oifvet23

My Feedback: (6)

hey warbirdnutty,
i talked to the guy on the phone and he said it only added around 12oz to the plane.

Metalmorphous

My Feedback: (2)

mbuck515 - The P-38 would be in better hands if you flew it instead of me unfortunatly I have little experience flying twins so I will have to settle for just some stick time in the air and let someone elts do the honers of takeoffs and landings.

I have noticed that there seems to be some concern of our product making the model industry "Out of reach"
To me this is just progress and like most new methods and products many see them as evil doings and fear what they dont understand or just dont want to change. But if you look hard you can see that the hobby has already taken giant steps, how many of us use CA glues instead of white glue? how about mono coat? of digital servos and radio equipment? all I can say is right now it may seem out of reach for many but we are working on making this a process that some day maybe you'll be able to order as an option from the manufacture of you kit of ARF. But for now all I want to do is open some more doors in this and other hobbies. Also I just want to mention that we did not plate the 38 for competition reasons and will not enter it any thing like that but hopefuly you might see it on display at the larger hobby shows. As long as I'm not offending anyone I would like to keep posting pictures of the 38 untill it is completed, we have worked very very hard on this and would still like to share it will people that appreciate war bird replication.

Ron

SDCrashmaster

Post away.
The finish can only be as nice as what's under it. I you take a non-detailed fiberglass fuse and plate it, it will not be nearly as spectacular as you may thing. The key is the detail prior to the plating process. And that is already out of reach of many (other than by purchasing existing composite kits). It's not the process...it's what you do with it before and after the process. In other words, the guy who considers a good looking model as having panel lines drawn with a black fine point Sharpie® is probably not a candidate. Terry Nitsch is a candidate...but I bet the plating process would only be the very beginning of his scale skin work.
He would still mask each and every panel and steel wool directional strokes, etc.

Please post all the pics you can. It is beautiful stuff and helps us to visualize the technique on different airframes as well.
Thanks,
Paul

Connery

I'm sure we are all sitting here eagerly waiting for the next set of pictures.

Metalmorphous

My Feedback: (2)

Here are the up to date pictures, panel lines, rivets and fasteners are finished on the wings so it was on to more masking and painting. The stripes on the wings are finished but still have a long way to go on the fuselage, I'll post some pictures of that when its time.


Enjoy
Ron

Metalmorphous

My Feedback: (2)

I gotta tell ya that I'm not looking forward to doing the rivet details to the fuselage but I know in the long run it will be worth it.

abufletcher

Metalmorphous, this is the most beautiful P-38 model I've ever seen so please don't be put off by my doubts about how this process (or something more extreme) might change the hobby. Change is good. Good custom work is always welcome and any step forward in manufacturing is only to be commended! Having this sort of work "commissioned out" is certainly no different in my mind from buying a glass fuse with all the details already molded in. And not really any different than buying $300 scale retracts.

Your description of the process just got me thinking about how very complex top competetive models have become. But I suppose as long as there's always something like Top Gun's "Builder of the Model Rule" that stipulates that a model is essentially the craftsmanship of one single individual, the hobby is "safe."

grumpE

My Feedback: (6)

HOLY COW!

It will be fun reading about this bird later in all the mags etc after it cleans up in the competitions. Absolutely freaking amazing!!

Eric

Metalmorphous

My Feedback: (2)

Here is an update on our 38, I spent most of the day fabricating the exhaust. I wanted the smallest single hole allowable for this. I talked with a fellow modeler named Evan from Texas and he has already installed the ZDZ 40s in his Yellow P-38 and he did a great job of fabricating his exhaust, I just did some small modifications to his design, I added 2 small baffels to bring down the sound level a bit and instead of brazing I mig welded our units. If you look at the last picture you can just make out the out let, its 3/4 in pipe and only sticks out 3/16 in. just what I wanted. Thanks Evan...

Here are some pictures of the fit and finish.



Ron

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SDCrashmaster

I must say...that muffler is a real piece of work. Very nice. Looks like the awesome metal freak show won't be compromised by any unsightly appendages.[sm=thumbup.gif]

Metalmorphous

My Feedback: (2)

SDC-- Thanks, I'm trying to keep the outer skins as clean as possible but ran into a small snag, the spark plug and wire extend about 1/4" or so out of the cowl, so now I have to cut, re-glass and repair the plating on the cowl so that everything is covered. Boy its the small things that seem to take the longest to get finished. I'll gets some pictures up soon.

