Academy 1/72 Lockheed P-38J Lightning "Pacific Theater"

ACADEMY 1:72 LOCKHEED P-38J LIGHTNING
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Carlos Giani (carlos_giani2002@yahoo.de)
- A Built up review of this kit exists on this site - see the respective fully built kit review index to locate review

Aircraft: Please let me relate you to the great history Mr. Ronayne offered in his Airfix P-38 Kit Review.

Parts: Against my custom, I'll make this review short, since there exists an Inbox Review of this subject on SMAKR (by Mr. De Wolf) and a Kit Review written by Mr. Ronayne which should be read, just due to the shortcomings he found by building this kit.

There are 111 medium grey and 13 transparent parts, one beautiful decal sheet and a little self-gluing alu-foil with two pre-punched ovals which will represent mirrors placed on the inner nacelles. Everything is well bagged, the parts are very crisp, detail level is excellent, panel lines and rivets are finely engraved and there's absolutely no flash. There are no ejector pin marks to speak of; so it is possible to produce beautiful wheels you won't ruin eliminating the former. You even get a little tube of glue, for the case it's Sunday and you notice your contacta bin is empty...

A very satisfying aspect is the inclusion of little grills to be glued inside the big rear air intakes, avoiding a „look- through“ effect. You also get separate tubs for the main wheel wells, and the front one is molded in the lower fuselage half, independent from the cockpit -> no need for scratch-built bulks or blue tak chunks! There are lots of little pieces for detail all around, even inside the main wheel wells. At first look, all „invites you to build“ Please see the photos and judge for yourself.

Instructions: One longish paper sheet folded to four pages, printed on both sides. You get a sprues map, twelve construction steps, brief history and detail painting call-outs, the colors unfortunately only generic names given (no FS numbers). Painting/decaling guide for two exemplars are given as six-view diagrams on a separate sheet.

Versions: Both pacific theater, painted upper olive drab over lower neutral grey; I think Humbrol HU2/H66 and HU3/H176 will match here.

1.- Flown by Lt. Paul Murphy, 80th FS/8th FG, 1944;

2.- Flown by Lt. Allen Hill, 80th FS/8th FG, 1944.

Decals: They look thin enough and good in register, with abundant stencils. Apparently printed by Academy.

Detail: Excellent , absolutely „state of art“, and enabling you to build a well detailed kit without the need of aftermarket stuff.

Options: You get choice of external stores, this consisting of two drop tanks, two bombs and two triple bazooka-like pipes. You get two canopies, allowing you to build an open or closed cockpit. I think a wheels-up model could be build without headache.

Impressions: To be honest, although I've read Mr. Ronayne´s review and took notice of the mentioned shortcomings, I find this kit very impressive. Having built the Airfix offering twice in the past, I know it only can come better with this subject. I payed some 12 Euro for it, thus I'm happy with I've got.

Recommendations: Read all reviews and decide for yourself. But I'm sure it will be hard to find a better offer than Academy's one.

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