Guillows P-38 Lightning

For those of you waiting to see more progress on the P-38 Lightning, my apologies.
At the moment I am considering my options for covering it in aluminum. I have purchased some sheets of thin aluminum adhesive as a test. It is very expensive and would not be cost effective to cover the entire model with it. It costs around $20 for two small pieces that are less than 1 square foot each. So I am going to test covering some of the provided plastic parts in the kit with this aluminum, and use something else for the rest of the airplane. I might even try aluminum foil.
But for now, I have been enjoying building some of my 1/72 scale aircraft that I collect. Some kits are basic, and some have amazing detail for their scale. I think the model manufacturers have seen the popularity of the smaller scale and have put more effort into adding detail, which is encouraging!
I am juggling quite a few projects at the moment, with a ship build of many years in progress, a 1/16 wooden aircraft build, 1/72 plastic models, 1/8 scale Pocher Porsche, grandfather clock, music and art.
So I tend to go where my enthusiasm takes me project wise. I do my best work when I am in the mood for it. I think we all share that trait. I keep my options open and work on what I am passionate about at the time. At any day I could get bored with my plastic models and decide I want to get back to the P-38 or the Norske Love ship. And more than likely I will continue to bounce around. It’s how I am hard wired…ROTF.
So be patient and I will resume and eventually finish all of my builds. ;)
 
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Daniel20 said:
For me it's always interesting to see what you are working next. I rather enjoy the variety you present, what is really interesting is how fast you complete some items and still maintain a high quality of build. Keep em coming Dean!
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Thank you Daniel, I appreciate the encouragement.
Experience leads to efficiency! ;)
I started building models as a young teenager.
 
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Personally, I am most interested in seeing your results with the aluminum adhesive! And, if positive, please do tell what and where.

Either way, I've enjoyed the plastic and definitely been humbled by the painting of the planes. I built mostly 1/72 air and armor back in the day. They were way less expensive for a kid! Only began exploring larger scales and mediums as my pocketbook also enlarged.

Thanks for all the sharing so far!

M.
 
mondrasek said:
Personally, I am most interested in seeing your results with the aluminum adhesive! And, if positive, please do tell what and where.

Either way, I've enjoyed the plastic and definitely been humbled by the painting of the planes. I built mostly 1/72 air and armor back in the day. They were way less expensive for a kid! Only began exploring larger scales and mediums as my pocketbook also enlarged.

Thanks for all the sharing so far!

M.
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You’re welcome…and thanks for the kind words.
I am not sure I can use the adhesive for the P-38 Lightning plastic parts of the kit either, because it’s just one letter sized sheet. So I would have to buy more sheets and it’s too expensive in my opinion. I just bought a sheet to try it.
I will probably try it on one of the 1/72 airplane models…thinking about the P-43 Lancaster, as I found a picture of it with a metal finish and I liked it. Either that or a P-51 Mustang.
Here is a pic of the P-43 in metal finish…

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The P-43 was the precursor to the P-47. So I was excited to find a model of it. ;)

And the the bare-metal sheets can be purchased at Micro-Mark.
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Finished with the Nieuport 24bis…I added the cables and did touch up paint, painted the cable ends or attachment points in copper to represent turnbuckles. Then I accented the elevator and aileron lines.
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I am getting better at working with the EZline. It’s basically like a roll of thin rubber band line. Very stretchy…up to 700% without breaking. So you drill a tiny hole and put super glue in the hole and insert one end of the line. Let dry and stretch and attach the opposite end. The only issue is superglue is great at destroying paint! So you have to be very careful with the application and then there is still going to be some paint touch up. Some people use tiny eyes and a collar and then superglue the line after tensioning thru the collar. I may try this, but on 1/72 scale I feel like it would be a wasted effort. On 1/48 or 1/32 scale it would be a must!
So one day I will use that technique on a larger scale WW1 aircraft model. ;)
 
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