Striking twice

The Matchbox 1/72 scale P-38J Lightning is an old favorite. I used to stare at it for (what seemed like) hours outside the glass case in SM Shoemart Cubao's toy section. The box artwork was one of the most stunning, with a flaming zero falling in the background, and Tommy McGuire's Pudgy V clearly written. It was there on the shelves everytime I came to that place, and always beyond reach, as it was a purple series box, and there were so many cheaper orange series planes that I wanted to get. On my birthday in 1982, I had the chance to get it with the 100 pesos my parents and aunts put together, but when I got there, it was gone. (Good thing Matchbox released an F-16 then, and that's what I got!) And I did get Hasegawa's then-new P-38F/L.

But here we are, in 2006. True, its a terrible Lightning kit. The panel lines were trenches and at the wrong spots. The propellers spun the wrong way. And the detail left much to be desired. But its a Lightning, dagnabbit. And when good Mr Applebee brought out one at a swap meet in 2002, look who was there to get it straightaway. And here it is, in its full glory.