1/48 Eduard P-38 G Lightning 339th FS "Operation Vengence"

[lawdog114]

On the morning of April 18th 1943, 18 P-38G Lightnings of the 339th FS out of Henderson Field, lead by Major John Mitchell, took off to intercept Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the mastermind behind Pearl Harbor, who was on a troop moral boosting trip through the Solomons. Four days earlier American intell broke the Japanese code informing them of Yamamoto's location, route and schedule. He was notoriously punctual which made the mission feasible. The intercept location was 425 miles away from Henderson Field and P-38 Lightnings, with oversized drop tanks, were the only plane with the range. The group consisted of 4 attack planes for the bombers and 14 to keep the likely escorting A6M Zeros at bay.

After flying over open water just above the waves to avoid being detected, They found Yamamoto's #323 Betty Bomber near Bougainville. A short time later he was sent down in flames in the jungle. History would dictate that Rex Barber and Thomas Lanphier each shared in the victory, but who was really responsible has been debated for years. There were no gun cameras in these P-38 to verify each pilots accounts of the incident. Initially Lanphier got sole credit for the kill then evidence, to include examining the wreckage, and a surviving witness (in the second bomber that was splashed in the drink) showed that Barber's account was more accurate. Both men insisted to their dying day that they fired the shots that brought down Yamamoto. Barber was eventually given half credit.

In my opinion it was a team effort and all 12 of those brave men should get credit omehow, but we all know that's not how it works. Mitchell said there was a "1000 to 1" chance of it being successful.

Here is my tribute to those brave men. I recently got my hands on the recent Eduard P-38 Early Lightning Edition which is a reboxing of the old Academy kit. The draw is that it been "Profipacked" with all of their goodies, to include lots of resin, PE, masks and a sweet decal sheet. I still have no idea why they went to all the trouble to create all this resin and not just mold a new kit of this iconic fighter, perhaps to the standard of the Spitfire MK. IX.



I have already built Barber's ride for the mission, "Miss Virginia", so now I'm going to have a crack at Lanphier's mount, #122 "Phobe". I have the Hasegawa "Bougainville" Edition that supplies decals for the attack group which makes this project a reality. I'm surprised these 339th heroes' planes haven't been addressed by the decal companies yet. There seems to be plenty of visual documentation out there.....like this..




I started with the resin cockpit. All I can say is WOW, what a beauty! The seat and radio deck are works of art. Certainly one of the best I've ever seen. The only issue I see is the wrong steering wheel for a G model. It was and actual half steering wheel as opposed to the later yoke style. I horked the wheel out of the Bougainville kit. Here it is after a dusting of Alclad Grey primer.



I painted the cockpit Gunze Interior Green and did my usual cockpit painting. Their PE is very nice as well, but I found it weird that the seatbelts go through the seat instead of over the bar. I don't know if I like this or not. Here it is after a Detailer wash and Testor's Dull Coat.




The fun part will be sandwiching this guy into the airframe. I hope I sanded it down enough. We'll find out shortly. I truly have a love/hate relationship with resin.......

[KSaarni]

This is just pure joy to watch this !

Great background story, great plane, great cockpit !

I took a look at the instruction sheet for the Trumpeters 1/32 scale P-38 regarding the seatbelts and indeed, the seatbelts goes over the bar in the Trumpeter kit.

- Kari

[lawdog114]

Thanks Kari!......maybe its an early Lightning thing. There's actually another piece of seat belt coming out the back of the seat too, so it's designed that way...

[mostrich]

Thank you for pointing us on this interesting story, Joe. Never heard of it before.

Following your build closely!

Btw. - did you have a look on the HobbyBoss P-38L offering? Heard it should be an easy build due to its one piece upper fuselage and wings.

[lawdog114]

Thanks bud. Yes I've seen that kit and intend to give it a try eventually. I'm hoping they offer some other variants though...

[Medicman71]

Interesting story. Really liking the cockpit. Very nice. A P-38 is on my list of kits that I need to get. How is the Academy one?

[Stikpusher]

This should be a good one to watch! I have the original Academy kit in my stash that I plan to build one day and markings for each mount: a commemorative set (by a company whose name I can not recall at the moment) for Miss Virginia, and a Carpena set for Phoebe.

Beautiful work on the cockpit!

[lawdog114]

Thanks guys...so someone does make decals for these 339th planes. That's reassuring!

[Stikpusher]

Thanks guys...so someone does make decals for these 339th planes. That's reassuring!

Well, two different companies make one aircraft each. I know Carpena Decals are now printed by a different company currently, but I do not recall which... I have seen the P-38 sheet at a LHS recently under the new label. They also have the correct markings for the P-38J in OD/NG that the old Monogram kit came with, complete with the names that the Monogram decal sheet left off theirs, "Betty A III".

[lawdog114]

I left off where I assembled the frame. I got everything sanded and scribed to where I thought it was acceptable. I can say this one was easier to assemble than the Hasegawa kit. Eduard offers resin supercharger parts and some PE, so I used them. The slightly darker grey pieces are resin.



On my last Lightning I thought the Tamiya Neutral Grey was a bit dark, so this time I went witn XF-66 Light Grey. I then weathered it with streaking and a dirty postshade. The real Phobe looked pretty grungy so I went heavy-handed, hopefully not too much.



I used blue tac to mark off the demarcation lines in preparation of the Olive Drab. This stuff is highly recommended for this purpose as it leaves a nice feathered edge.



Most Quadalcanal Lightnings that I've seen in pictures have lighter colored stripes on the nose, engines and especially on the panel lines. I've never been able to find a definitive answer to why. I'm guessing shipping tape markings of some sort coupled with sun fading. Anyways, I decided to replicate this. I sprayed the nose and engines XF-57 Buff mixed with XF-49 Khaki thusly...



I then cut strips of Tamiya tape and placed them where I wanted the markings to be. I didnt want to get too carried away.



Then I laid down the Gunze Olive Drab. In my opinion the best paint for this color.



I lightened the drab with some buff and added some streaks. I also lightened the control surfaces.



Not too shabby...