steel wool to remove any and all overspray and orange peel from the previous coat. I find that this leads to a smoother, finer finish on the completed model. Yes, it does leave tiny little broken, steel wires and debris all over the place. I used gentle compressed air to clean it off, and I always wipe fingerprints and skin oils off with 40% isopropyl alcohol in between each coat of paint.  

I don’t know why Tamiya didn’t include pre-cut masks. You have to cut them yourself, but they worked out quite well! 

After applying model master enamel neutral grey to the belly, I used white poster putty to mask the soft demarcation line between the OD green top and the neutral gray belly. These “worms“ were rolled to about 3/16 inch diameter. 

As usual, a few touchups were necessary before decals were applied, but the poster putty worms, work great for making a scaled down soft demarcation line.  

For my leading edge chipping, I used a piece of open cell foam, coated with model Master aluminum to dab along all leading edge surfaces, as well as the leading edges of the propeller blades. I double checked my reference material to make sure I wasn’t chipping the trailing edges of the blades. 

I tried several times to custom mix some paint for the prop spinners to match the blue and white stripe decals on the eduard decal sheet. With no luck, I decided to measure, mask, and paint the stripes myself. This way they match the blue propeller spinner cones 100%. 

Here you can see the OD green model master enamel. I lay down in progressively heavier layers, making sure I could still see my pre-shading through the final finish. 

She’s coming along nicely at this point. I’m seeing the finish line! Note the slightly shiny finish on the model. This is how it looks after you rub it all down with steel wool to smooth the paint. This process not only leads to a better finished model, but it allows the gloss clear to go on smoother, which aids in decal application. 

I test fit the props and stood back to admire her. 

I touched up a few errors later on, but I was happy with the boom stripes. I smoothed out the hard-edged demarcation lines with steel wool after they dried. 

Reference material shows faint lines of worn paint over structural details beneath the skin. I tried to capture this tastefully with an AK aluminum weathering pencil. The chipping and wear were always heavier on the left side of the aircraft, more so than the right. 

Tamiya Rattle can gloss clear has been applied to facilitate the Decals and the Flory wash. 

Time to start the decals! I didn’t apply every single airframe stencil, but I put more than half of them on so that you get the overall effect. Some of them are Kit decals, others are Eduard.  

Oh, how I love this LMG model assembly jig! It was a pain in the ass to assemble, but it is very versatile, and extremely useful, even for transporting Models!  

Micro scale, decal solvent, applied four or five times, so they hugged all the panel lines and details. 

The Flory wash is applied over the decals. It is a custom mixture of their grime, dark dirt and gray wash colors. I wanted a color that wouldn’t be too dark against the gray belly, yet not too late against the OD green on top. I’m very happy with the color mixture. 

Vallejo (Matte) Mecha Varnish applied in three coats; the final coat, being a very light mist. This makes it ultra flat with no shine whatsoever. More chipping and weathering will be applied with the AK pencils at this point. 

The canopies were installed with white PVA glue. 

Landing gear, drop tanks and gear doors simply slide right into place. The engineering of this Tamiya kit is unbelievable! 

With a cold beer in hand, I stand back to admire her. Over 150 hours of labor, and several new products and processes used. I’m very happy with the results!!! 

Top view, sitting atop a generic, flightline parking spot base I made for photographing my models. 

 

She’s got the right stance; slightly higher in the front and lower in the back. At first, I thought the true details sagged wheels were a bit too flat, but the end result is quite nice. I imagine the aircraft is completely loaded with fuel and ammo for Captain Robert L. Faurot’s next (final? ?) mission. 

Here you can see the scratch built wire harnesses I added to the radio rack. I made my own seatbelts from thin, self adhesive, lead foil tape, painted off-white, and the black stitching was done with a really sharp #2 pencil. I added photo etched seat belt buckles to complete the look. 

CMK Master brass guns with drilled cooling jackets. $20 well spent! The realism is incredible. I don’t know how they make these so tiny with such detail, but they are spectacular. I sprayed them with primer, then flat black model master enamel. Once they were installed, I applied the same Flory wash, and then highlighted the barrel tips with an AK metallic weathering pencil.  

All the landing gear, gear, doors, and landing gear, bays were sprayed with model master, aluminum enamel, brushed with future floor wax, washed with Flory grime wash, and then sprayed with the same matte varnish as the exterior of the model. I used Citadel Nuln Oil black wash for all of the Joints and linkages of the gear and doors.  

After hours of research, I applied more highlighting and chipping to the most commonly removed maintenance access panels. I think this gives it a far more realistic look, rather than chipping the living hell out of every panel line on the entire model, as many modelers do.