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nearsightedjohn

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Everything posted by nearsightedjohn

  1. P-61B Black Widow PTO This is the Great Wall Hobby kit and the WIP is here.
  2. Thanks guys for all the encouragement despite my $&#%-up of this GB entry. I managed to adapt a stand left over from a Tamiya Corsair build (so this is why I kept it!) and have finally finished and mounted my widow in crew-less feathered prop flight: I haven’t mounted an aircraft model on a stand in over 60 years, an unintended return to the fun carefree days of boyhood! I think the wheels-up version also really shows off the form of this “so weird it’s cool looking” aircraft. Thanks for watching! John
  3. Wow, terrific fix job on that Balkenkreuz! Really enjoying watching the fine masking and airbrush work you’re doing on this 262. It’s rare when everything goes absolutely perfect on a build, I envy your “recover skills”!
  4. Pretty hard due to the big lateral offset in each well. I might be able to mount the landing gear to the shallower steps but I’d have to cut each one in half and it would look pretty goofy. I agree that it’s probably not all that realistic but it sure helps with the all-black monotony for me. Black’s a challenge, I learned a few things on this one and hopefully I get better at this if I do more black subjects.
  5. Thanks guys, wheels-up it is! I should be able to wrap this up in the next day or two. I found a wheels-up stand left over from one of the Tamiya 1/32 fighter kits and I think it will work for displaying this one.
  6. FATAL ERROR!!!!!!! I started to assemble the landing gear and discovered I bonded the right bulkhead pieces within the left landing gear well and vice versa….. I can’t believe I did this, even after making a point of carefully checking to make sure I was following the instructions during initial assembly. I suspect I was checking the plane upside-down while looking at the instructions right-side-up. Senior moment. Too bad, things were going pretty well up to this point…. So I guess I could A) pitch this into the garbage and order another kit (+ decals + mask set,…$$$….😫) and start over or B ) finish it with the wheels retracted and hang it from the ceiling???? Oh well, not the first time I’ve screwed up in public while posting a WIP (probably won’t be the last time either!). Let me know if you think I should start this one over or finish this one with wheels up for this GB.
  7. I applied Tamiya Panel Accent Line Color Grey (an enamel-based panel highlighter), first time I’ve used this stuff on a black plane. I went through a lot of paper towels and Q-Tips in removing the excess with mineral spirits. I think next time I’ll use the gloss version of the Vallejo acrylic clear coat before decals and panel line highlighting. Once this fully dries out, hopefully by tomorrow, I’ll start mildly sponge chipping the leading edges and maybe add a few moderate smoke trails streaming back from the nacelles. Then a final clear coat to seal it and then I can remove the canopy masking and proceed with final assembly. Not sure how realistic these grey panels lines are but I think they really help add some visual interest to this all black aircraft.
  8. Clear coated with Vallejo Satin on Fri, decal-ed on Sat and then clear coated again this morning (Sun). I used a Kit World decal for the Cooper’s Snooper nose art and Squadron Cartograf decals for the rear numbers, stars & bars and the props and stencils. The GWH kit decals are horrible (super thick, will not nor will ever settle down). Going to let this sit before messing with panel line accents and sponge chipping. Most P-61’s I see built are super weathered, I’m hoping to do mild/subtle weathering/ chipping, like it’s the aircraft’s first week on Iwo Jima and the boys just painted the sexy lady on the nose 😁.
  9. Every little bit helps James! Some days I can put in 6-8 productive hours in the man cave, other days it’s 5-10 minutes and all I do is look at it, shake my head and walk away. And then there’s those day I spend hours on my hand & knees with flashlight in hand looking for that part that went “ping” into the ethersphere…
  10. Beautiful job Dave! My favorite parts: the weathering on the hull & front, the exhaust stains, the wiper blades and that cool torpedo! I love PBY’s and built the 1/48 Monogram/ Revell kit a while back in the CANSO white/ camo scheme and would love to do another one as a black cat but I barely have room for the 1/48 one I built (it’s huge!!!). This 1/72 Academy kit looks like a good base for detailing/ improving, thanks for posting this excellent WIP!
  11. Thank you 81er for that video and suggestions on colors. I masked and sprayed the nose and dive breaks with straight Tamiya semi-gloss black X-18 and then masked and shot some panels and wing tips on the upper wings with Tamiya Sea Blue XF-17 and the elevator and flaps with the NATO Black lightened slightly with dark grey. I think this is a good start on addressing the stark black issue: I then spent the afternoon masking and painting the red wing lines using the kit decals as a guide. Very labor intensive!!! I then airbrushed Tamiya flat red XF-7 thinned 1:1 with X-20 thinner: Pretty happy with how these red lines came out: Unfortunately the underside took quite a beating during all the handling required to do this masking and painting: I’ll re-spray these paint scratches tomorrow and then seal everything up with Vallejo Satin Clearcoat. I find Tamiya paint super fragile until I clearcoat it.
