Revell's 1/32 scale
Lockheed P-38J Lightning

by Tadeu Pinto Mendes

Although not mentioned, the P-38 was one of the best twin-engined fighters of World War II. With an unusual design, the project, dubbed the L-22, was more than innovative and the fighter became a pioneer in several respects: it was the first aircraft with a tricycle and retractable landing gear; the first twin-engine fighter with contra-rotating propellers.

The USAAF's first double hull; the first turbocharged fighter; the first aircraft to land in Japan after the end of the war and was the Allied fighter, shooting down the most Japanese aircraft. They also had an innovation in the wings with the Fowler flap which increased the wing area.

Notable actions by the Lightnings included intercepting G4M Squadron "Betty" that was carrying Admiral Yamamoto, mastermind of the attack on Pear Harbor. A squadron of P-38Gs from the 339th Squadron from Guadalcanal intercepted the strategist's transmission, and they shot down the aircraft in April 1943.

In the Pacific, the ratio of aircraft shot down for each P-38 was 12/1. The P-38's greatest ace was Richard Ira Bong with 40 victories against the Japanese.

This is the Revell P-38J kit. It was originally released in the 1970s and is a good model, also released under license in Brazil by Kikoler, who this model represents.

I found assembly tedious, since they are otherwise in 1/32 with twin-engine kits.

There is a bug in the assembly display where it doesn't show that a propeller turned the other way and therefore they need to be assembled.

Because the P-38's nose was small, the model had almost no room to add weight. In this case I also used the larger space in the motors, but I had to stiffen the tricycle landing gear with glue to keep it from bending.

A flaw of the model is the cockpit, which does not fit perfectly into the cabin, leaving space on both sides.

Once finished I beveled the wheels to give an idea of the weight of the plane.

The aluminum Flashes had internal parts of each engine and the front of the windshield painted in back colors and in certain cases matte black as an anti-glare color.

This model evolved from the P-38's greatest ace, Richard I. Bong, who had 40 victories. The last two P-38Js he flew were a P-38J-15-LO and the last a P-38J-20-LO. I ended up doing this last one, which as an external difference from the previous one consisted in the two-tone spinners and the 40 wins printed on the left, while the other one didn't have all the flags and the spinners printed entirely in red. This hunter was in then Natural aluminum (Aluminum - FS 17875) with parts in Olive Green (Olive Green - FS 33070) as anti-glare color and insignia Red (Red - FS 11136) on the half of the spinners, wingtips and ends of the vertical stabilizers. Black (Gross Black - FS 27038) propellers with Yellow (Gross Yellow - FS 13638) tips.

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Thumbnail panels:

The interior of the landing gear is zinc chromate (FS 33481) and the cabin interior is in Green interior (Interior green - FS 24151)

Model and Text Copyright © 2022 by Tadeu Pinto Mendes
Page Created 24 June, 2022
Last Updated 24 June, 2022

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