One of the planes I really wanted from Axis and Allies was their P-38 lighting. I was able to find the pair last Christmas time. Now it was time to finish them up! The paint job was pretty nice, but it had some issues. First, there were too many stars on the plane, so some of these would have to be painted out. In addition, the cockpit detail paint work was rather sloppy (this looks to be a challenge on a lot of these A&A planes). In addition, it had an identification id, so this would have to be changed for one of the planes.
I started by painting over the extra stars with dark green and dark gray to match the exiting panel line colors. I then wet brushed over the green and gray sections. Next was the details. Some brightening (and straightening) of the red, white and blue areas. I adjusted the tail number on the second plane with more white (from three to nine). Next I added black to all the weapons, guns and propeller spinners. I then went and painted in all the glass panels on both planes with contrast blue, followed by some olive green cage work.
A spray of Krylon Mat gave the satin finish. The last detail was to hand paint Vallejo gloss varnish on the cockpit glass to shine it up. I now have my P-38s ready to support my US troops in Europe!
- Manteuffel