by Bill Human

It is a time of World War. Ruthless storm troopers, under the command of Lord Dorf Vader, have the world in the clutches of fear and tyranny. But a small band of poorly equipped patriots have dared to challenge the Empire.

A desperate battle is afoot; Lord Vader and the massive Death Ship are poised to stamp out the fledgling Rebellion and the Rebels have only a motley assortment of small ships to counter the colossal, kilometer-long battle ship.

As daring Rebel fighter pilots clash with dreaded Imperial fighters, the pilots of Gold Squadron, and their battered and modified, fighter/bombers are tasked to attempt an attack on a small thermal exhaust vent that may be their only salvation…

The model is US Airfix's 1:72nd P-38 Lightening, which was generously gifted to me by a fellow SSM board member. For a while, I've drawn parallels in my mind between existing designs of WWII aircraft, and what their Star Wars counterpart would be. To my mind, the twin booms of the Y-wing were reminiscent of only one aircraft: the P-38.

I decided to model the plane, not realistically, but as if it were modified, cross wired, patched-up, and abused. Also, I decided to add a bit of artistic license: an R2 'thinking machine' auto-pilot/in-flight mechanic, from a Fine Molds X-wing Kit. Other additions were weapons pylons from a 1:72nd A-10; a pilot from an Airfix Seasprite and weapons from a Testors F4U-1 Corsair.

The base is sheet styrene, with hole punched 'rivets', an inkjet vacformed cartridge shell, and the turret of a 1:72 Hasagawa Tiger tank.

Colors are Testors rattlecan Camouflage Gray for the P-38, and Testors Gunmetal, with an overspray of Wal-Mart Equipment Grey primer and pastel weathering.

Image: Closeup

Image: Flak emplacement

Image: Head on view

Image: Proton torpedos

Image: Above

Image: Again