W/M P-38 in the emergency room, prognosis.............

rsv1cox wrote:Almost too easy. Amazing, came apart without difficulty unusual for these.  No heat, no broken posts no buggered up screw heads.  I needed an exacto blade to separate the fuselage sections but that's it.

I knew the patient on life support would not escape the life savings skills of a P-38 surgeon.

Well, if I do say so, to me, the most interesting part of this whole thing is how the fuel line and fuel nipple had distorted and 'melted' together in shape. But it looks great as you left it. Definately gives it character.

Congrats Bob, it cleaned very well. I see they had a design flaw where hot Castor and exhaust softened the fuel nipple. Wen-Mac may have been in a hurry to issue this model, just like the real thing faced when US entered WW2. Usually those problems are detected during prototype testing.

Looking at your pre-clean up photo, at the radio gear in the rear cockpit area:

rsv1cox wrote:

Was comparing the rear cockpit radio deck, to see how it matched to the latter half WW2 SCR-522 VHF Radio system:



Model has a different radio package, it would be interesting to know what they modeled it after, or, perhaps they used their imagination into what it should look like.


Oh, and I wanted to add, it is interesting the shock mounting system that they used on the radio boxes to mount to the fuselage deck. With the best of technology available then, it seemed to provide a reasonable amount of vibration dampening.   The engine vibration, shocks from landings, takeoffs, landing gear down and up jolts, impulse shock from each round fired through the weapons must have made it very interesting to protect those delicate tubes (valves). I remember in high school, the octal tube 6J6 twin medium mu triode was used in the experimenter kits, some were metal cased. (It came with an isolation transformer AC supply, think output was 125 Volts and 250 Volts, as well as filament supply of 6V, 12V.) I assembled a regenerative broadcast band radio using it, listening on 2k Ohm high impedance headphones. (It was kind of neat to listen to The Cowsills, Rain, Park and Things. ) Appears WW2 drove miniaturization from Octal to 7 and 9 pin miniature. The miniatures were shown in the aircraft radio.

I imagine with all the vibration and shock, that any tubes showing any sign of deterioration were removed out of service. Also, I'm wondering if at times after so many flight hours, they just simply discarded the old tubes and replaced with new.

YES Nice one Bob...Like Kim said!  Very good one for your collection.

It looks like our very own ER Doc has saved and restored another childhood casualty. Another excellent work of art!

OMG Bob,

did you see Curtis Mattikow's latest on ebay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/363851307290

WAY WAY out of my range, but wow wow.

rsv1cox wrote:For George.

Thanks Bob. Had 15 staples removed yesterday from back surgery, feel more relieved today. When I get a chance, want to look up radio installations before 1945 (below 30 MHz). The set in the back appears to be a different one.

cstatman wrote:OMG Bob, did you see Curtis Mattikow's latest on ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/363851307290 WAY WAY out of my range,  but wow wow.

Very impressive looking P-38, all chrome. 6-1/2 days left on 1st bid of $495.00. Couldn't help but notice that one of the heads on the engines is the Testors .049 Red Head in anodized red. The other in plain aluminum looks aged. Wonder if it was missing a head and that was used as a substitute. Yup, cost wise, not within my league either.

My brother had a Wen-Mac .049 all chrome F4U Corsair. It had around a 16" wingspan, radial cowl was straight and open at the bottom with underside of fuselage open. I believe (it was 55 years ago, 1966-1967) that the wing and rest of the plane was molded as one piece. It looked like this, except it did not have a throttle-able engine.


From https://www.coxengineforum.com/t15108-wen-mac-corsair

It came bundled with an all red tether car 1957 Chevrolet Impala with the high fin tails and large rear slick tires, similar to this.


E-Bay photo.

The Wen-Mac had a modern glow head instead of a glow plug. Engine was shared between both. One removed the prop and nut, installed a pinion gear with flywheel. I don't remember any heat sinks in car mode. The pinion mated with a larger gear on the single axle that drove both rear wheels. My impressions of the engine was Babe Bee like power.

As simple as it was, the fact the Corsair was all chrome made it look very impressive.

rsv1cox wrote:
Mien Gott Robert, what have you done................




When I joined here I had maybe seven, mostly R/C and only one plastic, the Corsair.   See what you all did to me.  There are more upstairs and in the loft.  

Then there's the trains Bob!!

rsv1cox wrote:

cstatman wrote:OMG Bob, did you see Curtis Mattikow's latest on ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/363851307290 WAY WAY out of my range,  but wow wow.

Yes, Testors version of the Wen Mac after they merged.  Left engine is real, right side engine is a dummy.  Mentioned it to George some time ago.  

Bob, yes, you mentioned to me about the later version. However, I looked close at the photos that @ctatman pointed out in his E-Bay link.

What I see is two engines. The left one appears to be the original with shorter machined steel needle.


The right, is a Testor's McCoy .049 Red Head engine with cable style needle valve. It is certainly not a dummy engine.


Both photos, left engine and right engine show the fuel tank nipples in molded white plastic visible behind the engine.

What I gather is, there is a possibility that perhaps someone had upgraded this very low time or non-running P-38 by replacing the dummy engine with a real engine. Perhaps in the single engine version, Testor did not make any other changes except to mold a dummy engine that bolted in exactly like the original? Rather than retooling to eliminate tank for right engine, made no changes?

This may very well explain the differences in the two engines.

Thanks Bob, I was in the middle of adding additional details like photos and expanding comments, not noticing you had already replied.

It looks like this Testor's all chrome girl was a little naughty, lying about her lack of hanky-panky and no hands cuddling her before reaching the status of an exclusive to be prized, mail order bride.


WW2 Photo from https://475th.org/p38/nose-art/#

rsv1cox wrote:I sent a note to the seller regarding the incorrect engine.  First of many that I'm sure he will receive. To a collector it would mean a great deal.  I'm sort of an accumulator, corrector/collector of trash.  It doesn't mean a lot to me.  I might make a bid.

Good you contacted to let them know the truth. At this point, the one bid received may be the highest. I know what you mean by not meaning a lot. And, the chrome doesn't last too well against nitro fuel. Seems to mar easy with finger prints, too.

I got a Medallion .049 for a very reasonable price, because the seller mis-labeled it as a Tee Dee. It looked a little dirty and used. There weren't others interested. When I got it, only thing wrong besides needing clean up is the optional venturi tap for pressure nipple was broken off. I have no use for that, it is only cosmetic. It was worn, yes, but complete and still had decent compression.

rsv1cox wrote:BTW while at a flea market Mark sent me this picture of Wen Mac funny cars for sale.

The red one looks like my brothers. I was 12 or 13 at the time, so whether it had the extra chrome like the red one or missing the chrome trim like the yellow, can't remember. It had the sheet metal pan chassis and solid music wire axles plus decent tires, so it was designed to withstand use and punishment.

Bob, you probably already have dibs on it, but if not. Hip Pocket Aeronautics has Profile Publication #106 - The Lockheed P-38 J-M Lightning (accessible through free membership).

https://www.hippocketaeronautics.com/hpa_plans/details.php?image_id=2260

I spent a lot of time working I didn't have time to read all of them but I hadn't seen the results of this plane which is great the engine shines I was looking for ideas for a boat for a project to give me ideas I was looking at a different model I came across a strange bird which had nothing to do with the boats, but I found it interesting a A. C. Gilbert Wing Thing Gas Powered Kite. But I was wondering if anyone here had seen this before. A sort of kite wit A pilot profile in an ultra light plane it say free flight and control ligne I was wondering how this model is controlled with cables? Sorry for the slight change of subject.