The Little World

What do you do when you discover that you are going the wrong way? If you are Douglas Corrigan you just keep on going and hope to hit Ireland eventually. If you are me, you stop and see if you can turn around.

I stopped after I did some more research on the RAAF’s only three Lockheed P-38 PRU aircraft. I had thought to make the Hobby Boss kit into one of them with the classic green/brown/sky colour scheme. Then I discovered that the three RAAF aircraft were early models and had engine air intakes that were noticeably different from those of the kit. It is the sort of discrepancy that would bug me severely if I just carried on whilst knowing it.

So I dived into the research again – I’d crossed my Rubicon by removing the ship’s guns and filling the nose smoothly – PRU it was going to be. Fortunately there is a photo of a USAAF P-38 in Artificial Haze Blue that pretty well matches the outline of the kit. So it’s back to Uncle Sam.

The P-38 already has the undercoat and a thin layer of RAAF Sky on the underside, but this is easily covered by the darker blue. I shall be frugal and adventurous and mix my own colour – there’s plenty of dark blue, grey, and white in the Little Workshop paint stores at present. I can go back to using the kit insignia though the PRU craft has most of the hatch marks and tail serial in lighter lettering. Perhaps this will turn up at the plastic model fair on the weekend.

I’ll have to wait until I see what other P-38’s are made by different manufacturers if I want the 75 Squadron recce ship. Not going to pay the $ 100+ price of a Corgi die-cast!

One new adventure to go – I’ll put down a couple of patches of exhaust staining as these are a prominent and filthy feature of the colour reference photo – I can hardly make them too dirty.