Reviews & Models: Paul Romans & Jerry Fraske Pictures by: R. Forys

Paul Romans In the 1960's, Monogram embarked on a commendable program of creating high-quality models of famous WWII fighters in "Quarter-Inch" scale, what we today call 1/48th.   Most of these subjects had been done before, but Monogram raised the bar pretty high with the release of this series.   Easily the best kits available of these subjects, most modelers built at least one of them.   They all had "working features" common to the period, and while these were still built with some play value, their accuracy and detail were better than anything else available for many years. The P-38 kit is a prime example.   Yes, it has raised rivets and panel lines, but these are still quite subdued, and still look pretty fair even today.   The detail exceeded anything that had come before, but the big feature of this kit was the fact that you could build four different versions out of the same kit: Fighter, Pathfinder, Photo-Recon, and Night-Fighter.   Additional parts were included to modify the central nacelle, different ordinance options were included, and extra decals were provided.   Obviously, Monogram wanted you to buy four kits and build them all, but what was wrong with that? As we all dodder towards old age, many of us older modelers enjoy revisiting the simpler days of our miss-spent youth.   I still remember getting this kit for Christmas in the mid '60's.   It was way over my abilities, and I screwed it up bad, but I always wanted to build the too-cool Night-Fighter, painted all black.   The radome under the nose and the hump-backed cockpit was irresistible.   I found one in the used bin at the hobby-shop, and finally grabbed it.

Jerry Fraske The P-38M "Night Lightning" was the night fighter version of Lockheed's very successful twin-engine, twin-boom fighter.   To meet the Army's need for a night interceptor aircraft, 75 P-38L's were modified in late 1944 with the addition of a second cockpit for the radar operator and a radar pod installed underneath the nose among other less significant changes.   Crew training was begun at Hammer Field in California in early 1945 and completed that summer but the war in the Pacific ended before any could see combat action.   This model of "Shady Lady" depicts one of four P-38M's that were part of the USAAF Occupation Forces in Japan as part of the 418'th NFS based at Atsugi, Japan, during late 1945 and early 1946. The 1/48 scale Academy P-38M kit was used for this project.   Overall, it's a good kit with engraved panel lines, detailed wheel wells, nice landing gear, and other details.   As with almost any aircraft with twin booms, there are a few fit and filling issues to deal with but it basically went together fairly well.   However, there was a need for some improvements to raise it to another level. True Details diamond patterned tires were used for the main landing gear but the nose gear wheel was replaced with one from the old Monogram P-38 kit that had the correct wheel bracing for this particular aircraft.   The kit landing gear is well done but a bit difficult to install.   Weight was added to the nose to allow it to sit on it's tricycle gear.

Please click on the buttons above to see the conclusions of both of the P-38 articles.