1/72 Revell Me P.1101 Nightfighter

[Nigel Heath]

This is my next project:

 

 

The kit consists of two grey sprues:

 

 

Although it says Revell on the sprues, this was originally released by Dragon in 1993.

Some of the gates are quite thick but it does feature very nice engraved panel lines:

 

 

There's also a single clear part and typically good Revell decals:
 

 

With my pending new job work on this will be quite sporadic and drawn out.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

[wyverns4]

Hmm, another Nigel buildathon !

Right, and at the ready.

I built this when it first appeared, (1993/4???). IIRC, it needed a bit of fettering and test fitting, but looked good once completed.

On-On,

Christian, exiled to africa

[Pete in Lincs]

Nigel does another Luft '46!

He drifts toward the dark side.....

At this rate I'll soon have competition

for my maschinen kreiger scratch builds.

[Bengalensis]

Good to see you're still busy with those odd Luftwaffe creations. I've probably missed out some builds now, I'll try do some catching up...

[CedB]

Aha! Something with wings - I'm in!

I hope the new job goes well

[S5 modeller]

Good luck with the new job Nigel.

Another build? Don't you ever need a break between them?

[MetroRacing]

I think I'll jump on board for this.

Ashley

[Nigel Heath]

Don't you ever need a break between them?

Not really, I'll keep going as long as I can.

[modelglue]

Looks interesting, should be nice when built up. I know a few (maybe many) lament Dragon's fit and associated headaches, but I find their kits to be awesome. I have a few (5) P-61's in the stash along with a smattering of the Do-335 and Ar-234 variants. Oh, and the P-38s. Mustn't forget those. This will be the only aircraft kit from Dragon which I don't have in 1/72 so I am eager to see how you do.

I suppose the Revell would carry over the fit from the Dragon era molds, but the decals are a sure improvement. Revell seems to delight in providing ample stencils with these kits, as if to give the modeller a bonus for buying their version. This was most evident in the Mig-35 I had from Revell back in the days before I knew about this site. I received another today, from the original manufacturer: Zvezda. While the kit is still nice the decals and instructions are awful.

I digress, I think, back to your kit. Will you hypothetically be using all four missiles with the kit? I like the idea of drop tanks myself, as it seems like a night-roving pouncer from the blackness would have to have some "legs" to stick around at altitude and wait for those Superforts. There damn sure wouldn't be enough in the Fuselage!

[Nigel Heath]

I think I will go for a mix of missiles and drop tanks, more interesting than all missiles.

[Nigel Heath]

The first thing I noticed on getting to grips with this kit is that there should be a PE fret included. The kit was preowned so maybe that person separated the fret out for storage. The main thing it supplied was some detail for the side consoles, I think I should have something in the spares box to act as replacements:

The cockpit detail is quite chunky and there were these strange marks and unevenness on the floor:

To even things out and hide the seam line I decided to plate over the floor with 0.5mm card:

I then added the pedals (which won't be visible) and gave the squat seat some height with srips of Evergreen:

I did find some near spot-on pieces of PE in my spares box, actually surplus from my last build. I put those on a card backing:

The moulded guns on the fuselage aren't terribly realistic so I drilled them out, finishing with a reamer:

With the holes done I cut some 0.5mm tube for the guns and got them ready for painting:

I got a few things assembled and did some filling. The plastic pitot tube on the wing will of course have to go:

I removed the pitot and drilled out the wing ready for a metal replacement to be made later:

I have also got all these parts ready for some paint which should happen tomorrow:

Bye for now,

Nigel

[Nigel Heath]

On the RHS of the fuselage I have had to file this wing mounting hole further rearwards to get the wing in the right place (the left side was fine):

To prevent the wing mounting peg from being visible after assembly I decided to plate over this area with 0.25mm card. I also then had to trim the peg slightly:

I also decided to plate over the slot and depression caused by the ejector pins with 0.5mm card like this:

Next I masked all the mating edges ready for some paint:

Then I got some primer applied to all of these (except the exhaust nozzle as I decided to leave that until after assembly):

After that was dry and inspected I applied these top coats:

With the engine internals painted and unmasked I could start to assemble it

Here it is clamped and drying:

Well that's it for today, the next update should be in two weeks time.

Until then, bye,

Nigel

[CedB]

Two weeks? Heck, that must be some weird paint!

[Pete in Lincs]

Wot? Two weeks?

It's a swizz!

I want my money back!

[Nigel Heath]

Sorry Pete, no refunds, you are either on board or not.

[Pete in Lincs]

If you insist.

I'll go to standby mode.

Her indoors might not like it though....

[Hook]

The first thing I noticed on getting to grips with this kit is that there should be a PE fret included.

The PE was included in the Dragon original - RoG's reissue replaced these with injected parts, like in their iteration of Hasegawa's Su-27.

Nice work so far!

Cheers,

Andre

[The Spadgent]

blimey you're ripping through the kits. Looking great Nige. Good luck with the Job.

John

[Martian]

Liking this Nigel!

Martin

[Nigel Heath]

Thanks guys, I should be back in Aberdeen tomorrow night so hopefully will get a bit more done over the weekend. The new job is shaping up nicely.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[Nigel Heath]

While I was away this lot had arrived from e-Models:

Mainly it's miscellaneous stuff but the paint is to replenish stocks specifically for this build.

Here is the progress I have made today. I cleaned up the filler I'd applied on the underside of the engine and added some imaginary piping using 0.4mm rod, partially to hide the seam and partially to busy things up a bit:

Next I masked up the cockpit area ready for some RLM66:

This is how I masked up the seat:

I finished off the PE belts by painting the buckles with Alclad "Chrome":

Here's how the RLM66 came out along with a bit of detail painting on the control column:

Next I applied some RLM02 to the front of the engine and Alclad "Burnt Iron" to the exhaust nozzle:

I gave the matt black instruments a quick lick of Klear ready for some Mike Grant cockpit decals:

Here are the decals done:

Then I gave the insides of the fuselage and the seat a dark dirt wash followed by a black wash on the side consoles to try to bring out some of the detail:

I then put the belts on the seat using a combination of diluted Gator Grip and extra thin superglue:

I could now build up the cockpit:

I have also taken the masking from the fuselage edges. The engine is now the critical thing to get finished so I can close up the fuselage, tomorrow hopefully.

Bye for now,

Nigel

[CedB]

Very nice Nigel, those internals are coming along nicely!

[Greif]

NIce job Nigel !

A collegue of mine has started the same kit last week; he was a bit disapointed regarding the simplicity of the kit...

[Martian]

Nice work Nigel but what's with the gert big hammer?

Martin

[Pete in Lincs]

That is the Tamiya plastic temperising tool.

In the near future, Nigel will build some Starfix kits!