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Post by goodwillhunter on Feb 20, 2018 0:07:49 GMT
 While I haven’t done a big custom build in a while, I was recently inspired by someone who joined two CoD P-51 sets at the wing, basically creating a WWII Bespin cloud car with two cockpits. Interesting concept, but it made me realize that a pair of these sets would make a P-38 Lightning (one of my favorite WWII aircraft) custom build very possible.  So I printed a bunch of P-38 guide images and was lucky enough to pick up discounted Air Strike Ace sets from Amazon Warehouse Deals and Ross. After gathering additional bits from Halo Shortswords, Minion Cars and various older ProBuilder sets, I got started.  Built the wing first, leaving spaces for the cockpit and engines. The center of the fuselage was a challenge, especially finding a way to have 5 guns coming out of what is supposed to be a smooth nose.  Had to rebuild how the wings connected to the engines (much higher than on the P-51) and build housings for the shortsword landing gear. Once the engine housings extended past the wing, I could tell how wide the tail would need to be and built that separately… turned out the quarter-circles from the minion car roof were key to getting the right look.  Joining the tail to the fuselage was probably the trickiest part of this build, and I ended up using a bunch of long, slim, tapered bloks to get close to the look I wanted. The 4 side air scoops were a good place to blend the different construction styles together.  And while I try very hard to build my customs using only “stock” Mega Bloks, the only way I could find to turn a 4-blade propeller hub into a 3-blade propeller hub, was liberal use of a Dremel tool, 5-minute epoxy and flat black paint…  Had to make a number of compromises to finish this custom, but I think overall it captures the look and feel of the plane that was nicknamed the “Fork-Tailed Devil” by the Germans and “two planes-one pilot” by the Japanese.  Any other fans of the P-38 Lightning out there?    |
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Post by charliebucket on Feb 20, 2018 0:31:52 GMT
Wow that's really accurate! Excellent work, GWH.
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Post by Gramps on Feb 20, 2018 12:44:01 GMT
Beautiful job!
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Post by Bheleu on Feb 20, 2018 13:54:29 GMT
That is truly impressive!
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Post by El Caracho on Feb 26, 2018 11:44:19 GMT
Wow, that's amazing. Very impressive work! When I saw the first picture (and before reading any of the text), my immediate thought was: Where on earth did he get the 3-blade propellers? Well ... you explained it later in the thread, so that mystery was solved right away  |
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Post by goodwillhunter on Feb 26, 2018 13:26:07 GMT
Wow, that's amazing. Very impressive work! When I saw the first picture (and before reading any of the text), my immediate thought was: Where on earth did he get the 3-blade propellers? Well ... you explained it later in the thread, so that mystery was solved right away Thanks!...and thanks for reading too. So many times answers to questions are right in the original post, but it seems few people bother to read anymore... |
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Post by Deinonychus on Feb 26, 2018 14:23:36 GMT
Looks great! Really puts the recent Oxford version to shame.
Where did you get the emblems? I searched for a long while for a set for my regular CoD Mustang. I finally found an affordable set of water-slides on Amazon, but if you have a better source for those I'd love to know.
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Post by goodwillhunter on Feb 26, 2018 23:19:20 GMT
Looks great! Really puts the recent Oxford version to shame. Where did you get the emblems? I searched for a long while for a set for my regular CoD Mustang. I finally found an affordable set of water-slides on Amazon, but if you have a better source for those I'd love to know. Thanks!...Made the emblems by laser printing the results of Google image searches for “Warbird decals” and “P-38 decals” onto an Avery adhesive label sheet. Just cropped the parts I wanted in Photoshop, made duplicates at varying sizes and made a guide template so the images would be properly positioned inside the individual labels. Then cut out the ones that looked the best and applied them like any adhesive label. Here also is a pic of the little jig I put together to turn the 4-blade hubs into 3-blade hubs. Basically a nail through a board with a print of a circle with lines at 120 degree intervals taped onto it…the blok shims underneath the blades made sure the pegs dried at the correct elevation.  |
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Post by Fawkes on Feb 28, 2018 14:45:19 GMT
That's amazing GWH, your attention to detail really shows in this build.
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Post by Deinonychus on Feb 28, 2018 19:06:47 GMT
onto an Avery adhesive label sheet. Hmmm...those 5520 labels are the WeatherProof kind, so perhaps that's the key. Every time I try and print my own stickers onto label paper the whole business ends up looking like garbage. Perhaps I just needed the right label stock. |
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Post by quantum on Feb 18, 2019 14:44:29 GMT
Oh wow!! This is one of my favorite planes of all time, and your build is absolutely perfect. I would buy the hell out of that if it were a legit set.
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Post by johnlamarck on Jun 4, 2020 10:15:42 GMT
Good job. It's fun because I used too the Margaret Virgina Marie stencils for my own P-38, made with the parts of the Oxford set. |
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