P-38 Lightning model aircraft kit build in 1/72nd scale from the Airfix kit

The famous P-38 Lightning aircraft of WW2 featured a highly unconventional layout using twin fuselage booms mounting the engines and main undercarriage with a central pod for the pilot. The aircraft eventually became a stalwart performer for the US forces after initial development problems with the aircraft.

This Airfix representation of this classic twin aeroplane is made to 1/72 scale.
The kit uses Airfix's world famous blue/grey soft plastic. Mould quality is very good for the kit's parts with very little in the way of flash or sink for most components with the exception of the propellor hub and spinner in this example which requires application of filler to sort out a fair bit of sink.

The kit employs a heavily rivetted finish to the wings, booms and tail surfaces. Look at a picture of a P-38 and you can see that much of this model's rivet detail will require the attention of a sharp blade and some abrasive, at least to tone it down a few degrees.
As this is a relatively complex aircraft to model I started out by dry fitting the major parts and then taped them up to see how she would go together. I was pleasantly surprised how good this P-38 Lightning model was in the accuracy of fit and precision of alignment departments. The parts fit quite snugly together and everything appears to line up a treat. Also the canopy fits on with some precision, making this a class act from Airfix in this regard.
The tail lines up nicely to the main plane and both fins sit vertical, booms look good and straight and the whole thing feels right.

P-38 Lightning model aircraft front 3/4 view

The P-38 from the front. Note the stick under the tail keeping the nose down. This model needs nose weight unless you intend sticking the model to a base of some kind, as will be the case for this model.

On to the kit construction proper. As you probably guessed if you've built a few plastic kits, this begins with the cockpit assembly. What you get in the box for this area of the plane is a seat, a separate backrest, a forward bulkhead/instrumentpanel and a pilot all of which glue into a cockpit tub. This is all neatly moulded and fits together well. If you are looking for a joystick don't bother as the P-38 Lightning used a yoke which is moulded onto the instrument panel (You cannot really see this much on the finished plane and it appears to me that the panel is too far forward).
The cockpit assembly is painted up mostly in Humbrol 80 or whatever you're favourite brand of grass green coloured liquid is, before insertion into the central section of the upper wing moulding.
Once this is safely dried in the correct position the lower centre section was glued in place.

When this assembly is dry enough to work on the nose is built up from three pieces of plastic, these all come together very well. Nose weight needs to be added to the model unless you intend displaying the aircraft wheels up on a stand or glued down to a base as I intended. I left the cannons off at this stage to save masking and to avoid breaking these frail item off.

The twin booms in this P-38 Lightning kit are quite accurate in their fit together. No need to remove the locating pins on this model. At this point the instructions show the sandwiching of the prop units between the boom sides, I decided to leave them out and attach them with white PVA glue when the aircraft was finished, mainly due to one of the prop pins breaking off. They will not rotate of course but who cares provided they line up good. The model plane will be tucked away in a display box out of reach from clumsy hands when completed anyhow.
P-38 Lightning kit part two