1:32 Lockheed P-38

Twin booms over Europe

Among American fighters of the Second World War the Lockheed was an absolute exception: two engines, two tail booms and a pilot's nacelle in the middle. German pilots nicknamed it the fork-tailed devil after its silhouette. The sheet in 1:32 scale offers markings for two machines from different periods of the fighting over Europe and North Africa.

The first is a J series machine with the number 43-38431 and the code MC-O, which in April 1944 carried the name Happy Jack and flew with the 79th Fighter Squadron of the 20th Fighter Group. The second comes from considerably earlier production, serial number 41-7587 and code UN-O, and had a different name on each side: Texas Terror and Mad Dash. More than a year of development of the type lies between the two aircraft, which shows well in the shapes as well as the markings.

Two booms, two sets of warning lettering

The layout of markings on this type is different from single engine fighters. The code letters go on the outer side of the tail booms, personal names on the nose of the nacelle, and a number of technical markings repeat symmetrically on both engine cowlings. Before applying them it is therefore worth laying the sheets out according to the sides of the model, so that mirrored pairs are not swapped.

The large scale makes it possible to work even with the finest elements, such as the lettering by the intakes of the cooling tunnels. It is exactly those that make a model of this type an impressive piece for a display case, because it has a span that cannot be overlooked in this scale. Reckon with a finished model taking up considerably more room than a single engine fighter of the same size.