All right everyone, I’ve lurked around this one long enough, and the lack of any P-38s simply cannot be left un-addressed. So, despite the fact that I need to start something new like a hole in the head, here I go:
Just to be different (not) I’m planning to do Marge right out of the box, with the possible exception of some PE seatbelts. I also have the somewhat elderly Cutting Edge/Pyn-Up decal sheet for that and may use those, we’ll see.
Michael 
Awesome. I’ve built the Tamiya -38f and will probably do the Tamiya -38g for this one. Looking forward to seeing your -38j. I had hoped to find a Tamiya f-117 but those are made of unobtainium so another P-38 it will be.
It’s great to see a couple of T-Birds & a grubby F-104 in the planning stages, all worthy Lockheeds. THe P-38 will be most welcomed too. I’m looking forward to seeing these projects being built.
Paul
A bit more done on the 1/72 Lockheed L-18 project. The wings were added and I was very glad the time was spent to add the spars. Those wings went on without issues and the assembly felt good & solid. The tail feathers needed some adjusting but did go on well and feel solid. One issue is a large gap on the stabilizer/fuselage joint underneath. I used a but of putty over several sessions to set this right.
The canopy needed a bit of fitting but was actually a pretty good fit.
The last part that needed to be added was a set of PE (boo!) trailing edge extensions. These were fiddly & hard to keep straight. Not only that but ordinary handling of the model knocked them loose especially at the ends several times. When I do the L-18 for Continental Airlines I will trace them out onto plastic card stock which will make them much stronger.
The Masks were from KV models and were exceptionally nice to work with. Of course, the proof of the mask is revealed when they are removed . . .
Some primer was shot to check seams and see where were were at.
After some addiotional putty & sanding and primer touch up, this Lockheed was shot with Tamiya Bare Metal out of a rattlecan.
Paul
@Michaelsatin What would a Lockheed GB be without a P-38? Nice choice!
@hudson29 That L-18 is coming along nicely.
Gary
The F-104N is finished, except for some touch-ups around the canopy. I’ll post some better photos tomorrow.
Thanks!
Gary
A very colorful F-104, you made it look good.
Paul
Work on the 1/72 Lockheed L-18 converted from the C-60 kit has progressed some since the last post. The Draw decals set had some instructions for painting a nose panel & the windshield frames a Tamiya rattlecan (TS 55?) Dark Blue. The trick was to photocopy the decal sheet, cut out the side stripes and use them as a template to determine the masked border of that blue panel.
This seemed very fiddly to me with much room for error given my modest abilities. Just the same, it had to be done to finish the model so I charged ahead determined to have a crack at it. Here are the templates applied to the model:
The back portion of the paper templates was taped into place to keep the location constant, the front was left loose so the 2mm Tamiya tape could be applied:
I spent a lot of time doing this as I was very unsure of my ground but after several tries found a position for the tape that seemed to offer a good chance of integrating the painted panel with the decals.
After completing the masking of the rest of the model, the dark blue was shot. As seems normal with these projects, hours of prep & masking work led to just a few seconds with the spray can. The paint came out wonderfully and two coats in fairly quick session were all that was needed. Here are the results:
It looks black in the pics but it is a dark blue which I hope will match the decal color. The decaling can start now and that promises to be tricky as well. The Draw decals are thin and beautifully printed but can fold and be fragile.
The decals are a continuous film type which means they will cover the cabin window masks. I spoke with Greg Drawbaugh who owns Draw decals by email to see if he had any pointers on how to handle this. His suggestion was to trim the clear section of the decals off with a sharp #11 blade. Gulp! I was hoping for a trick that would not tax my skills so much. We shall see how that comes out . . .
Paul
Good job on the masking. I hope the decals match the nose color!
Gary
Over the decades, NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, has used a variety of chase and support aircraft, including F-104s. The agency acquired its first, a preproduction YF-104 (55-2961), in August 1956, then kept adding the type to its mission support aircraft. NASA acquired three F-104s from Lockheed, straight off the assembly line. Over time the AFRC operated 11 F-104s, and continued to operate the type for the next 38 years. Tail number (TN) 826 flew the last of these missions on Jan. 31, 1994. By then, its fleet had completed more than 18,000 flights performing basic research, chase, X-15 approach and landing simulator, and aerodynamic testbed.
011, 012, 013 were changed in 1965 to 811, 812, and 813. In June, 1966, 813 was lost when it was involved in a midair collision with the second North American XB-70A Valkyrie during a General Electric-sponsored publicity photo flight. The pilot of the F-104N, Joseph A. Walker, was killed. The XB-70A pilot, Alvin S White, ejected with injuries, but his copilot, Maj Carl S Cross, went down with the Valkyrie and was killed.
