WWII P-38J Lightning, 1/48 scale, Revell

Next up, I wanted to finally get to the Normandy D-Day. Invasion Stripes, but I first needed to protect the green paint sprayed on, so on went a coat of Future on most surfaces, which would stand overnight for the surface tension to relax and smooth out. Invasion Stripes and decals to come!

 

I knew they were going to be the new territory on this build for me, and I needed experience in masking models at that time in my modeling career, as I didn't know much on the subject. I wanted to do more challenging camouflage schemes with my other projects, so this was a good test bed. I thought I'd be clever and go out and buy real airbrushing masking frisket....well, that didn't quite work out! Honestly, I think the stuff is more for 2-D than 3-D projects. It just doesn't have any staying power on plastic.

Tamiya tape? ....yup, I was sure the stuff is brilliant (and it is!)…I’d seen some at a local hobby shop and the stuff was maybe less than a quarter inch wide, so much easier to use, but I opted for the next best, available thing again....my trusty old Painter's Tape!

Using an artist's brush, I hand paint the stripes. To get a start, I did a few white stripes by masking first with tape, and then carefully edge brushing and filling in. I was well on the way.

 

The wings were finished, and the booms just started (hence not looking finished yet). I was using Folk Art Acrylics, by the way...

 

 

Not a lot of the stripes were masked....I actually would hand paint more than mask. For instance, all the black is hand painted with no masking. It was just easier that way.

 

The booms’ invasion stripes were finished. Then I propped up her magazine compartment door and descaled the noise with some nose art… the hand painted “K” is an homage to my wife, Karen. 

 

 

You may note the weathering....chalk wash did the trick for now, I really have very little experience weathering aircraft and will likely do a little more later down the road as I figure it out.

 

 

 

The decals were pretty nice, and I opted to go minimal. I did a lot of research on these birds and noted that a lot of them had minimal evidence of the stuff...not sure why. The Invasion Stripes came out quite well. I painted the tires a hand blended color. I also put silver back on the landing gear.

 

After I matte coat her coming up, I'd paint the props and place decals on those, remove the tape masks off the cockpit, and she would be ready for finished snap shots.

And the finished product…