  12. A fun rainy day airbrushing acrylics indoors. I sprayed the main airframe and associated bits with Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black. A little on the light side but should be a good base for applying darker panels later. I like it! I also masked and airbrushed the yellow prop tips and the red spinner and red cowl flaps: The NATO Black looks greenish to my eyes when viewed in liquid form or first sprayed but the green seems to diminish as it dries flat. I will probably use a satin acrylic clear coat (Vallejo) later and wonder if the slight green tint will return? I’m hoping to start local masking and spraying of individual panels/ features tomorrow to give the NATO Black (grey) some variety. Additional thoughts kicking around in my head: - Should I mask and paint the red wing lines instead of using the kit decals? Tamiya decals are always a challenge to get settled without ghosting and I suspect the NATO Black will be even more troublesome. If I paint the lines, it will match the engine cowl flaps and prop spinner. - I’m thinking of trying Tamiya’s Light Grey Panel Line Accent fluid on this after clear coating, anyone happen to use this stuff on a dark grey or black aircraft build? I’ve used the black version over Vallejo satin clear coat and I really liked it.
  13. Added the Eduards canopy masking (very nice, ever piece was nearly a perfect fit) and masked up the landing gear bays and upper gun port: I then airbrushed the zinc chromate acrylic over the masked window frames: Once the acrylic was dried (about 1/2 hour), I primed the airframe and additional external components using Tamiya Fine light grey lacquer rattle can primer: I went with light grey primer vs black because 1) hoping it will be more compatible with varying shades of black on the final airbrushing and b) I’m low on my favorite black lacquer primer (Mr Finishing Surface 1500). There’s a few rough spots where I added putty which I still need to clean-up so I may have to re-prime a few small areas. It’s suppose to rain here tomorrow (AGAIN!!!! Darn global warming!!!) but I hope to be able to start messing around with airbrushing Tamiya blacks on this airframe (NATO black, black rubber, mixes of dark grey and black, etc.)
  14. Fabulous weathering! Fabulous photography! Build and post more tanks please!
  15. Fabulous interior detailing. Amazing how much just a little bit of wiring enhances the realism. What did you use for the thin wires? Copper? Thin lead solder?
  16. What an amazing scale model! My favorite part are the figures, they really give one a sense of how massive the Saturn launch vehicle was. Bravo!!!!
  17. Weighted nose and glass canopies bonded in place: Next steps will be to mask the canopies and landing gear and lower cockpit openings in prep for lacquer priming. Unfortunately the weather here in CA has turned cold again and it looks like this might have to sit on the shelf until things warm up (hopefully next week?).
  18. This P-61C located at the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy facility (photo from https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/northrop-p-61c-black-widow/nasm_A19510044000) does look pretty gloss black and my understanding is that the Smithsonian no longer restores aircraft to “as new” condition but rather with the original “as found” patina intact. I’ll probably go with a satin finish with light chipping/ weathering on my build and hope to incorporate some variation in the black among the various panels. I imagine these aircraft got pretty weathered/ beat up/ faded at Iwo Jima.
  19. Completed both engines: Plugged the four slots on the underside of the wings with Evergreen sheet styrene: These slots are for auxiliary fuel tanks which unfortunately were not included in the P-61B kit. Too bad because I believe these were the rule in the PTO, particularly in Iwo Jima. I also bonded the nose weight into the inside of the clear nose piece using five min epoxy: Hoping tomorrow to clean up the slot repairs and re-scribe as necessary, bond the nose and canopies in place, mask the canopies and then prime the airframe and nacelles.
  20. Great choice James! I have this unbuilt kit in one of my 38 boxes as well and look forward to seeing how you do on this. The weird tandem engines and the Fritz X bombs adds additional interest to me. A lot of folks replace the thick kit-supplied front canopy glass with thinner AM vacuum-form pieces - do you plan to stick with the kit glass?
  21. Today’s progress: Airframe bonded together and some filler putty applied: Engine final assembly started: The fit of the intakes and exhaust headers required some paint and plastic removal to get things seated. I’m messing with kit-supplied PE plug wires and oh what a challenge! I will likely not fight connecting each wire to each plug because very little will be visible through the nacelle openings (not going to expose the engines on this one). Still having some fun here & there!
  22. That was my first thought too! Never knew about this aircraft, thanks for expanding my IJN aircraft education! I enjoyed watching your WIP and really like your “less is more” weathering. Beautiful build!
  23. Yes, that’s it! The USAAF commodity managers were running short of amphetamines for the night flight crews in ‘45 and decided to have the cockpits painted brighter to keep the flyboys awake on those long flights over water in the dark! Think I’ll go with that for now….
  24. Thanks Wings! The green/ yellow zinc chromate is starting to look too bright again to my eyes in these photos. I’m wondering if I should airbrush these internal cabin details with a highly diluted flat black misting??? I’ll make that decision after I check just how bright these cabin feature look through the canopies when I dry fit them tomorrow.
  25. Todays progress: Tires painted (XF-85 black rubber): Front & rear cabins assembled into the fuselage: The three sets of lap belts provided by GWH were a complete disaster for me, I ended up replacing them with Eduards belts that I had in my spares. I also bonded the booms to the wings: Im hoping my next progress report will include the fuselage + wing/ biooms + rear horizontal stabilizer/ elevator all bonded together. The engines also need some work getting the intake and exhaust headers to all fit together. So far it’s been a so-so kit fit-wise but I am still having fun.
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