Looking for a detailed view of P38 Lightning "23 skidoo"

[airnutz]

I believe "Ruff Stuff" also has working turbos.


Anyway, some links you may find useful:

http://p38assn.org/images/p38s/yippee.jpg

http://media.photobucket.com/image/p-38 ... _012-1.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ockpit.jpg

Yup, "Ruff Stuff" is the only '38 with working 'whistlers'. They made a point of declaring that when
she debuted.

[51fixer]

Found some pics from way back when.
This is the best I have for the turbo. It shows a bit of the top of things.

Somewhere I have hundreds of slides from doing this restoration.
Also there is a Motorbooks coffee table book on the restoration of this P-38 done by Jesse Alexander.
Rich

[VictorHotel]

[51fixer]

I believe "Ruff Stuff" also has working turbos.


Anyway, some links you may find useful:

http://p38assn.org/images/p38s/yippee.jpg

http://media.photobucket.com/image/p-38 ... _012-1.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ockpit.jpg

Yup, "Ruff Stuff" is the only '38 with working 'whistlers'. They made a point of declaring that when
she debuted.

I believe the Yanks F-5 has everything installed in working condition. They just don't fly it.
Rich

[airnutz]

I believe the Yanks F-5 has everything installed in working condition. They just don't fly it.
Rich

Thank you for the correction. I should have made the distinction, "the only FLYING P-38 with....", in order to exclude any of the statics.

[kmiles]

Does anyone know why the majority of P-38's do not use the turbos? I know that many of the B-17 operators do not use them either (including us), but we do use them on the B-24J. I would think that with a fighter aircraft the opportunity to fly at higher altitudes where the turbos give an advantage would be more feasible than in a 4 engine bomber. With some of the P-38's making regular trips back and forth across the country that the higher cruise altitudes may be of some advantage. I know the parts for the turbos are not the easiest to find, but they are out there.

[51fixer]

Does anyone know why the majority of P-38's do not use the turbos? I know that many of the B-17 operators do not use them either (including us), but we do use them on the B-24J. I would think that with a fighter aircraft the opportunity to fly at higher altitudes where the turbos give an advantage would be more feasible than in a 4 engine bomber. With some of the P-38's making regular trips back and forth across the country that the higher cruise altitudes may be of some advantage. I know the parts for the turbos are not the easiest to find, but they are out there.

It greatly complicates the restoration/rebuilding process as well as maint. and operation.
They were known to throw blades and catch fire. They actually had armor plate on the inboard side of the turbo IIRC to protect the pilot and A/C.
The linkage has several additional push rods as well as a 1940s electrical/mechanical, boost sensing device that ran the wastegate.
Also you have large ducting to get the compressed air from the turbo up to an intercooler and then to the carb. Early A/C had the intercoolers in the Leading edge of the outboard wings, later in an air cooled radiator type intercooler (air to air heat exchanger) under the engine. One of the ducts runs inside the outboard wing where it attaches just outboard of the nacelle.
Also the Allison had a couple different blower gear ratios so you can get some performance back by going to a non turbo blower gear set up.
Rich

[Mike]

This may be of use..........

[Tom Morfy]

Thanks Tony,

Great minds think alike. I have a small vial of iron oxide that should work just fine for this application.

Tom

Here's how I paint exhaust on plastic model airplanes:

Paint the exhaust rust color and then dry brush the piece with steel.

It is close enough.

Go down to the local airport and look at the exhaust stack on real airplanes.

TonyM.

Not to get too picky-
WWII or Modern day representation?
I remember in the past seeing some great color photos of Lockheed flights of P-38s showing the exhaust quite well.
Modern day P-38s have the stainless steel around the turbo unpainted while WWII would have been painted. Also todays A/C get a bath more frequently.
Other factor for color will be whether it is run in lean for cross country or combat with high power at a rich mixture.
Tan to almost white for cruise, dark brown for higher power.
Maybe Jack has some color pics.
Rich

No problem---get picky if you want.

Let me make myself more clear about what I am talking about.

I am talking about the exhaust stacks and turbo itself, not the particular surface or "stainless steel around the turbo". I am not talking about the exhaust stains on the upper surfaces of the boom, just the exhaust stacks themselves. Don't recall mentioning either the stainless steel surface surrounding the turbo or the exhaust stains in my post.

Tom,

If you want to make a home-made rust pastel for brushing on plastic models, you can use the following method:

Take a piece of steel wool and put in in a cup. Pour in some water until the it just covers the steel wool. Wait about a month and the steel wook will turn to rust. Grind up this rust until it becomes a fine powder. Brushing this metal rust powder on the piece will give it an exhaust type look. This works good if the exhaust stack is steel, not stainless steel. I've used this method with good results. Practice on a scrap piece before using on the actual model.

Good luck with your model building.

TonyM.
TonyM.

[Tom Morfy]

This may be of use..........

Very much so.

Thanks Mike!

Tom