1/48 P 38L Lightning’s of the Pacific (Late War) Set 2

The second part of the Pacific series

A loose continuation of the previous sheet offers two late twin-boom fighters again. The machine with serial number 44-26302 and the name Hazel served with the 44th Fighter Squadron of the 18th Fighter Group and is captured at the time of the Philippines campaign. The second aircraft, 44-25161, carried the lettering Wishful-thinking, belonged to the 36th Fighter Squadron and operated in 1945 from the island of Ie Shima.

The base on Ie Shima lay only a few kilometers from Okinawa and in the last months of the war American fighters escorted raids on the Japanese home islands from it. The aircraft here were as a rule without camouflage, with striking bands on the rudders and tail booms which served for telling units apart quickly in flight. It is precisely these bands that make a model an effective piece for a display case.

How to use the sheet

The printing takes in national insignia, tactical numbers, names on the noses and small technical lettering. The film is thin and after application leaves almost no edge, which comes in useful above all on smooth metal surfaces. Before starting work it is advisable to look the sheet over against the light and to check that the color registration has not gone out anywhere; any fault is better discovered before it is in the water.

The package holds neither a kit nor glue, and completion from your own stock is assumed. Both subjects are late versions, so the choice of kit should match that. The difference from earlier machines is apparent mainly in the shape of the canopy and on the outer surfaces of the booms, where the largest markings from the sheet are also placed.