Ron

gbrad64

i know this is off topic...but i got to know..
those are Shelby Cobras in the background of some of the pictures?
thank you
greg
P.S. that is a real work of art on that p-38...WOW!

GSNut

My Feedback: (8)

Totally, Awesome..am looking forward to your following posts in eager expectations !

Even though this process maynot be feasible for almost all here, I must say that you have raised the bar for most of us to continue with our own experments into the fantastic world of scale endevor. I shall follow this thread to its completion with great interest.

" Aluminum is the Only Metal that Looks Like Aluminum ! "

Keep up the Good Work !

Metalmorphous

My Feedback: (2)

gbrad- Yep, we always have aleast 2 cobra replicas in our shop. We do our plating process on alot of classic autos and the cobra is one of our favorite. The cobras in the pictures are having the underside of there hoods, trucks and doors plated with aluminum, once thats done it is very hard to tell them from the originals.
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GSnut- Thank you for your good words and I'm very glad that I can contribute in replicating what the full scale P-38 looked like, many that have been to the shop to see the plane dont even know what a lightning was but after see ours being worked on most leave with a new interest in the warbirds of yester-year. We had to put the 38 on the sideline for now, another project has to be complete, but will post as soon as we are back on it.
Ron

Metalmorphous

My Feedback: (2)

Gbrad here is some of our work we did this week. Doors are to a cobra coupe, hood is to a cobra roadster and the copper sheet on the floor is a sheet of formica for a builder that does some great custom work.

MSabol

You know...if the table and shop surroundings were edited out of the photos, and a real background substituted, I bet you couldn't distinguish this plane from a real one, coming right off the assembly line (although in black and white, of course).

Truly fantastic job...I am incredibly jealous!

Metalmorphous

My Feedback: (2)

MSABOL- Thank you for the complement. We will have a photographer take much better pictures once we get it finished.

I had to cut a hole for the spark plug cap, only the tip of the cap sticks out but I still dont like it so I have started the glass repair last week, I will post some pictures soon.

Ron

airmcn_3

My Feedback: (9)

Just spoke to Ron Randal at metalmorphsis GREAT GUY! I will be sending by 100" P38 next month! price is really not bad when you are talking about having a true alunimum covering! Great Product cant wait to see in person! Thanks Chris Mc Nair

Metalmorphous

My Feedback: (2)

I had a great conversation with Chris last week, he too has a P-38 and it looks as if its going in the unpainted aluminum version like the one we are working on.
Chris when your almost finished with you 38 give me a call and I will send you a sample on a PVC pipe so you can see it first hand.

Well I got a chance to get the cowls fiberglassed and repaired after I found that the spark plug cap protruded out of the cowl. I did't want anything hanging out so I did what I thought Lockheed would of done, just gave it a cover like the nose gear. After the plating was repaired it wasn't that noticeable. What do you think?

Ron

grumpE

My Feedback: (6)

That finish is a masterpiece.

Simply a masterpiece.

Now you need a 100" plus Mustang, and a P-47 and a.................................................

Eric

Me-109K4

My Feedback: (1)

This is indeed the most realistic model airplane I've ever seen. Just beautiful. I couldn't help noticing one thing though, shouldn't the insides of the wheel wells and gear doors be painted chromate green?

Metalmorphous

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks again for the good words on work in progress.

ME-1094-- Not all the P-38s had there gear doors primed with zinc chromate, as I understand it had something to do with weight and location of where the plane was to be based. One other thing is we know how difficult it is to get an aluminum finish in a compound curved area so we thought that this would be a great way to show the versatility of our product.

Ron

SDCrashmaster

And that it does my friend...that it does.

Gorgeous!

I'm Paul Reese and I approve this message.

cap10fan

My Feedback: (13)

I CAN'T BREATH!...[&:]...This P38 is absolutely breath taking!

I don't know what else to say that has not already been said.

My wife is lucky I don't have any money...there would be a nice P38 hanging over our bed!

Keep up the great posts!

Todd Coleman

DiscoWings

My Feedback: (76)

WE NEED MORE PICTURES
I love pictures...[8D]