My rendition of 813 is not very accurate, partially due to decals. They don’t seem to match up very well with pictures of the real thing. Plus my own mistakes as I get older makes the model not so great. Be that as it may, it’s finished and I can move on to my next not so great project.
Thanks for looking, and thanks to @phil2015 for running this GB!
Gary
Great build, Gary. Super background info - very interesting!
These NASA/NACA and USAF flight test 104s are some of my all time favorite aircraft. You did a great job on yours!
Seeing the F-104 in such vibrant colors gets my interest raised to try building one in 1/72. I have the old Monogram kit in 1/48 somewhere but I have been working in smaller scales lately as the display cases are rapidly filling up.
More work has been done on the Lodestar in 1940 Mid Continent colors. I have been spending a lot of time lately with AI, ChatGPT in particular. I tried it on the 1936 TWA DC-3 build and it really did not advance the ball very far. With the Lodestar it was more helpful. In particular, it helped finding images showing nav & comm antennas on this Lodestar. I found that AI can get off to wrong conclusions but seems happy to be corrected when I upload a photo that shows otherwise. Other times it makes correct deductions and follows a logical chain of evidence to a reasonable conclusion. You need to work with it to produce good results. I will be using this tool a lot more in the future.
The Draw decals for the Mid Continent Airlines Lodestar are printed on a solid clear sheet. They need to be cut out as closely as possible to the printed area except where the design needs added strength and then it pays to leave more of the clear area.
On this job, I had two areas of concern. First, how closely could I fit the decal to the painted dark blue panel on the nose of the aircraft? My masking jobs have not always been up to snuff.
The second area of concern was the windows. The decal sheet has to be laid on over the windows and then the opening trimmed with a No. 11 to remove the clear film from the masks which will need to be removed after a clear sealing coat has been applied. White knuckle decaling for sure!
I girded my loins, took a stiff (virtual) shot of whisky and started in. The Draw decals are very thin an will fold easily. These are not slide on and tamp down decals. Happily, they are reasonably strong and when they fold, twist or otherwise misbehave they can be worked with.
I started with the port side and immediately ran into trouble. I kept working with plain water and a paintbrush, sometimes with fingertips and it came good in the end. The front striped lined up and the windows were in the right spot also. Then a new No. 11 blade was used to trim the clear from the windows. While not perfect, I seem to have gotten away with it.
No decal solvent was used yet. I may do this later to help with better compliance around the windows, we shall see!
Sharp eyed observers will notice that I got my Indian logo on back to front, the Chief is shooting his arrow toward the rear. Oops! I have another set of decals on order . . .
Paul
That’s looking great, Paul (even with the reversed decals). Looks like it will be finished soon!
Gary
Yes, this one is closing in on being finished. The new Draw decal sheet will take some time to arrive as they are made to order rather than stock items. The other issue is the “Chevy Engine Red” needed for the front lip of the cowlings. It was ordered from an outfit in England and they are advising 3-4 more weeks delay.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the color is suspect. The paint sample on the website matches what I expect as does the poop sheet that came with the decals. The actual decals however look very different, more like an insignia orange, far more yellow in it that Chevy Engine Red. I rebuilt a few small blocks in my youth and the color is familiar to me.
What the actual color used by Mid Continent was is almost a moot point, now I need to match the decal sheet. I shot a test of Tamiya’s orange and will see how it compares in bright sunlight.
Paul
I understand about decals not matching what you expect. Have you considered painting them? Or at least laying down a base coat of some color that will bring the decals into a more proper color (such as bright red under the red decals)? Just a thought.
Gary
Painting the markings would be a good idea for someone with more advanced skills than mine. I just muffed painting the cowlings with the orange yesterday when the Tamiya tape masking allowed the paint to run underneath and wreck the finish. Now it will be sanding & trying another repaint. I was aiming for a nice wet glossy finish rather than misting it on in several light coats. Silly boy!
Modeling skills are too often acquired through painful lessons. Someday, maybe I will learn how to paint complicated multi-layer markings. One of my next projects will be learning to mask & paint deicing boots. I tried to do this after decaling on another project and then decided that the Pointerdog decals were too lightly adheared even with a sealing coat to want to try this. I hand painted them and they look it . . .
Paul
Whille going through my stash and cleaning out some unwanted models, I ran across this one. Bagged up, it’s a 1/72nd scale P-38 from Minicraft / Hasegawa (circa 1977). I thought “what the heck” and decided to add this one to the GB.
After reading up on it, the J or L versions seem my best bet. I haven’t decided on an appropriate color scheme yet, though the decals are for “Putt Putt Maru” (flown by Charles “Mac” MacDonald the third highest scoring ace in the Pacific). We’ll see what we can find.
I intend to build this as a wheels-up model, like I do with most of the 1/72nd fighter aircraft.
Gary
